Kim Senger

University Centre in Svalbard | UNIS · Department of Arctic Geology

Sedimentary rocks can provide information about the Earth paleoenvironment and are studied extensively to understand the causes and consequences of global climate changes in deep time. They facilitate long-time perspectives that constrain climate models and provide analogues for how Earth systems may respond to, and recover from, intervals of profo...

The Woodfjorden-Bockfjorden area in northwestern Svalbard hosts the world's northernmost onshore thermal springs, three extinct Quaternary volcanoes and extensive late Miocene lava flows that overlie an uplifted Devonian sedimentary basin. Here, we present processing results of the first three-dimensional (3-D) magnetotelluric (MT) survey acquired...

Geologically, the Arctic is one of the least-explored regions of Earth. Obtaining data in the high Arctic is logistically, economically, and environmentally expensive, but the township of Longyearbyen (population of 2617 as of 2024) at 78° N represents a relatively easily accessible gateway to Arctic geology and is home to The University Centre in...

The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) collectively represent the global population’s ambition to improve the wellbeing of Earth and its inhabitants by 2030. The ambitious goals require that a dedicated, focused, and integrated effort is taken—now. The geoscientific community is well positioned to positively directly influence m...

The Longyearbyen CO2 lab project was initiated in 2006 by the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) to establish whether subsurface storage of locally produced CO2 is feasible. Over a decade of drilling operations and geoscientific research concluded that the subsurface was suitable for storing the CO2 generated from the local power plant. The geolo...

The transition from syn‐rift to post‐rift sedimentation in rift basins is difficult to characterize in terms of stratigraphic architecture and dominating control on sedimentation, due to decreasing tectonic activity interplaying with regional subsidence, eustatic sea level changes, and differential compaction of underlying syn‐rift sediments. Our c...

In this article, we use a new workflow to substantiate the characterization of a prominent, deep sediment conductor in the hyper-extended Bjørnøya Basin (SW Barents Sea) previously identified in smooth resistivity models from 3D deterministic inversion of magnetotelluric data. In low dimensionality environments like layered sedimentary basin, 1D Ba...

Geologically, the Arctic is one of the least explored regions of Earth. Its significance, in terms of indigenous populations, resource extraction, tourism, shipping and a rapidly changing climate, is increasing. The Arctic offers geological diversity encompassing onshore and offshore environments, include active subduction zones in Alaska, deep sed...

The Woodfjorden area of northern Spitsbergen (NW Svalbard) offers access to the world’s northernmost onshore thermal springs, extinct Pleistocene alkali basaltic volcanoes and Miocene flood basalts including extensive hyaloclastites. In July 2023, we undertook a 14-day international multi-disciplinary geoscientific expedition to Woodfjorden-Bockfjo...

Structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry has become an important tool for the digitalisation of outcrops as digital outcrop models (DOMs). DOMs facilitate the mapping of stratigraphy and discontinuous structures like folds, faults, and fractures from the centimetre to kilometre scale. With pristine, treeless exposures, the outcropping strata in S...

Permafrost is widespread in the High Arctic, including the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. The uppermost permafrost intervals have been well studied, but the processes at its base and the impacts of the underlying geology have been largely overlooked. More than a century of coal, hydrocarbon, and scientific drilling through the permafrost in Sva...

We held the MagellanPlus workshop SVALCLIME “Deep-time Arctic climate archives: high-resolution coring of Svalbard's sedimentary record”, from 18 to 21 October 2022 in Longyearbyen, to discuss scientific drilling of the unique high-resolution climate archives of Neoproterozoic to Paleogene age present in the sedimentary record of Svalbard. Svalbard...

Digital outcrop models (DOMs) have revolutionized the way twenty-first century geoscientists work. DOMs are georeferenced three-dimensional (3-D) digital representations of outcrops that facilitate quantitative work on outcrops at various scales. Outcrop digitalization has been traditionally conducted using laser scanners, but in the past decade, i...

