Geology of the Lower Cretaceous in the Falkebjerg area, Wollaston Forland, northern East Greenland

Abstract

New data on the Lower Cretaceous Falskebugt Member (Palnatokes Bjerg Formation) and Stratumbjerg Formation in easternmost Wollaston Forland, northern East Greenland, are interpreted here. The type locality of the Falskebugt Member on the north-west corner of the Falkebjerg ridge has been revisited, and additional new good exposures were found in a riverbed just north of Falkebjerg and more in river beds on the plain further to the north, where both the Falskebugt Member and the Stratumbjerg Formation are exposed. Previously, only a limited marine fauna was reported providing a restricted middle Valanginian age of the Falskebugt Member. New fossil faunas in other parts of the Falskebugt Member suggest an early Valanginian – Hauterivian age and confirm lateral correlation with the Albrechts Bugt and Rødryggen Members of the Palnatokes Bjerg Formation. However, in places where the Falskebugt Member is exposed in contact with the lower Stratumbjerg Formation, dinoflagellate cysts from these units indicate Barremian and late Barremian ages, respectively. The stratigraphic range of the combined biostratigraphic data from the Falskebugt Member indicates an early Valanginian – late Barremian age. Dinoflagellate cysts from part of the assemblage in the Stratumbjerg Formation suggest a marginal marine/brackish water depositional environment. Comparable depositional environments are also recorded in upper Barremian sediments on Store Koldewey and in the Ladegårdsåen Formation on Peary Land much farther to the north in Greenland. The dark mudstones of the Stratumbjerg Formation show no potential for generation of liquid hydrocarbons, and the immature and poorly sorted sediments of the Falskebugt Member have little potential as a petroleum reservoir.