Deep-time paleoclimate events preserved in Svalbard’s rock record – a review

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0 20 40 8060 100 km
DD1-2
DH1-8
Palaeogene - Neogene
Middle Jurassic - Lower Cretaceous
Triassic - Middle Jurassic
Carboniferous and Permian
Devonian
Lower Palaeozoic
Neoproterozoic
Mesoproterozoic
(possibly with Palaeoproterozoic)
Palaeoproterozoic
Intrusive rocks
Layered rocks
Stratigraphy
Dolerite, Cretaceous age
Gabbro, Caledonian age
Granite, Caledonian age
Granite and quartz porphyry,
Grenvillian age
Neoproterozoic
(tilloid-bearing successions)
Boreholes
Hydrocarbon Exploration
Scientific Boreholes
Coal Exploration (>500 wells)
assdalen III
assdalen II
Deep-time paleoclimate events
preserved in Svalbard’s rock record – a review
Aleksandra Smyrak-Sikora1, Lars Eivind Augland ², Peter Betlem1,2, Thomas Birchall 1,2, Alvar Braathen2, Sten-Andreas Grundvåg3, William Helland-Hansen⁴, Maria Jensen¹,
Malte M. Jochmann1,5, Erik P. Johanessen6, Morgan T. Jones2, Gareth S. Lord 1, Atle Mørk 7, Snorre Olaussen1, Sverre Planke2 ,8, Kim Senger ¹, Lars Stemmerik ⁹, Valentin Zuchuat ²
1 Department of Arctic Geology, The University Centre in Svalbard, aleksandras@unis.no; peterbe@unis.no; thomas.birchall@unis.no;
maria.jensen@unis.no; maltej@unis.no; garethlo@unis.no; kim.senger@unis.no;
2 Department of Geosciences, The University of Oslo, l.e.augland@geo.uio.no; alvar.braathen@geo.uio.no m.t.jones@geo.uio.no; valentin.zuchuat@geo.uio.no;
3 Department of Geosciences, University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway; sten-andreas.grundvag@uit.no
4 Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, P. Box 7803, N-5020 Bergen, Norway, William.Helland-Hansen@uib.no
5 Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani AS, malte.jochmann@snsk.no
6 EP Skolithos, Sisikveien 36, 4022 Stavanger, Norway; erik.p.johannessen@gmail.com
7 Department of Geoscience and Petroleum, NTNU, Trondheim; atle.arctic@gmail.com
8 Volcanic Basin Petroleum Research (VBPR), Oslo; planke@vbpr.no
9 Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 København K, Denmark; ls@geus.dk
ONGOING PROJECTS
INTRODUCTION OVERVIEW OF GEOLOGICAL MATERIAL
REFERENCES
Well-exposed outcrops provide excellent targets for analyses
of past climate changes from local to global scale (Fig. 3). In
addition, 18 petroleum exploration boreholes, several research
wells, and hundreds of coal exploration boreholes were drilled
within various parts of the sedimentary succession. These
wells offer the possibility of up to mm-scale sampling. For
example: several fully cored coal exploration boreholes
provide high-resolution data across the PETM, eight fully
cored research boreholes drilled as part of a CO2 storage
project offer a total of 4.5 km of Triassic–Cretaceous core and
petrophysical data. Combining these datasets with nearby
outcrops has been the basis of numerous studies, including a
redefinition of the geological timescale.
Here, we synthesize past and ongoing studies of the
deep-time paleoclimatic in Svalbard (Fig. 3). We also present
an overview of geological material from Svalbard available for
such studies, including fully cored boreholes available from
research and coal exploration.
During research drilling of the Permian-Triassic (P-T) boundary
in 2014, two cores of almost 100 m each were recovered.
These cores enabled multidisciplinary analyses of the
paleo-climatic conditions across the P-T boundary and the
accompanying EPME and Dienerian crisis at a resolution not
yet achieved in the High Arctic (Fig. 6; Zuchuat et al., 2020).
The drilling operations were conducted with minimal
environmental impact, at relatively low cost, thus providing an
important model for future stratigraphic drilling in Svalbard.
