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| West Greenland flood basalts | |
|---|---|
| Name | West Greenland flood basalts |
| Type | Flood basalt province |
| Location | West Greenland |
| Region | Kalaallit Nunaat |
| Period | Paleogene |
| Primary lithology | Basalt, hyaloclastite, pillow lava |
West Greenland flood basalts The West Greenland flood basalts are a Paleogene large igneous province in western Kalaallit Nunaat associated with extensive basaltic eruptions and continental break-up. The province records continental rifting, mantle plume interaction, and volcanic stratigraphy that are important for understanding the North Atlantic opening, North America–Eurasia plate motions, and Paleogene climate perturbations. Studies integrate field mapping, geochronology, geochemistry, and geophysical surveys from institutions and researchers across Greenland, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The basalt province lies within the northwest margin of the North Atlantic region, adjacent to the Labrador Sea and the Baffin Bay rift systems, and is spatially related to the North Atlantic Igneous Province, the Iceland plume hotspot track, and the Paleogene flood basalt events in East Greenland and the Faeroes. Tectonic context references include the opening of the Labrador Sea, the movement of the North American Plate, and the influence of the Greenland–Iceland–Faeroe Ridge. Nomenclature has evolved through work by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Cambridge University researchers, University of Copenhagen petrologists, and US Geological Survey petrogenetic syntheses; locally used formation and member names reflect field campaigns by the University of Oslo, the University of Edinburgh, and the Geological Survey of Canada.
Stratigraphic sequences in western Greenland comprise stacked basalt flows, interbedded sedimentary horizons, hyaloclastite deposits, and intrusive sills correlated with sequences documented in East Greenland, the Faeroes, and the British Tertiary Volcanic Province. Detailed mapping by the Natural History Museum (London), the University of Aberdeen, and the University of Glasgow has identified flow units, feeder dikes, and doleritic sills comparable to those studied in the Hebrides, the Isle of Skye, and the Antrim Plateau. Petrological studies by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich, and the Max Planck Institute reveal olivine tholeiites, evolved basalts, and rare basaltic andesites with textures similar to samples from the Columbia River Basalt Group and the Deccan Traps studies at the University of Cambridge and the Geological Survey of India.
Radiometric ages from isotopic systems employed by researchers at Brown University, the California Institute of Technology, and the University of Minnesota place major eruptive intervals in the Paleogene, broadly coeval with the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum and with volcanism recorded at Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Argon–argon and U–Pb zircon dates produced by teams at ETH Zurich, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the British Geological Survey define eruptive pulses that can be correlated with magnetostratigraphy datasets from the University of Leeds and paleomagnetic studies by Columbia University. Geochronology ties to plate kinematic reconstructions by the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics and the Alfred Wegener Institute.
Eruptive styles inferred from field volcanology reported by the University of Iceland, the University of Bergen, and the University of Copenhagen include effusive flood lavas, submarine pillow formations, explosive hyaloclastite deposition, and intrusive sill emplacement. Comparisons are made to eruptive histories in Iceland, the Faeroes, and the Faroe–Shetland Basin studied by the Oil & Gas Authority and petroleum geoscience groups at Statoil/Equinor. Volcanological research by the University of St Andrews and the University of Southampton integrates seismic reflection, gravity, and magnetic surveys conducted by GEUS, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, and the International Ocean Discovery Program to reconstruct flow volumes, emplacement rates, and paleoenvironmental impacts contemporaneous with the Paleogene climate events considered by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Major- and trace-element datasets produced by laboratories at the University of California, Berkeley, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the Carnegie Institution indicate tholeiitic affinities with enriched mid-ocean ridge basalt (E-MORB) to plume-like isotopic signatures. Radiogenic isotope work (Sr–Nd–Pb–Hf) led by Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, and the University of Tokyo suggests contributions from depleted mantle, enriched mantle components, and recycled crustal material analogous to source interpretations for the Iceland plume and the Kerguelen and Tristan hotspots. Geochemical modeling by researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of Oslo employs melting algorithms similar to those used in studies of the Siberian Traps and the CAMP LIP.
Interpretations connect the basalt province to mantle plume activity discussed in plume hypotheses advanced by Birch, Morgan, and White, with alternative rift-driven mechanisms debated by plate tectonics proponents at the University of Cambridge and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Links to rift propagation along the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay involve reconstructions by the Geological Survey of Canada, the British Antarctic Survey methodologies, and kinematic models from the International Lithosphere Program. Mantle tomography provided by institutions such as the Swiss Seismological Service and the IRIS consortium has been used to test plume-rooted versus lithospheric extension scenarios, drawing parallels to plume–lithosphere interactions inferred for the Afar region, the Ethiopian Plateau, and the Yellowstone hotspot.
The flood basalts and associated intrusive rocks host potential mineral occurrences analogous to those explored in the Norilsk–Talnakh and Bushveld complexes by mining companies including Rio Tinto, BHP, and Freeport-McMoRan. Exploration by Greenland Minerals and Energy, NunaMinerals, and state surveys considers base metals, platinum-group elements, and chromium mineralization within mafic intrusions and weathering profiles; petroleum systems analyses by TotalEnergies, Chevron, and the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate evaluate hydrocarbon reservoir potential in intertrappean sediments comparable to plays in the North Sea and the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. Environmental and land-use implications involve Danish government agencies, Inuit communities, and conservation groups.