THE NORTH ATLANTIC IGNEOUS PROVINCE
Structure and stratigraphy of the plateau lavas between Kangerlussuaq and Scoresby Sund

Lotte Melchior Larsen and W. Stuart Watt
in collaboration with Asger Ken Pedersen (Univ. Copenhagen) and Keld S. Dueholm (Techn. Univ. Copenhagen).

In central East Greenland, flood lavas cover c. 65 000 km2 along the Blosseville Kyst between Kangerlussuaq and Scoresby Sund, the largest onshore lava plateau in the N Atlantic Province. Ages range from c 61 Ma for the oldest lavas through 56-54 Ma for the major part of the volcanics, to c 48 Ma for some subordinate lavas. The youngest volcanic rocks in Greenland are some small-volume lavas of Miocene age (c. 14 Ma) that cap the central East Greenland lava plateau.

Present work continues the studies initiated by the Danish Lithosphere Centre (DLC). Following extensive field work in 1995, the stratigraphy established in the Scoresby Sund area has been extended to the whole lava plateau. Further correlation has been established between the volcanic successions in East Greenland and the Faeroes, and the studies are extended to the coeval volcanic ash deposits in Denmark.

Recent publications
Pedersen, A. K., Watt, M., Watt, W. S. & Larsen, L. M. 1997: Structure and stratigraphy of the Early Tertiary basalts of the Blosseville Kyst, East Greenland. Journal of the Geological Society, London 154, 565–570.

Larsen, L.M., Waagstein, R., Pedersen, A.K. & Storey, M.S. 1999. Trans-Atlantic correlation of the Palaeogene volcanic successions in the Faeroe Islands and East Grenland. Journal of the Geological Society, London 156, 1081–1095.

Fitton, J.G., Larsen, L.M., Saunders, A.D., Kempton, P.D. & Hardarson, B.S. 2000. Palaeogene continental to oceanic magmatism on the SE Greenland continental margin at 63ºN: a review of the results of Ocean Drilling Program Legs 152 and 163. Journal of Petrology 41, 951–966.

Storey, M., Pedersen, A. K., Stecher, O., Bernstein, S., Larsen, H. C., Larsen, L. M., Baker, J. & Duncan, R. A. 2004. Long-lived postbreakup magmatism along the East Greenland margin: Evidence for shallow-mantle metasomatism by the Iceland plume. Geology 32, 173–176.

The East Greenland plateau basalts. In the foreground light syenites of the Borgtinderne intrusion.

Pre-break-up reconstruction of the North Atlantic, showing the extent of two basalt formations across the line of opening.