This study presents the first systematic observations of active gas seepage from the seafloor in the main fjords of western Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago. High-resolution acoustic water column data were acquired throughout two research cruises in August 2015 and June 2021. 883 gas flares have been identified and characterized in Isfjorden...

In this chapter, we present a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the geology and petroleum geology of the Svalbard Composite Tectono-Sedimentary Element, Barents Sea; SCTSE, herein defined as the Carboniferous–Paleogene sedimentary rock succession and its associated structural elements. As such, the underlying economic basement consisting of...

Sedimentary injectites are increasingly documented in many hydrocarbon plays at various scales, either interpreted as potential risks (e.g., top-seal bypass, a drilling hazard) or benefits (e.g., reservoir interconnection, increased hydrocarbon volumes) for production operations. As such, they have potential critical implications for the assessment...

Meso-scale (sub-seismic) sedimentary injectites are inferred to play an important role in controlling subsurface fluid flow as documented in many hydrocarbon plays at various scales. Detailed characterisation of such units, usually unresolvable at the seismic scale, can be directly achieved at outcrop scale. In this framework, two sedimentary injec...

Svalbard is a High Arctic Archipelago at 74-81 • N and 15-35 • E under the sovereignty of Norway. All settlements in Svalbard, including the capital of Longyearbyen (population 2400), currently have isolated energy systems with coal or diesel as the main energy source. Geothermal energy is considered as a possible alternative for electricity produc...

Magnetotelluric (MT) data can image the Earth's electrical resistivity down to the mantle but are rarely used for investigation of offshore rifted margins. In such settings, the lower crust and upper mantle are altered by distinct tectono-thermal processes but often display similar seismic velocities and densities. By integrating resistivity models...

The discipline of structural geology is taking an advantage of compiling observations from multiple field sites to comprehend the bigger picture and constrain the region's geological evolution. In this study we demonstrate how integration of a range of geospatial digital data sets that relate to the Paleogene fault and thrust belt exposed in the hi...

Rapid extensive magmatism may have a profound effect on global climate by liberating and releasing greenhouse gases to the atmosphere through contact metamorphism of lithologically heterogeneous host rocks and degassing of magma and associated lava flows. The high Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard offers accessible, superbly exposed outcrops revealing...

The Svalbard Composite Tectono-Stratigraphic Element is located on the north-western corner of the Barents Shelf and comprises a Carboniferous to Pleistocene sedimentary succession. Due to Cenozoic uplift the succession is subaerially exposed in the Svalbard archipelago. The oldest parts of the succession consist of Carboniferous to Permian mixed s...

Structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry has become an important tool for quantitative characterisation of outcrops. Digital outcrop models (DOMs) allow for the mapping of stratigraphy and discontinuous structures like folds, faults and fractures from cm to km scale and provide solutions that are difficult to constrain through subsurface data alo...

We propose a newly developed modular MObile LIdar SENsor System (MOLISENS) to enable new applications for small industrial lidar (light detection and ranging) sensors. The stand-alone modular setup supports both monitoring of dynamic processes and mobile mapping applications based on SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) algorithms. The main...

Dahlin et al. (2020) shows the first digital outcrop model from the high Arctic Island of Bjørnøya. The model of the Landnørdingsvika cliff in SW Bjørnøya highlights a spectacularly exposed outcrop of the Mid-Late Carboniferous Landnørdingsvika and Kapp Kåre Formations. The succession shows the interplay between mid-late Carboniferous sea-level flu...

Today, the automotive industry is a leading technology driver for lidar systems, because the largest challenge for achieving the next level of vehicle automation is to improve the reliability of the vehicles' perception system. High costs of mechanically spinning lidars are still a limiting factor, but prices have already dropped significantly duri...

We enable exciting and novel mapping and monitoring use cases for automotive lidar technologies in the Arctic. Originally, these lidar technologies were developed for enabling environment perception of automated vehicles with high spatial resolution and accuracy. Therefore, these lidar sensors have several advantages for mobile mapping applications...

An appraisal of ancient Earth’s climate dynamics is crucial for understanding the modern climate system and predicting how this might change in the future. Major climate-shift events in the Earth’s past demonstrate the scale, duration and response of the climate system to various global and local climate stressors. More than 650 million years of...

