This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and educational use, including for instruction at the author’s institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier’s archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright Author's Personal Copy Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 178 (2012) 59–90 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/revpalbo Research paper Palynostratigraphy of the Cretaceous–lower Palaeogene sedimentary succession in the Kangerlussuaq Basin, southern East Greenland Henrik Nøhr-Hansen ⁎ Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, GEUS, Øster Voldgade 10, Dk-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark article info abstract Article history: A new palynological event biostratigraphy for the Cretaceous–lower Palaeogene succession in the Kangerlussuaq Received 8 March 2011 Basin, onshore southern East Greenland is presented. Sixty-three biostratigraphical marker events are recog- Received in revised form 25 February 2012 nised, based on the first and last occurrences of dinoflagellate cysts and pollen from eleven key outcrop sections Accepted 27 March 2012 through the Sorgenfri, Christian IV, Sediment Bjerge and Vandfaldsdalen Formations of the Kangerdlugssuaq and Available online 5 April 2012 Blosseville Groups. The palynological events are correlated with published event stratigraphies and with palyno- logical zonations from North–East Greenland, West Greenland, North America, the North Sea and the Faroe– Keywords: Cretaceous Shetland Basin. The palynological records date the Sorgenfri Formation as middle Albian to Coniacian or ?early Palaeogene Santonian, the Christian IV Formation as ?late Campanian to late Maastrichtian and the Sediment Bjerge Forma- palynostratigraphy tion as late Danian to late Selandian. The biostratigraphic ranges of dinoflagellate cysts, pollen and macrofossils dinocysts around the lower to upper Maastrichtian boundary are discussed and correlated. Kangerlussuaq Basin The palynological records and recent isotopic dating results (40Ar/39Ar) of volcanic rocks indicate that the youngest southern East Greenland sediments of the Vandfaldsdalen Formation are of Thanetian or early Ypresian age. The study documents two major hiatuses in the area: the boundary between the Sorgenfri and Christian IV Formations spans the ?upper Coniacian–Santonian and Campanian, whilst the unconformity between the Christian IV and Sediment Bjerge Formations possibly spans the uppermost Maastrichtian and the lower Danian, indicating that the Cretaceous– Palaeogene boundary is represented by a major unconformity, as recognised widely around the northern North Atlantic. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) and CASP (formerly Cambridge Arctic Shelf Programme). The project was initi- Paleocene pre-drift reconstructions of the North Atlantic locate the ated in February 2005 and formed part of the research programme: southern East Greenland margin only 50–100 km north–west of the “Future Exploration Issues Programme of the Faroese Continental present-day Faroe Islands (e.g. Skogseid et al., 2000), illustrating that Shelf” (the ‘Sindri’ programme) established by the Faroese Ministry the Kangerlussuaq area in southern East Greenland is an obvious of Petroleum and financed by the partners of the Sindri Group. Data candidate for field and biostratigraphic studies with respect to gathered in the Sindri stratigraphy project have shown that the exploration on the Faroe continental shelf. No Cretaceous and only Upper Cretaceous–lower Palaeogene succession of the northern very little Palaeogene palynological data has been published from North Atlantic still presents problems for biostratigraphic correlation. Faroese territory. Waagstein and Heilmann-Clausen (1995) dated The main reasons for the apparent correlation problems are the lower Eocene to lower upper Oligocene volcaniclastic sediments extensive erosion at the K–Pg boundary at basin margins, poor dredged from the Faroe shelf, based on dinoflagellate cysts (dinocysts). preservation of palynomorphs due to intense thermal heating by Mudge and Bujak (2001) subsequently described the Paleocene to Palaeogene intrusions, and extensive reworking of Cretaceous sedi- lower Eocene dinocyst biostratigraphy of four wells in the Faroe– ments. The study presented here investigated the correlation problems Shetland Basin. for the Upper Cretaceous–lower Palaeogene succession in the northern The present study represents