Permo-Triassic boundaryHumid to dry Carboniferous climate change
from Olaussen et al., in prep. Palaeogene coal seams as a key to high-resolution climate study
Humid to dry climate transition in Lower Carboniferous deposits in central
Spitsbergen
- Ourcrop studies
- Future ICDP proposal
from Jensenn et al., in prep. and Jochmann et al., in prep
Longyearbyen
DH1 and 2
UNIS CO2 WELL PARK
DH3, 4, 5R,6,7A,8
c. 12 km
Adolfbukta
Petuniabukta
Adolfbukta
Petuniabukta
LOG
ICDP borehole proposal
LOG
ICDP borehole proposal
Gipshuken Formation
Wordiekammen Formation
Ebbadalen Formation
Hultberget Formation
Metamorphic basement
Billefjorden Group
Minkinfjellet Formation
Devonian rocks
Gipsdalen Group
LEGEND
Photo: Sverre Planke, 2014
0°
90°W
180°
90°E
IBCAO (Jakobsson, 2012)
DELTADALEN WELLS DD1-2
(Zuchuat et al. 2020; Rodríguez-Tovar, submitted)
Micropaleontology and age: H. parvus: 84.00 mbs (Fig. 6)
just below tephra dated to 252.04 ± 0.67 Ma
δ13Corg negative excursion-End Permian ME
Ichnology
Progressive and selective disappearance
‘’Pulses’’ of Planolites and Phycosiphon (P)
Short-lived episodes of increased oxygen during an anoxia
<200 kyr to go back to pre-ME levels
Geochemistry
Tephra beds and High Pb -> Volcanic activity, coal fire
Increasing V/Cr and Th/U-dys/anoxia
Drop in Fe/K ->more arid conditions
Climate Controls on Longyear Ash Content
The Svalbard archipelago (Fig. 1a) offers access
to a near complete succession of sedimentary
rocks spanning the past 650 million years. The
preserved sedimentary succession records
several global climatic and eustatic sea-level
changes along with Svalbard’s global position
from the southern hemisphere in pre-Devonian
times to its current position at 78°N. Evidence of
past climatic variations include the Late
Proterozoic Snowball Earth, the Late Paleozoic
tropical and sub-tropical climates, eustatic
sea-level fluctuations caused by the Gondwana
glaciations, the End Permian Mass Extinction
(EPME), Mesozoic climate fluctuations, including
Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE1) and
Paleogene-Eocene warming (PETM), and finally,
Quaternary to Holocene glaciations.
Fig. 2. Elevation model draped with aerial images (courtesy of the Norwegian Polar Institute) of Longyearbyen vicinity
showing the location of the UNIS CO2 well park (modified from Olaussen et al. 2019). Fig. 3. Geological development of Svalbard from the Devonian to present including paleo-latitude, tectonic
setting, climate, and borehole stratigraphic coverage (see QR code for references).
BASEMENT
Fig. 4. Sedimentary log (a) from recently exposed
bedrock deposits representing the transition from the
Billefjorden Group to the Gipsdalen Group,
corresponding to a shift from humid to dry climate
without major changes in the depositional setting. Red
(b) and black (c) alluvial mudstones with rootlets
interbedded with fluvial channel sandstones.
Fig. 5. (a) Aerial images draped on elevation model
showing the location of sedimentary log from Fig. 4a and
position of proposed shallow stratigraphic (b) Geological
map (modified from Smyrak-Sikora et al., 2018).
Fig. 6.Data analysis from core taken at the Deltadalen shallow stratigraphic borehole (See Fig. 1 for location
of DD-1) recording the Permian-Triassic boundary. For details see Zuchuat et al. (2020). The increase in
anoxia/disoxia is associated with increased sediment input (Rodríguez-Tovar, in review).
Fig. 1. (a) Location of Svalbard in the Northern Hemisphere. (b) Geological map of Svalbard (from Dallmann et. al. 2015), with locations of
hydrocarbon boreholes (green), scientific boreholes (blue) and areas of more than 500 coal exploration boreholes (red). Well locations from
Senger et al. (2019).
Deltadalen P-T
7811/2-2 Kvadehuken III
?
7811/2-1 Kvadehuken II
Kvadehuken I
?
7714/3-1 Bellsund I
7714/2-1 Grønnfjorden I
7815/10-1 Colesbukta
7715/3-1 Ishøgda I
7715/1-2 V
7715/1-1 V
7811/5-1 Sarstangen
?
