Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin
Nr. 6, East Greenland Caledonides: stratigraphy, structure and geochronology

West-dipping white and rusty brown quartzites of the Early Cambrian Slottet Formation, at Slottet in the Eleonore Sø foreland window, resting unconformably on dark clastic sediments of the Palaeoproterozoic Eleonore Sø complex. The summit of Slottet (1933 m high) is 600 m above the glacier surface.

East Greenland Caledonides: stratigraphy, structure and geochronology
Edited by A.K. Higgins and Feiko Kalsbek

The Caledonian orogen of East Greenland has been intensely studied over the last 30 years during a series of regional mapping expeditions. The orogen that extends between 70°N and 81°30´N in East Greenland, is now completely covered by five geological map sheets in the Survey's regional 1:500 000 series.

This collection of six papers includes two on aspects of Neoproterozoic and Lower Palaeozoic stratigraphy. Two other papers describe structural studies, one the geometry of the thin-skinned thrust belt in Kronprins Christian Land and the second the significance of the discovery of the Eleonore Sø and Målebjerg foreland windows. The remaining two papers report the results of geochronological studies.

• Colophon, Contents, Preface
  A.K. Higgins
  nr6_p01-04.pdf (pdf-file ~0.1 mb)
• Lower Palaeozoic stratigraphy of the East Greenland Caledonides
  M. Paul Smith, J. Audun Rasmussen, S. Robertson, A.K. Higgins and A. Graham Leslie
  nr6_p05-28.pdf (pdf-file ~2 mb)
• The Neoproterozoic Rivieradal Group of Kronprins Christian Land, eastern North Greenland
  M. Paul Smith, A.K. Higgins, N.J. Soper and M. Sønderholm
  nr6_p29-39.pdf (pdf-file ~0.6 mb)
• The Caledonian thin-skinned thrust belt of Kronprins Christian Land, eastern North Greenland
  A.K. Higgins, N.J. Soper, M. Paul Smith and J.A. Rasmussen
  nr6_p41-56.pdf (pdf-file ~1 mb)
• Palaeoproterozoic age of a basement gneiss complex in the Charcot Land tectonic window, East Greenland Caledonides
  K. Thrane
  nr6_p57-66.pdf (pdf-file ~0.8 mb)
• Reconnaissance Pb-Pb dating of single mineral phases by the step-leaching method: results from the Caledonides of East Greenland
  K. Thrane
  nr6_p67-76.pdf (pdf-file ~0.5 mb)
• The Eleonore Sø and Målebjerg foreland windows, East Greenland Caledonides, and the demise of the 'stockwerke' concept A.K. Higgins and A. Graham Leslie
  nr6_p77-93.pdf (pdf-file ~1.4 mb)
• Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin 6, 93 pp.
  East Greeland Caledonides: stratigraphy, structure and geochronology
  Download the entire paper:
  nr6_p01-93.pdf (pdf-file ~5.6 mb)

Preface
By A.K. Higgins

The East Greenland Caledonides extend from 70° to 81°30′N, and have been the subject of a series of regional mapping programmes between 1968 and 1998. The entire orogen is now covered by five published 1:500 000 geological map sheets. The six papers in this bulletin concern a variety of topics relating mainly to Kronprins Christian Land (79°–81°30′N) and the Kong Oscar Fjord region (72°–75°N).

The paper by Smith et al. on Lower Palaeozoic stratigraphy proposes amendments to several stratigraphical units that occur in Kronprins Christian Land and nearby Lambert Land. In the Kong Oscar Fjord region, two new formations are defined for quartzite and limestone/dolostone units that crop out in foreland windows, and the Lower Palaeozoic succession of the fjord region of East Greenland is formally placed in the Kong Oscar Fjord Group. The second paper by Smith et al. describes and formally defines the Neoproterozoic Rivieradal Group of Kronprins Christian Land. The paper by Higgins et al. analyses the thinskinned fold-and-thrust belt that marks the transition between foreland and orogen in Kronprins Christian Land, and presents a balanced cross-section restoration.

The two geochronological papers by Thrane report the results of ion microprobe zircon analyses from orthogneisses in the Charcot Land window (72°N), and results of reconnaissance Pb-Pb dating by the stepleaching method.

The final paper by Higgins & Leslie reviews the history of geological research in the Eleonore Sø and Målebjerg areas of the Kong Oscar Fjord region (72°–75°N). Recognition that the two areas are part of the Caledonian foreland implies that the two thrust sheets structurally overlying the Eleonore Sø and Målebjerg windows have large displacements (~ 100 km each), and that the 'stockwerke' concept of the orogen that focused on in situ vertical movements can finally be laid to rest.

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