CORRELATION BEWEEN the LATE PRECAMBRIAN OLDER SANDSTONE SERIES of the VARANGERFJORD and TANAFJORD AREAS PKELIMINARY REPORT Signe
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CORRELATION BEWEEN THE LATE PRECAMBRIAN OLDER SANDSTONE SERIES OF THE VARANGERFJORD AND TANAFJORD AREAS PKELIMINARY REPORT by Signe-Line Røe1 ) Abstract. Sedimentary rocks belonging to the late Precambrian Older Sandstone Series (over lain unconformably by the Eo-Cambrian—Lower Cambrian Vestertana Group) are described from the Vadsø—Komagelven area on the northern side of Varanger- fjord. The c. 1300 m thick Varangerfjord Older Sandstone Series succession is divided into trwelve informal members. A correlation of the upper c. 1000 m of this succession with the late Precambrian Tanafjord Group is then presented. Finally the regional discordance present between the Older Sandstone Series and the Vestertana Group is briefly mentioned. Introduction. The area investigated is situated on the northern side of Varanger fjord, East Finnmark, between longitudes 29° 38' and 30° 20' east and latitudes 70° 04' and 70° 18' north. For mapping purposes, 1:50 000 AMS topographical maps were used as aerial photographs were not available. The mapped area covers approximately 450 sq. km. Good exposure is, in general, restricted to the coastal section and to the inland valleys. x ) Student, University of Bergen. Present adress: NGU, boks 3006, Trondheim. 231 Previous to this investigation the area had not been mapped geo logically. The geological map presented with this paper does, however, include a tract of ground mapped by Siedlecka & Siedlecki in 1968, that of the Kjøltindene-Grythaugen—Holmfjellet area. (Fig. 1 and map, fig. 3). A brief description of the rocks occurring along the coastal section of the present area was given by Holtedahl (1918). In 1969 Hobday, Geddes and Reading (Oxford University) studied these same sediments, this work forming a part of a recent publication (Banks et al. 1970). The purpose of the present paper is to make a lithostratigraphical comparison between the late Precambrian rocks (The Older Sandstone Series) of the Tanafjord area and part of the succession within the investigated area: this is based on six weeks field work during the summer of 1969. Geological background. From a geological point of view, the present area forms part of the Tanafjord-Varangerfjord region (Siedlecka & Siedlecki, 1967), which is underlain by sediments of late Precambrian and Eo-Cambrian - Lower Cambrian age. (The find of Platysolenites antiquissimus (Føyn 1967) has established that the youngest formation on the Varanger Peninsula is of Lower Cambrian age). To the south, this sedimentary succession unconformably overlies the crystalline Precambrian basement. To the north-east, the Trollfjord-Komagelv thrust fault forms the boundary of the Barents Sea Region (Fig. 1, also Siedlecka & Siedlecki 1967). The rocks of the Tanafjord-Varangerfjord region have been divided into two parts: — 2. Ves te r tana Group (Reading 1965) c. 1450 m — sandstones and shales with two tillite formations at the base. 1. Older Sandstone Series (Føyn 1937) c. 1300 m (in the Tanafjord area) — sandstones and shales with dolomite in the upper part. The late Precambrian rocks or the Older Sandstone Series, consisting of sandstones and shales with dolomites occurring in the upper part, is overlain with a slight angular unconformity (Holtedahl 1918, Føyn 232 Fig. 1. Map showing the situation of the Vadsø—Komagelven area. 1. Mapped by A. Siedlecka and S. Siedlecki. (1968) 2. Mapped by the present author. (1969) 1937) by the Eo-Cambrian — Lower Cambrian tillite-bearing sandstone and shale succession, the Vestertana Group. Detailed stratigraphic studies on the sediments of the Older Sand stone Series have previously been restricted to two coastal areas; the Tanafjord area (Føyn 1937, Siedlecka & Siedlecki 1970), and the inner part of the Varangerfjord area (Holtedahl 1918, Rosendahl 1931, Bjør lykke 1967, Banks et al. 1970). Siedlecka & Siedlecki (1970) traced the units of «The Older Sandstone Series on the Tanafjord» (Føyn 1937) inland to the Kjøltindene and Grythaugen areas (Fig. 3), and have proposed a detailed lithostratigraphic classification for this succession. Stratigraphy. Mapping by Siedlecka & Siedlecki in 1968 established that rocks constituting part of the Vestertana Group occur in the areas south of Kjøltindene and south-east of Skallelvskaret. In the investigated area these rocks unconformably overlie an approximately 1300 m thick sedi mentary sequence belonging to the Older Sandstone Series. 233 Older Sandstone Serie s. The Older Sandstone Series (Føyn 1937) on the northern side of the Varangerfjord consists exclusively of clastic sedimentary rocks. Un conformities appear to be absent within the succession. Banks et al. (1970) divided the part of the sequence appearing be tween Mortensnes and Skallneset (Fig. 1) into six informal members; in the present paper a different scheme is proposed, the three youngest members of Banks et al. (1970) being sub-divided into a total of six members. In addition, three still younger members constituting this same succession have been introduced. Thus, the present author proposes a subdivision of the entire Older Sandstone Series succession on the northern side of Varangerfjord into twelve mappable units (members Ito XII), with an estimated thickness of c. 1300 m1) (Fig. 2). The interrelationship of the two subdivisions is as follows: Banks et al. (1970) Present author member XII member XI member X Upper Sandstone Member Upper Siltstone Member members IV to IX Middle Sandstone Member Middle Siltstone Member member 111 Lower Sandstone Member member II Lower Siltstone Member member I base unknown The three lowest members of the sequence (I Lower Siltstone member, 20 m; II Lower Sandstone member, 1 12 m; 111 Middle Siltstone member, 50 m) crop out along the coast of Varangerfjord between Mortensnes and Vadsø. These have not been studied by the author, but detailed descriptions are to be found in the paper by Banks et al. (1970). IV. Grey sandstone member, 40 m. Only the upper few metres of the Grey sandstone member is exposed in the south-western part of the investigated area. This member is *) The estimates are uncertain, mainly due to the inaccuracy of the topographic maps and to the paucity of outcrops. 234 TANAFJORTANAFJORDD GROUIROUPp tu CS o -ts cc _l v. 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