Little CASE 2022 Spitzbergen
Report of the project:
Between 11.09. and 16.09.2022 colleagues from BGR participated in a ship expedition to the west coast of Oscar II Land on Spitsbergen. The expedition ship "Meander" was chartered by Store Norske Spitsbergen Kull Kompani (SNSK) and the University of Tromsø (UiT). The BGR was given the opportunity to purchase two free places for own geoscientific field work at the western coast of Spitsbergen.
Working area Little CASE 2022 (red box)
Source: BGR
Field outcrops were investigated (i) near Arthurbreen east of Sarstangen south of Engelskbukta, (ii) in St. Jonsfjorden in western Oscar II Land, (iii) at Eidembukta south of St. Jonsfjorden, and (iv) at Kapp Mineral east of Isfjord Radio in northwestern Nordenskiöld Land. Field work was carried out during the day using rubber boats for transporting the geologists ashore and back aboard in the evening. A ship-based expedition was given preference over using a base camp on land due to the following reason: (i) the logistical and financial effort is less compared to setting up a base camp; (ii) the chartered ship guaranteed a far greater flexibility for the planned field work; (iii) the safety aspects of spending the night on a ship outweigh the use of a base camp on land.
Geologists during field work close to Arthurbreen
Source: BGR
The expedition had three main objectives:
i) Preliminary investigations of the geological situation and conditions along the west coast of Oscar II Land as a base for future planned geological work in the Southwestern Basement Province of Spitsbergen (pre-site survey).
ii) Structural-geological investigations of the rocks in the pre-Devonian basement to characterize and identify the Caledonian deformation history and tectonic transport directions and mechanisms. This work is important for comparisons with the tectonic evolution of other terranes in the Southwestern Basement Province.
iii) Effects of the Paleogene Eurekan deformation during the opening of the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean. The main question in this context was whether the Eurekan deformation was dominated by two tectonic phases with a compressive phase 1 in the early Eocene (folding of the West Spitsbergen Fold-and-Thrust Belt) and strike-slip deformation during a lateral phase 2 in the late Eocene and the creation of the Forlandsundet Graben.