Lower–Middle Ordovician stratigraphy of North-East Greenland

Abstract

The Upper Proterozoic (Riphean) to Lower Palaeozoic succession in North-East Greenland is exposed in a broad N–S-trending belt in the fjord region between 71°38´ and 74°25´N (Fig. 1). The succession comprises mainly marine sediments accumulated during the later stages of the break-up of the Rodinia supercontinent, the subsequent opening of the Iapetus Ocean and formation of the passive margin along the edge of the Laurentian palaeocontinent. Investigations of the sedimentary succession were initiated on Ella Ø in the summer of 2000 as part of a project to investigate the development of the Laurentian margin facing the Iapetus Ocean in the Early Palaeozoic, when studies of the uppermost formations of the Riphean Eleonore Bay Supergroup to the Lower Ordovician Antiklinalbugt Formation on Ella Ø were undertaken (Stouge et al. 2001). Ella Ø was revisited during the summer of 2001, with the focus on the Ordovician formations. In addition, investigations were undertaken in the Albert Heim Bjerge area where the uppermost part of the Ordovician succession is preserved (Fig. 1).