Tracking thermal history in East Greenland: an overview

Fission track (FT) analyses of basement and sediments along the East Greenland margin between c. 73 degrees N and 63 degrees N reveal details of the thermal, exhumation and depositional history. Apatite FT ages in basement areas increase both inland and with increasing elevations, reflecting Post-Caledonian uplift and erosion. Along rift shoulders, grain ages provide evidence that cooling is still going on in response to denudation. A Tertiary magmatic event disturbed this evolution thermally to different degrees in the Kangerlussuaq area. In the Jameson Land sedimentary basin, thermal history is related to maximum burial depth. Burial along the eastern side of the Jameson Land basin resulted in temperatures close to those for total FT annealing, e.g. 125 degrees C - slightly above in the north-east and below in the south. Final cooling from temperatures in the apatite annealing interval to below c. 60 degrees C started or was enhanced in Neogene times. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.