Mesozoic sediment dispersal patterns on the southwest Barents Shelf

During the Mesozoic, the Barents Shelf formed part of a large epicontinental seaway during which up to 8 km of predominantly clastic sediments were deposited. On the SW Barents Shelf thick accumulations of sand were deposited in predominantly deltaic and shallow-marine environments. The sedimentary source region for these sands was traditionally interpreted to be within the Caledonides and Fennoscandian Shield of northern Scandinavia. More recently, insights from wellbores and seismic surveys have revealed that a major deltaic system associated with the uplift of the Uralian Mountains may have spread northwest across the shelf and significantly affected sand dispersal patterns.

In this study, we present how a range of provenance techniques in combination with sedimentology and analysis of published seismic interpretations can be used to differentiate between, and map the extent of, “Caledonide” and “Uralide” sourced dispersal systems in time and space on the SW Barents Shelf. The provenance techniques utilised include petrographic data, heavy mineral abundance counts, mineral geochemistry and detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology. The results have implications for our understanding of source area exhumation, sediment dispersal patterns and interactions and the hydrocarbon prospectivity of the receiving basin.