ArcTec · Impact of Timanian faults on Arctic Tectonics
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2022-09-01 → 2026-02-23
- EU contribution
- €271,111
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Impact of Timanian faults on Arctic Tectonics
The main goal of the project was to test the continuation of late Neoproterozoic (ca. 650–550 Ma) Timanian thrust systems in the Barents Sea and Svalbard. These fault zones were previously thought to have been truncated by Caledonian structures and not to be present in the western Barents Sea and Svalbard. Testing that Timanian faults extend beyond previously suspected Caledonian sutures may unlock large amounts of natural resources and help us understand gas seepage and earthquake trends in Arctic regions. Specific objectives are to (1) correlate Timanian faults from northwestern Russia to the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea and Svalbard and the Fram Strait, (2) identify events of reactivation, and (3) insert them in a detailed tectonic evolution model.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
ArcTec proposes to study (1) the westward extent, kinematics and timing of formation, and (2) reactivation–overprint of Timanian (i.e., ca. 600 million years old) faults during subsequent tectonic events in the Arctic, and to (3) insert these faults into a detailed tectonic evolution model for Svalbard, the northwestern Barents Sea and the Fram Strait. The project involves a collaboration between four researchers at UiO (Dr. Koehl and Dr. Anell), McGill University (Canada; Prof. Halverson), and BGR (Germany; Dr. Klitzke).Thus far, remnants of Timanian metamorphism and basement were identified in southwestern (Majka et al., 2008) and northwestern Spitsbergen (Dallmeyer et al., 1990), and a regional (Torrelian) unconformity between Proterozoic and (latest Neoproterozoic–) lower Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks in southwestern and northeastern Spitsbergen, Bjørnøya and Nordaustlandet coeval with Timanian metamorphism suggests major tectonic reorganization occurred in the late Neoproterozoic (Horn and Orvin, 1928; Harland et al., 1992).ArcTec will focus on newly identified WNW–ESE faults and basement heterogeneities in Svalbard and the northern Barents Sea, and combine geophysical (magnetic, gravimetric, bathymetric, seismic) datasets, structural and sedimentological fieldwork, and petrological and geochronological analyses to address the targeted objectives. ArcTec will investigate the impact of WNW–ESE faults on the exhumation–burial history of Svalbard and the northwestern Barents Sea margin, and their relationship with amphibolite facies metamorphism of Timanian age, with the Torrelian unconformity in southwestern and northeastern Spitsbergen and western Nordaustlandet, and with older (e.g., Grenvillian) and younger (e.g., Caledonian and Eurekan) structures and fabrics, such as crosscutting and controlling–controlled relationships (inheritance).
Original text from CORDIS.
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Data: CORDIS, © European Union