We propose a newly developed modular MObile LIdar SENsor System (MOLISENS) to enable new applications for automotive light detection and ranging (lidar) sensors independent of a complete vehicle setup. The stand-alone, modular setup supports both monitoring of dynamic processes and mobile mapping applications based on Simultaneous Localization and...

Seal integrity is a key property for petroleum exploration. This is even more the case in uplifted basins, as exemplified by the northern Barents Shelf. Uplift may lead to fracturing, decompaction, gas expansion and fluid flow. Therefore, it is critical to understand the mechanical behaviour of the Jurassic shale caprocks in the Greater Hoop area,...

Several mechanisms have been suggested as drivers of naturally occurring underpressure. However, the phenomenon is largely underrepresented in literature. Previous studies have focused on individual cases in North America, where challenges due to topography and defining hydrostatic gradients exist. More recent publications from underpressured basin...

Digital outcrop models (DOMs) have facilitated quantitative and qualitative studies in digital and virtual environments of source and reservoir rock analogs important to the oil industry. The use of immersive virtual reality (iVR) to extend field experiences has motivated several research groups to develop software integrating immersive virtual rea...

In this study we investigate how landscapes are inherited from continental rifting on long timescales. Areas that are currently undergoing extension typically have topographical features and drainage patterns that are easy to recognize. How these topographical rift features evolve on long timescales, however, is poorly understood. Recent work from...

Invited talk at the University of Oslo Geoscience Department's "Hammer Talks" seminar series

https://www.forskningsradet.no/en/svalbard-science-forum/ssf-tools-and-funding-schemes/svalbard-science-conference/ Presentation: https://youtu.be/CAuA9-iy0KM?t=12912

Svalbard is a Norwegian high Arctic archipelago, located halfway between the North Pole and mainland northern Norway at 74-81°N. Svalbard's geological record is exceptional, both in terms of outcrop quality and stratigraphic coverage within a relatively small area. The Devonian to Paleogene stratigraphic record is particularly well-exposed with onl...

The Covid-19 pandemic occurred at a time of major revolution in the geosciences – the era of digital geology. Digital outcrop models (DOMs) acquired from consumer drones, processed using user-friendly photogrammetric software and shared with the wider audience through online platforms are a cornerstone of this digital geological revolution. Integra...

Article now published - see relevant section for final version.

Permafrost has become an increasingly important subject in the High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. However, whilst the uppermost permafrost intervals have been well studied, the processes at its base and the impacts of the underlying geology have been largely overlooked. More than a century of coal, hydrocarbon and scientific drilling through the...

Magnetotelluric (MT) data allow for electrical resistivity probing of the Earth's subsurface. Integration of resistivity models in passive margin studies could help disambiguate non-unique interpretations of crustal composition derived from seismic and potential field data, a recurrent issue in the distal domain. In this contribution, we present th...

Large amounts of methane are trapped as natural gas hydrate (NGH) in the sediments of the Arctic. Unlike NGH provinces offshore west of Svalbard (Vestnesa Ridge), NGH potential in Svalbard’s fjords and near-shore environment is poorly constrained. In this study we modelled the NGH stability zone (GHSZ) to determine the NGH formation potential withi...

Igneous intrusions in sedimentary basins can influence basin-scale fluid flow and petroleum systems in various ways. They may act as barriers, preferential pathways or even reservoirs for fluids. The fracture networks of intrusions usually represent the main control of their hydraulic properties. However, our understanding of different fracturing m...

Tectonic controls on landscape evolution are well documented globally. In actively extending areas, tectonic geomorphology is typically represented by uplifted footwalls, downthrown hanging walls, distinct bounding escarpments, and characteristic drainage patterns. In onshore parts of the NE Atlantic margin, several studies suggest that some presen...

The Covid-19 pandemic occurred at a time of major revolution in the geosciences – the era of digital geology. Digital outcrop models (DOMs) acquired from consumer drones, processed using user-friendly photogrammetric software and shared with the wider audience through online platforms are a cornerstone of this digital geological revolution. Integra...