Petroleum exploration boreholes Other boreholes
Stratigraphy observed
Stratigraphy missing
Key
Andrée Land Group
Gipsdalen Group
Kapp Toscana Group
Kapp Toscana Group
Adventdalen Group
Red Bay Group
Buchananisen Group
Calypsostranda Group
HIATUS
HIATUS
HIATUS
Billefjorden Group
Sassendalen Group
Tempelfjorden Group
Van Mijenfjorden Group
HIATUS
Adventdalen Group
vvvvvvv vvvvvvv vvvvvv
vvvvvvv vvvv
vvvv
Glendonites
Organic-rich marine mudstone
Volcanism
Intrusions
Extessional basins
Contractional structures
Dropstones
80°N
60°N
65°N
45°N
10°N
25°N
79°N
Glaciations
Intramontane molasse basin
(typical Old Red Sandstone)
Open-marine, temperate to cold-water shelf
Condensed succession
Marine shelf
HALIP
High Arctic Large
Igneous Province
Foreland basin
Marine shelf
Repeated glaciations
Immature, continental molasse basins
STRATIGRAPHIC UNIT
Open to restricted
shallow-marine carbonate shelf
ERA-
THEM
SYSTEM
Cenozoic
Quaternary
Mesozoic
Palaeozoic
CretaceousJurassic
Triassic
Permian
CarboniferousDevonian
Neogene
Palaeogene
Upper
Lower
Upper
Lower
Upper
Middle
Middle
Lower
Guadalu-
pian
Cisuralian
Lopingian
Pennsyl-
vanian
Mississip-
pian
Lower
Upper
Middle
Miocene
Oligocene
Eocene
Paleocene
Pliocene
419
393
383
359
323
299
272
260
201
174
163
145
100
66
56
34
23
5.3
2.6
235
252
247
AGE
(mill. years)
LATITUDE
(approximate)
GLOBAL SEA LEVEL
and GLAIATIONS
0 -200
m above present
200400
SERIES
GEOLOGICAL SETTING IN SVALBARD
Silisiclastic dominated sedimentary rocks
Carbonate and/or evaporite dominated sedientary rocks
Igneous rocks
Hiatus
Pro-delta to delta front succession
Glaciations
Continental deposits
-4
Eurekan event
Marine shelf
v
Major and minor coal deposits
Calcretes
δ18 O(parts per thousand)
COLD
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
HOT
Global climate change
Veizer et al. (1999)
Project 1
Project 2
Project 3
??
Svalbard climate review
ABCD E
Tropical
Dry
Temperate
Continental
Polar
Rainforest
Savannah
Steppe
Desert
Humid subtropical
Maritime temperate
Maritime subarctic
Hot summer
Warm summer
Continental subarctic
PETM
P-T boundary
based on continental/ paralic deposits
based on marine deposits
?
Paleo-climate estimations
OAE1
ABCD E
Tropical
Dry
Temperate
Continental
Polar
??
Thickness of coal (cm from the seam floor)
Aluminium Titanium
1000 3000 5000
1000 3000 5000
ppm
140
130
120
110
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
DRY?
DRY?
DRY?
DRY?
from Zuchuat et al. 2020; Rodríguez-Tovar, in review.
Fig. 8. (a) Photograph of the Longyear coal seam in Mine 7. (b) XRF data from the
Longyear coal seam showing climatic variations over ca. 100 kyrs in the
Palaeocene (from Marshall, 2013). Counterintuatively wet priods show evidence of
forest fires while dry periods do not. It is likely the abundance of fires in wet humid
periods was due to lightning strikes.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(a)
(b)
60 million years ago, forests and peat lands were present at 80 ºN
(further north than Svalbard today). Paleocene coal seams contain
high-resolution paleoclimate proxies, with 2 m of coal representing
c. 100 kyr of deposition
.
19/22 thousand years
precessional
Dust Cycle
Fig. 7. Map of southern
Spitsbergen showing exposures
of Palaeocene - Eocene Van
Mijenfjorden Group deposits
(yellow). Dots represent more
than 400 coal exploration
boreholes by Store Norske
Spitsbergen Kulkompani (SNSK)
with more than 62 km of core
stored locally.
Fig.
Fig. 7
(a)
(b)