--> Abstract: Barents and Sverdrup Basin Comparison, by D. G. Baturin, L. Savostin, and A. Yunov; #91012 (1992).

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ABSTRACT: Barents and Sverdrup Basin Comparison

BATURIN, DIMITRY G., LEO SAVOSTIN, and ARTEM YUNOV, Laboratory of Regional Geodynamics, Moscow, Russia

The existence of close connections in the development of the Sverdrup and Barents basins prior to the opening of the North Atlantic and Arctic deep basins is established by similarity in stratigraphy and tectonics.

Utilizing geophysical data, it has been determined that the axial regions of the large depressions of the Barents and Sverdrup basins are underlain by attenuated continental crust. The position of the Moho Boundary is observed at depths of 28-32 km in the Barents basin and at depths of 30-32 km in the Sverdrup basin.

The structural style of both basins was influenced by post-Caledonian intracontinental rifting. Three main rifting phases are recognized: (1) Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous; (2) Early Triassic; and (3) Jurassic-Early Cretaceous.

Characteristic features of sedimentation in both basins suggest the following: (1) thick sedimentary cover (up to 12-13 km within the Sverdrup and 18-20 km within the Barents); (2) during Middle Carboniferous-Early Permian times, evaporite and carbonate facies predominate; (3) in late Paleozoic times a near-margin clastic facies predominated in both basins, while in the Triassic period the opposite situation prevailed; (4) during the Triassic period up to 6 km of clastic sediments accumulated in the Sverdrup basin and up to 6-7 km of terrigenous sediments accumulated in the Barents basin.

The third very contrasting rifting phase was accompanied by intense magmatism in both basins. Many dykes and sills were intruded within the thick Triassic sequence, which did not reach the upper stratigraphic levels. The youngest magmatic bodies of this cycle are present in both basins as basalt sheets of Early and Late Cretaceous age.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91012©1992 AAPG Annual Meeting, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 22-25, 1992 (2009)