Seismic Imaging of the Scandinavian Caledonides to Define ICDP Drilling
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Tectonophysics 554-557 (2012) 30–41 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Tectonophysics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tecto Seismic imaging of the Scandinavian Caledonides to define ICDP drilling sites Peter Hedin ⁎, Christopher Juhlin, David G. Gee Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden article info abstract Article history: A 36 kilometer long high resolution 2D seismic reflection profile was acquired in the summer of 2010 to be Received 5 March 2012 used in the planning of the COSC (Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides) Deep Drilling Project. Received in revised form 25 May 2012 Two fully cored boreholes, each to c. 2.5 km depth, are planned for the Åre-Mörsil area of west-central Accepted 29 May 2012 Sweden in order to increase our understanding of orogenic processes and, in particular, the tectonic evolution Available online 15 June 2012 of the Scandinavian Caledonides. Besides providing important sub-surface structural information in the vicinity of the potential drill sites, the Keywords: fi Scandinavian Caledonides seismic pro le also provides detailed, high resolution images previously not available for the uppermost few Collisional orogeny kilometers in the region. The subsurface is highly reflective and very complex down to at least 9 km depth Reflection seismic (the limit of decoded data) with clear reflections spanning the entire length of the profile. Borehole Correlation with previous regional reflection seismic and magnetotelluric surveys has been achieved by Migration acquisition of a short (7 km) connecting profile. A clearly defined reflection, present in the new profile at fi Continental Scienti c Drilling depths between c. 2.5 km in the east and c. 4.5 km in the west and with an average westwards dip of c. 3.5°, apparently defines the base of the Lower Allochthon. Closer to the Caledonian front, this sole thrust overlies the Cambrian alum shale formation, which rests unconformably on the autochthonous Precambrian crystalline basement. The latter is remarkable for its deep internal reflectivity which is probably related to mafic intrusions in a dominantly granitic host-rock; their deformation may be of both Caledonian and older (e.g. Sveconorwegian) age. The new high resolution seismic data provide the basis for locating the first borehole in the Seve Nappe Complex. They also demonstrate that the second hole, designed to penetrate the Caledonian basement, will have to be located further east than was originally planned. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction from the Laurentian continental margin, in the Scandinavian Caledonides, the rock units that were derived from the Baltoscandian The Caledonide orogen, making up the mountainous margins of platform and margin (Lower and Middle Allochthons) now occur the North Atlantic Ocean, is well exposed throughout most of north- overthrust by Iapetus oceanic terranes (Upper Allochthon), including eastern Greenland and western Scandinavia. The orogen is dominated ophiolites and island-arc assemblages and, uppermost, by fragments by thrust tectonics, with long-transported allochthons emplaced of the Laurentian continental margin. westwards onto the Laurentian platform of eastern Greenland and The nappes of the Middle Allochthon in Scandinavia (Fig. 1A), com- Scotland, and eastwards onto the Baltoscandian margin of Baltica prising metasedimentary and older crystalline rocks from the (Gee et al., 2008). Caledonian orogeny started during the Ordovician Baltoscandian margin, are characterized by inverted metamorphism. with closure of a late Vendian–Cambrian ocean (Iapetus), leading to The highest units were metamorphosed under amphibolite, granulite collision between the paleocontinents Laurentia and Baltica in the and eclogite (locally UHP) facies conditions and the underlying units Silurian and continued contractional deformation well into Devonian. experienced only greenschist facies metamorphism. The latter were Whereas in Greenland, the Caledonian thrust-sheets were all derived emplaced over a Lower Allochthon of Baltoscandian platform and fore- land basin sedimentary successions that were separated by a basal décollement (sole thrust) from the underlying autochthon of Cambrian Abbreviations: BL, Byxtjärn-Liten profile, the main profile; CCT, Central Caledonian Transect; COSC, Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides; ICDP, International black (alum) shales, resting unconformably on Precambrian crystalline Continental Scientific Drilling Program; KF, Kallsjön-Fröå profile, the connecting profile; rocks of the Baltic Shield. About three hundred million years of subse- PTt, Pressure–Temperature–time; SDDP, Swedish Deep Drilling Program; SGU, Swedish quent erosion, followed by Cenozoic uplift during the opening of the Geological Survey; SIST, Swept Impact Seismic Technique; VR, Vetenskapsrådet (Swedish North Atlantic Ocean, has exposed the orogen at mid-crustal levels. Research Council); FK, Frequency–wavenumber domain (in FK-filtering); FX, Frequency– Thus, today, a unique setting is preserved for the study of fossilized space domain (in FX Deconvolution). ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +46 18 471 3322; fax: +46 18 501 110. õorogenic processes; features that are located far beneath the reach of E-mail address: [email protected] (P. Hedin). geologists working in active orogenic regions. 0040-1951/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2012.05.026 P. Hedin et al. / Tectonophysics 554-557 (2012) 30–41 31 A SCANDINAVIAN CALEDONIDES TECTONIC MAP LEGEND Permain - Oslo rift Devonian - Old Red Sandstones Laurentian margin (Uppermost Allochthon) Outboard Iapetus-derived Terranes Köli Nappe Complex KIRUNA (Upper Allochthon) Outermost margin of Baltica Seve & related nappes (upper part of Middle Allochthon) Outer margin of Baltica (Middle & Lower Allochthon) Precambrian of windows (Lower Allochthon) Sedimentary Autochthon cover MÖRSIL Precambrian basement TRONDHEIM ÖSTERSUND ÅRE SILJAN RING OSLO STOCKHOLM 100 km B SKETCH SECTION FROM TRONDHEIM TO ÖSTERSUND W NORWAY SWEDEN E TRONDHEIM ÖSTERSUND 0 0 BALTICA BASEMENT HIGHER ALLOCHTHONS LOWER ALLOCHTHON, PARAUTOCHTHON and AUTOCHTHON Köli Nappes (Laurentian fauna in uppermost nappe) Baltoscandian Sedimentary cover Seve Nappe Complex (high grade) Baltica basement (allochthons & Baltica autochthonous) Särv Nappes (dyke swarms) outer 0100200 Mylonitic granites & psammites margin Horizontal scale in km Fig. 1. (A) Tectonic map over the Scandinavian Caledonides. (B) Schematic section along the black line in A (vertical exaggeration×5). A, based on Gee et al. (2010). A wide range of geophysical surveys have been conducted in the related to the thrust emplaced nappes and the Caledonian deformation, Scandinavian Caledonides over the past few decades. In the central and also the deeper crust down to the Moho. Petrophysical (Elming, part of the mountain belt (Dyrelius, 1985; Dyrelius et al., 1980), along 1980), magnetic (Dyrelius, 1980; Elming, 1980), gravimetric (Dyrelius, the Central Caledonian Transect (CCT), a sequence of deep seismic reflec- 1986; Elming, 1988), magnetotelluric (Korja et al., 2008) and deep seis- tion surveys were carried out during the late 1980s and early 1990s mic sounding surveys (Schmidt, 2000) in the same region have provided (Hurich et al., 1989; Juhojuntti et al., 2001; Palm et al., 1991). The CCT, a wealth of data that forms a basis for today's understanding of the spanning the 300 km width of the mountain range from the Caledonian deeper structure and composition of the mountain belt. front in western Jämtland (Sweden) to the Tröndelag coast of western The reflection seismic surveys, referred to above, correlate well with Norway, provided considerable information on the large scale structures the surface geology of the exposed Caledonian thrust-sheets and basal 32 P. Hedin et al. / Tectonophysics 554-557 (2012) 30–41 décollement, but also show some remarkable images of the previously Western central Jämtland (Fig. 2A) comprises the most complete unknown internal structure of the underlying basement. Understand- profile across the Scandinavian Caledonides. From the thrust front ing the character of the latter is of fundamental importance for the near Svenstavik, with the Cambrian black shales, beneath a major de- interpretation of Caledonian orogeny, as is the need to better under- tachment, deposited directly on the underlying autochthonous crys- stand the inverted metamorphism in the Baltoscandian allochthons talline basement, to the Norwegian–Swedish border near Storlien, and the emplacement of the hot, subduction-generated nappes onto this 150 km long transect provides a section from the Baltoscandian the platform. Further investigation of these features can only be platform, through the entire Lower, and Middle Allochthon into the achieved by deep drilling and it was therefore decided to pursue these ophiolites and overlying Iapetus-derived successions of the Upper investigations in the context of the International Continental Scientific Allochthon. The character of the basal décollement is well established Drilling Program (ICDP). in the eastern front of the orogen, dipping 1–2° west beneath the In 2007, the Swedish Deep Drilling Program (SDDP) was initiated Lower Allochthon, thanks to comprehensive drilling programs (Gee to study fundamental problems of the dynamic Earth system, its nat- et al., 1978), which reached up to c. 30 km westwards from the ural history