http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2645-2086
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ABSTRACT
Four stratigraphic cores (7533/2-U-1, 2-U-2, 3-U-7 and 7534/4-U-1) drilled in the Sentralbanken High provide important reference sections for the Upper Triassic succession in the northern Barents Sea. The cores span the De Geerdalen, Flatsalen and Svenskøya formations (Kapp Toscana Group), which are equivalent to the Snadd to middle Fruholmen formations of the southern Barents Sea. Only cursory palynological study of the cores has been conducted previously, and no published palynofacies data is available. We present a detailed palynostratigraphy from the cores, and describe six informal palynological assemblages. Comparison with independently dated sections from elsewhere in the region enables a revised age interpretation of early Carnian to Norian for the cored interval, thereby improving correlation between Sentralbanken, Svalbard and the southern Barents Sea. A dominance of amorphous organic matter (AOM) and marine palynomorphs indicates a distal suboxic–anoxic marine depositional environment for the lower De Geerdalen Formation, with an abrupt change to a nearshore marine environment above an erosion surface in core 7534/4-U-1. Palynofacies from the remainder of the formation are characterised by a dominance of phytoclasts and are interpreted as indicative of a delta front to coastal plain environment. The reappearance of AOM, microforaminiferal test linings and marine microphytoplankton in the Flatsalen Formation in cores 7533/2-U-1 and 2-U-2 reflects a regional transgression of early Norian age. Reworked palynomorphs, shale rip-up clasts and a transition to phytoclast-dominated palynofacies above an erosion surface at the base of the overlying Svenskøya Formation is consistent with a disconformity, which was previously identified as a possible sequence boundary on the neighbouring island of Hopen.
Acknowledgements
We are indebted to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) for permission to sample cores used in this study, and for providing access to their palynological slide collection. Jordan Holl (University of Bergen) is thanked for her assistance in sampling the cores. We also thank Dr Paulo Fernandes and one anonymous reviewer for their valuable feedback.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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Notes on contributors
Niall William Paterson
NIALL W. PATERSON is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bergen, Norway, and specialises in Palaeozoic and Mesozoic palynology. Niall's Ph.D. work focused on Devonian and Carboniferous miospores from the Appalachian Basin, U.S.A. Niall joined ExxonMobil Exploration Co. in 2009 as a palynologist, before returning to academia in 2012. His current research concerns the Triassic and Jurassic palynostratigraphy of the circum-Arctic region.
Gunn Mangerud
GUNN MANGERUD is a professor in biostratigraphy/palynology and currently Head of Department of Earth Science at the University of Bergen (UoB), Norway. She started her career as a researcher at IKU, SINTEF in Trondheim. Her main research interests include the Triassic, Permian and carboniferous palynology of the Norwegian Arctic. In 1993, she moved to Bergen and started work as a geologist and a biostratigrapher in Norsk Hydro holding different positions within research, exploration and reservoir technology. Leaving Norsk Hydro in 2004, she was a CEO for the National Center Internationalization in HE, until she got a position at UoB in 2009 and moved back to palynology.
Lars Haug Holen
LARS H. HOLEN completed his master thesis entitled “Late Triassic (Carnian) Palynology of the Northern Barents Sea (Sentralbanken High)” at the University of Bergen in 2014. During his degree, he travelled to Svalbard on an NPD excursion in the Isfjorden area. He also worked as a field assistant on Svalbard for three weeks. He currently works with Tieto Energy Components in Stavanger.
Johne Landa
JOHNE LANDA is a geologist at GeoPhysix AS, a consultancy firm located in Asker, Norway. He gained his MSc degree in petroleum geology at the University of Bergen, with Gunn Mangerud as supervisor and Niall W. Paterson as co-supervisor. Johne completed his master project entitled, “Late Triassic palynology from core 7534/4-U-1, Sentralbanken area, Barents Sea” in September 2015.
Bjørn Anders Lundschien
BJØRN ANDERS LUNDSCHIEN is a senior geologist in the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD). His background is sedimentology and he wrote his Cand. Scient. thesis on shallow marine Paleogene sandstones of Svalbard. In the NPD, he has worked in production, development, exploration and regional geology. The last decade his main interest had been the Triassic in the Barents Sea Shelf, including Svalbard. He has been responsible for the coordination of several field expeditions to Svalbard since 2006, which also has been a joint Russian–Norwegian project. He was a co-editor of the NPD Bulletin No. 11, where the results of these expeditions were summarised in 10 scientific publications.
Frøydis Eide
FRØYDIS EIDE is a Dr. Scient. mainly educated at the University of Bergen, Norway (UoB) where she also gained her Cand. Real. degree. Additional education is from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the University of Oslo, Norway. At UoB she held positions as associate professor, research fellow and project scientist, working within biology, systematics, palynology, Quaternary history of vegetation and palaeoecology. For years, Frøydis has worked as a biostratigrapher in the exploration departments of Saga Petroleum and later on in Norsk Hydro and Statoil. Her main research interests are within the Mesozoic, mainly the Jurassic and Triassic. Frøydis has been an editor of the World Pollen and Spore Flora, and Grana, an international journal of palynology and aerobiology. Since 2008, she is a president of Collegium Palynologicum Scandinavicum (CPS).