MEDDELELSER ОМ GR0NLAND UDGIVNE AF KOMMISSIONEN FOR VIDENSKABELIGE UNDERS0GELSER I GR0NLAND BD. 155 • NR. 4 DE DANSKE EKSPEDITIONKR TIL 0STGR0NLAND 1947-56 UNDER LEDELSE AF LAUGE KOCH THE JURASSIC AND CRETACEOUS SYSTEMS IN EAST GREENLAND BY DESMOND T. DONOVAN WITH 25 FIGURES IN THE TEXT AND 4 PLATES K0BENHAVN C. A. REITZELS FORLAG BIANCO I.UNOS BOOTKYKKERI A/S 1957 CONTENTS Page I. Introduction 9 II. History of Research 11 III. Systematic account of the stratigraphy 23 Lower Jurassic 23 Rhaetian, Hettangian and ? Lower Sinemurian: the Kap Stewart Formation 23 1. Type locality and exposures in Hurry Inlet 23 2. The Kap Hope area.. 26 3. Northward and westward extension 26 Pliensbachian and Toarcian: The Neill Klinter Formation 27 1. Type locality and exposures in Hurry Inlet 27 2. Sediments near Kap Hope 30 3. Northward and westward extension 31 Middle Jurassic 32 Lower Callovian (and Upper Bathonian?): The Vardekloft Form­ ation, Yellow Series and Trapkas Formation 32 1. Southern Jameson Land: The Vardekloft Formation 32 2. The Kap Hope area 36 3. Northern and western Jameson Land and Scoresby Land: The Fossil Mountain Formation or Yellow Series 36 4. Traill and Geographical Society 0er: The Yellow Series .... 37 5. Clavering 0, Wollaston Forland and Kuhn 0: The Yellow Series 39 6. Store Koldewey: The Treekpas Formation 40 Upper Jurassic 40 Upper Oxfordian and Kimeridgian 40 1. The succession in Milne Land 40 2. Southern and central Jameson Land: The Kochs Fjeld Form­ ation 44 3. Traill 0: The Black Series 46 4. Upper Oxfordian and Lower Kimeridgian between 74° and 75° Lat.: The Grey Series and the Black Series 47 5. Upper Kimeridgian of Kuhn 0: The Kap Maurer Formation. 50 6. Hochstetters Forland: The Muschelbjerg Formation 52 7. Store Koldewey: The Klaft I Formation 53 Portlandian 54 1. Milne Land: The Glauconitic Series and Hartzfjeld Sandstone 54 2. South-western Jameson Land 56 1* 4 DESMOND T. DONOVAN. IV Page 3. The Rigi Series of the Northern Region 58 Wollaston Forland 58 Clavering 0 59 Kuhn 0 59 4. Portlandian (?) of Germania Land GO Lower Cretaceous 61 Berriasian 61 1. Milne Land 61 2. South-western Jameson Land 61 3. Traill 0 62 4. The succession at the 'Niesen', Wollaston Forland 62 5. Other Berriasian outcrops in the northern region 64 Valanginian G5 1. Traill 0 65 2. Valanginian of the Northern Region 66 Clavering 0 68 Wollaston Forland 68 Kuhn 0 72 Store Koldewey 72 Aptian 73 1. South-eastern Traill 0 73 2. Northern Hold with Hope 73 3. Wollaston Forland 74 4. Kuhn 0 75 5. Shannon 75 6. Store Koldewey 75 7. Germania Land 76 Albian and Cenomanian 77 1. Introduction 77 2. The Middle Cretaceous Shale Series of the Vega Sund area.. 78 3. Albian (?) of the Giesecke Bjerge 79 4. Albian of Hold with Hope 80 5. Albian of the Northern Region 82 Wollaston Forland 83 Upper Cretaceous 84 Turonian 84 Senonian 86 1. The Kangerdlugssuaq Sedimentary Series .' 86 2. The Sphenoceramus Beds of Traill and Geographical Society 0er 88 3. The Knudshoved Beds of Hold with Hope 88 4. The Home Forland Beds of Hold with Hope 89 5. The Scaphites Beds of Traill and Geographical Society 0er.. 90 Formations of unknown or uncertain date 90 1. Sediments at Kap Gustav Holm 90 2. The Infra-Basalt Sediments at Kap Brewster 91 3. Cretaceous (?) of Central Hold with Hope 92 4. Cretaceous (?) of Loch Fyne 93 5. Sediments at Jokelbugten 93 6. Mesozoic(?) sediments at Nakkehoved 93 IV The Jurassic and Cretaceous Systems in East Greenland. 5 Page IV. Tectonic structure and history of East Greenland during the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods 96 V. The Jurassic and Cretaceous Geography of Central East Greenland.... 100 VI. The Sedimentary Facies 116 VII. Comparison with West Greenland and Spitsbergen 122 VIII. Correlation and affinities of the fossil assemblages 126 1. Rhaetian and Hettangian 127 2. Lower Pliensbachian 127 :t. Toarcian 128 4. Bathonian and Callovian 129 5. Upper Oxfordian 136 6. Lower Kimeridgian 138 7. Upper Kimeridgian 139 8. Portlandian 140 9. Berriasian 144 10. Valanginian 148 11. Aptian 150 12. Lower Albian 151 13. Middle Albian 152 14. Upper Albian 152 15. Cenomanian ' 152 16. Turonian 153 17. Upper Santonian—Lower Campanian 154 18. Upper Campanian 154 19. Conclusions 155 IX. The North Atlantic Ocean during the Mesozoic Era 158 East Greenland and Continental Drift 158 The East Greenland coast during the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods. 162 Geography of the Callovian Stage 164 The origin of the North Atlantic Ocean 165 The date of the beginning of igneous activity 166 X. Problems and prospects for future work 168 Lower Jurassic 168 Bathonian and Callovian 168 Oxfordian, Kimeridgian and Portlandian 170 Berriasian and Valanginian 172 Aptian 173 Albian and Cenomanian 173 Turonian • • 174 Senonian 174 General