Uplift and erosion are complex phenomena in terms of their governing processes, precise timing and exact magnitude. The intricate relationship between different geodynamic processes leading to uplift may increase uncertainties in estimating spatial and temporal patterns. Sediment distribution from uplifted (and eroded) topography and the correspond...

The Forlandsundet Graben, situated along the NE Atlantic continental margin in the western Svalbard archipelago in Arctic Norway, represents a unique opportunity to study a basin that evolved along an obliquely rifted margin. It is bound by N–S-trending fault zones that cross-cut the structures of the Eocene West Spitsbergen-fold-and-thrust-belt. T...

The renowned Festningen section in the outer part of Isfjorden, western Spitsbergen, offers a c. 7 km long nearly continuous stratigraphic section of Lower Carboniferous to Cenozoic strata. Tectonic deformation associated with the Paleogene West-Spitsbergen-Fold-and-Thrust belt tilted the strata to near-vertical, allowing easy access to the section...

In the high Arctic valley of Adventdalen, Svalbard, sub-permafrost groundwater feeds several pingo springs distributed along the valley axis. The driving mechanism for groundwater discharge and associated pingo formation is enigmatic because wet-based glaciers are not present in the adjacent highlands and the presence of continuous permafrost seems...

Carbonates represent major hydrocarbon reservoirs, but often exhibit highly heterogeneous reservoir properties. Outcrop analogues provide important insights into how parameters such as porosity, permeability and natural fractures vary. As such, outcrops can bridge the scale gap between spatially extensive but poor-resolution seismic data and 1D hig...

To verify successful long-term CO2 storage, it is critical to improve our understanding of leakage along natural faults and fractures within the primary caprock. In the proximity of a fault zone, interactions between multiple fracture sets can create complex networks which can play a fundamental role in fluid transport properties within the rock ma...

Methane release from beneath lowland permafrost represents an important uncertainty in the Arctic greenhouse gas budget. Our current knowledge is arguably best developed in settings where permafrost is being inundated by rising sea level, which means much of the methane is oxidised in the water column before it reaches the atmosphere. Here we provi...

The underexplored Barents shelf petroleum province is a globally unique example where naturally occurring underpressure is observed offshore and onshore. In the offshore parts of the northern Barents shelf, minor underpressure (up to 23 bar below hydrostatic pressure) is observed in the fault-bounded Mesozoic reservoirs of the Fingerdjupet subbasin...

Paleokarst breccias are a common feature of sedimentary rift basins. The Billefjorden Trough in the high Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is an example of such a rift. Here the Carboniferous stratigraphy exhibits intervals of paleokarst breccias formed by gypsum dissolution. In this study we integrate digital outcrop models (DOMs) with a 2D ground pe...

The high Arctic is a remote place, where geoscientific research and teaching require expensive and logistically demanding expeditions to make use of the short field seasons. The absence of vegetation facilitates the use of modern photogrammetric techniques for the cost-effective generation of high-resolution digital outcrop models (DOMs). These geo...

Marine controlled source electromagnetic (CSEM) data have been utilized in the past decade during petroleum exploration of the Barents Shelf, particularly for de-risking the highly porous sandstone reservoirs of the Upper Triassic to Middle Jurassic Realgrunnen Subgroup. In this contribution we compare the resistivity response from CSEM data to res...

Long‐period magnetotelluric (MT) data can be used to interpret upper mantle temperature, hydrogen content, and the presence of partial melt, all of which strongly influence mantle viscosity. We have collected the first long‐period MT data in Svalbard and have combined them with preexisting broadband MT data to produce a model of the electrical resi...

Cooling fracture orientations in diabase sills associated with the Cretaceous High Arctic Large Igneous Province and syn‐sedimentary Triassic faults help constrain a model for Svalbard's (NE Barents Shelf) Mesozoic stress field evolution. Fracture data from Edgeøya and adjacent islands in SE Svalbard, from S Spitsbergen, and from literature were us...