Status of the geological research in Svalbard and the Barents Sea

Abstract

For more than one hundred years the archipelago of Svalbard has been visited by numerous geologists particularly interested in the stratigraphy and palaeontology of the nearly continuous series of late Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary successions. After the second world war more detailed and process-oriented studies have greatly increased our knowledge of the stratigraphical, structural and petrological development of the crystalline basement, as well as of the palaeogeography, structure and depositional regime of the sedimentary basins. Dating of raised beaches and studies of erratics, striation and geomorphology have revealed more of the glacial history during the late Pleistocene and the Holocene. Marine geophysical and geological research during the last 10‒15 years has proved the existence of a thick sedimentary sequence covering the whole western Barents Sea shelf. Models of the stratigraphical and structural evolution have been developed but are still waiting for geological well control. The thickness, composition, and glacial history of the bottom sediments have been regionally explored.

Keywords

• Svalbard archipelago
• western Barents Sea
• geological history
• stratigraphy
• structural geology
• glacial history
• Precambrian-Holocene