Extensional evolution of the central East Greenland Caledonides

This thesis addresses the complexity of both syn- and post-orogenic extension in the overriding plate during Caledonian continental collision through field and laboratory investigations in the central East Greenland Caledonides. During the course of this work, attempts were made to answer some of the outstanding regional and local questions in East Greenland geology. Structural, U-Pb and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronologic, petrographic and thermobarometric data were combined to constrain and reconstruct a portion of the tectonic history of this orogen. Most extension was accommodated along a system of orogen-parallel, N-S striking normal faults known as the Fjord Region Detachment (FRD) system. The FRD system comprises two temporally distinct, but overlapping, splays just south of 73⁰ N. The lowermost splay is called the Hogedal detachment was active from ca. 417 to 380 Ma, and was active for a second time as recently as ca. 357 Ma. The uppermost splay is the Tindern detachment. This fault was active from ca. 425-423 Ma, exhuming material at rates as fast as 6.5 mm/year. Continued extension in the hanging-wall of this fault accounts for additional denudation at much slower rates over a 25 my time-period. In-between activity on these faults, there is evidence to suggest that middle-crustal thickening continued to occur. Thus, the East Greenland Caledonides preserve evidence for crustal thickening (minimum -16 km) and orogen parallel shear, followed by rapid upper-middle crustal thinning (-13 km), followed by coeval middle-crustal thickening (unknown amount) and upper-crustal thinning (5 km), and ending with crustal collapse (-16 km thinning).

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2001

Author dc:creator

• White, Arthur Percy, 1972-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Kip V. Hodges.

• Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8233

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/8233