A stratigraphical and palaeoenvironmental analysis of the sub-basaltic Palaeogene sediments of East Greenland

Palaeogene sedimentary strata from beneath the basaltic lavas ofEast Greenland have yielded a suite of palynofloras which determine the ageand environment of deposition of these rock units. These palynofloras include Apectodinium augustum, Deflandrea oebisfeldensis and a pollen assemblage containing common Caryapollenites veripites with Camerozonosporites heskemensis and Stereisporites in assemblages characteristic of the latest Paleocene to earliest Eocene Sequence T40. This allows a correlation to be established, complementing an already established framework based on lava geochemistry, which shows that lava eruption in East Greenland was initiated somewhat later than in the Faroe Islands. It also highlights the presence of a widespread major unconformity in the East Greenland succession, spanning the late Maastrichtian to the end of the Paleocene. The lack of sedimentation throughout the Early Paleocene, and majority of the Late Paleocene, highlights the possibility of Paleocene sedimentary systems bypassing the East Greenland shelf, with clastic deposition forced eastwards towards the area of the Faroe Islands and the Møre and Vøring basins.