Constraining shifts in North Atlantic plate motions during the Palaeocene by U-Pb dating of Svalbard tephra layers

Abstract

Abstract Radioisotopic dating of volcanic minerals is a powerful method for establishing absolute time constraints in sedimentary basins, which improves our understanding of the chronostratigraphy and evolution of basin processes. The relative plate motions of Greenland, North America, and Eurasia changed several times during the Palaeogene. However, the timing of a key part of this sequence, namely the initiation of compression between Greenland and Svalbard, is currently poorly constrained. The formation of the Central Basin in Spitsbergen is inherently linked to changes in regional plate motions, so an improved chronostratigraphy of the sedimentary sequence is warranted. Here we present U-Pb zircon dates from tephra layers close to the basal unconformity, which yield a weighted-mean 206Pb/238U age of 61.596 ± 0.028 Ma (2σ). We calculate that sustained sedimentation began at ~61.8 Ma in the eastern Central Basin based on a sediment accumulation rate of 71.6 ± 7.6 m/Myr. The timing of basin formation is broadly coeval with depositional changes at the Danian-Selandian boundary around the other margins of Greenland, including the North Sea, implying a common tectonic driving force. Furthermore, these stratigraphic tie points place age constraints on regional plate reorganization events, such as the onset of seafloor spreading in the Labrador Sea.