Remarks 175 XI. References to Literature 176 Appendix 1. Index of Formation and Facies names 183 Appendix II. Fossil Lists '• 196 Appendix III. Coal in the Jurassic of East Greenland 213 Table of Jurassic and Cretaceous Stages 21 PREFACE his account has been compiled at the request of Dr. Lauge Koch, Tleader of the Danish Expeditions to East Greenland from 1926 to 1938 and from 1947 up to the present. For a limited part of the area I have been able to draw on my own experience as a member of several of Dr. Koch's expeditions, but the greater part of the work is necessarily a compilation from the reports of the geologists who preceded me in the study of the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks of East Greenland. I have also incorporated a certain amount of unpublished information from several sources. I am indebted to Dr. Lauge Koch for his encouragement, and for information and discussion of various problems. While I must take full responsibility for the accuracy of the facts, and the soundness of the opinions, which follow, I have been greatly helped by a number of friends, specialists in various fields, who have given me the benefit of their views and have in most cases read and criticised the appropriate parts of the typescript. They include Dr. W. J. Arkell, especially in the field of Upper Jurassic stratigraphy; Dr. J. H. Callomon, who has placed his knowledge of Callovian ammonites at my disposal; Mr. R. Casey, on Aptian and Albian faunas; Prof. T. M. Harris, who read the draft of the section on the Kap Stewart Formation; and Mr. C. W. Wright, who has given me his views on Berriasian and Valanginian stratigraphy. I am grateful to these people for their willing help. Prof. W. F. Whittard and Mr. J. W. Cowie have kindly read other parts of the typescript. Dr. H. Butler, the senior geologist of the Lauge Koch Expeditions, kindly sent me notes on localities visited by him. Dr. J. Sornay, of Paris, who studied the collections of Inoceramus made by the Two-Year Ex­ pedition (1936—38), generously sent me a list of his unpublished iden­ tifications with permission to use them as necessary. Through the courtesy of Dr. L. F. Spath I was able to examine some of the ammonites described by him in his publications on the collections made before 1939. It remains to pay a tribute to the field geologists who have made this account possible. Their names will be found in the historical and stratigraphical chapters and need not be repeated here. They often 8 DESMOND T. DONOVAN. IV worked under considerable difficulties, and the information now assem­ bled is a testimony to their efficiency and their enthusiasm. Finally, I would like to thank Miss Ingrid Beck for her assistance during the preparation and publication of the work, and my father for reading the proofs. Bristol, May 1956. Note on Geographical Names. As it is obligatory for all place-names mentioned in the Meddelelser to be in the Danish form, the following equivalents may be useful to English-speaking readers: Bjaerg = Mountain Klinter = Cliff Bugt = Bay Kl0ft = Cleft Dal = Valley Naes = Ness, point Elv = Stream 0, 0er = Island(s) Fjeld = Mountain Pynt = Point Flod = River Sund = Sound Kap = Cape Vig = Small inlet I. INTRODUCTION In Pleistocene times the whole of Greenland was doubtless covered by the ice-cap, but the post-glacial recession has resulted in considerable ice-free areas in which rocks from Pre-Cambrian to Tertiary date are exposed. Recent geophysical work1) has shown that the ice-cap is con­ tained between mountain ranges near the east and west coasts. The folding of these ranges is of Lower Palaeozoic or 'Caledonian' date, and on the east coast they are flanked by Upper Palaeozoic, and these in turn by Mesozoic formations. The geological variety in the east is much greater than in the west, where metamorphic rocks are succeeded im­ mediately by Upper Cretaceous sediments. Plateau basalts of Tertiary age, associated with small areas of sediments, are prominent in both East and West Greenland. The principal outcrops of Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks lie in Cen­ tral East Greenland2) between latitudes 70°25' and 76°20' north, that is, between the northern shore of Scoresby Sund and Store Koldewey island, a distance of about 700 km. In this part of East Greenland, which is intersected by fjords, Jurassic and Cretaceous formations constitute a belt up to 80 km in width, which generally forms the easternmost part of the continent. For the purposes of description three regions are recognised, the southern, from Scoresby Sund to Kong Oscars Fjord, comprising Jameson Land and part of Scoresby Land; the central, consisting of Traill and Geographical Society 0er and the peninsula of Hold with Hope; and the northern region, from Clavering 0 to Store Koldewey.