the palynological results of the North Atlantic (West and East Greenland – Faroe – UK) based on the research project: “Biostratigraphy zonation (palynology and macro- biostratigraphic framework established in onshore sections. This has fossils) of the Upper Cretaceous–lower Palaeogene based on the been accomplished by analysis of a large number of mudstone samples sedimentary succession in East Greenland” jointly conducted by the from the Kangerlussuaq Basin in southern East Greenland. The present results are correlated with palynostratigraphic schemes established in on- and offshore West Greenland (Nøhr-Hansen, 1996; Nøhr-Hansen ⁎ Tel.: +45 38 14 27 21; fax: +45 38 20 50. et al., 2002; Nøhr-Hansen, 2008, 2009), onshore East Greenland E-mail address: [email protected]. (Nøhr-Hansen, 1993; Nøhr-Hansen and Piasecki, 2002) and from the 0034-6667/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2012.03.009 Author's Personal Copy 60 H. Nøhr-Hansen / Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 178 (2012) 59–90 North Sea (Schiøler and Wilson, 1993; Mudge and Bujak, 1996; 2. Geological setting Mangerud et al., 1999; Mudge and Bujak, 2001). The results of the study are important for dating and correlation of Previous studies by Larsen et al. (1999a, b., 2001) and Larsen and wells drilled in prospective areas around the Faroe Islands and for Whitham (2005) led to the initiation of sedimentological and predicting the influence of volcanism on basin evolution and reser- biostratigraphic studies within the Sindri projects (Larsen et al., voir potential in the lower Paleocene. 2005a; Nøhr-Hansen et al., 2006, 2007) which have demonstrated Fig. 1. Geological maps of the Kangerlussuaq Basin, showing the distribution of the Cretaceous–Palaeogene sediments and the Palaeogene flood basalts of the southern East Greenland volcanic province. Modified after Larsen et al. (2005a). Author's Personal Copy H. Nøhr-Hansen / Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 178 (2012) 59–90 61 that southern East Greenland allows a unique possibility to study at assignment that was followed by Higgins and Soper (1981), Larsen outcrop the sedimentary basins associated with rifting and break-up of et al. (1996, 1999a,b, 2005a) (Fig. 2). the North Atlantic. Sub- and synbasaltic sedimentary successions of The group is named after the fjord of Kangerdlugssuaq (original Late Cretaceous and Palaeogene age are exposed in the Kangerlussuaq spelling of the modern name: Kangerlussuaq). The Kangerdlugssuaq Basin (Fig. 1), whereas early post-basaltic sediments (Eocene–Oligocene) Group is characterised by a succession of sandstones and mudstones are exposed farther north at Kap Dalton and Savoia Halvø (Larsen et al., up to 700 m thick. The younger Blosseville Group was also defined 2005b; Heilmann-Clausen et al., 2008). GEUS has carried out field by Soper et al. (1976, Fig. 2); this group consists predominantly of work in North–East Greenland in the 1980s and since 2008, in plateau basalts, but basal pre-basaltic sediments (sandstones, mud- the Kangerlussuaq Basin in 1995, 2000 and 2004 and at Kap Dalton stones and minor coals) constitute the lower part of the up to 9 km and Savoia Halvø in 2001, and has established a comprehensive thick succession. sample database for the Cretaceous and Palaeogene of East Greenland. Larsen et al. (1999a) recognised four major facies associations in the The present background information is based on previous GEUS Sindri Kangerdlugssuaq Group: 1) alluvial plain and shallow marine (?upper projects and GEUS's databases. Aptian); 2) fluvio-estuarine (upper Aptian–lower Albian); 3) offshore The northeastern margin of the onshore Kangerlussuaq Basin is marine (Upper Cretaceous–lower Paleocene); 4) submarine fan and not exposed, although the basin may continue below the Palaeogene channel-levee (lower Paleocene). In the overlying Vandfaldsdalen flood basalts along the Blosseville Kyst (Fig.1); data pertaining to the Formation of the Blosseville Group two associations were recognised: possible offshore extent of the basin is not available. The basin 5) fluvial (mid-Paleocene) and 6) volcanic (Paleocene to Eocene). These consists of fault blocks bounded by southwest–northeast striking normal associations together with recent sedimentological, biostratigraphic and faults; the major fault at Sortekap, for example, has Cretaceous mud- sequence stratigraphic studies form the basis for a new lithostratigraphic stones in the hanging wall to the southeast, faulted