Evolution of a clastic source-to-sink system through the Permian-Triassic transition: Provenance and petrography of the Havert Formation on Finnmark Platform, Barents Sea, Norway

The onset of the Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province at the Permian–Triassic transition significantly affected climate and depositional environments across the world. Known long term consequences of this event are (I) global warming, (II) increased continental weathering, (III) oceanic stagnation and acidification and (IV) mass extinction. These effects have the potential to strongly alter signals from source-to-sink systems in terms of petrography, sediment volumes and geochemistry. On the Finnmark Platform, a shift in provenance from a southern source to an eastern source during the middle Triassic is known. However, the impact of the environmental changes at the Permian-Triassic transition have so far not been investigated. The Barents Sea Basin contains a continuous record of sediments deposited before, during and after the Permian-Triassic event. The interval is present in several exploration wells, which show the transition in individual depositional environments. Therefore, it serves as an excellent area to investigate the response of source-to-sink systems to such extreme climatic changes.

The goal of this project is to investigate how the Triassic climatic changes were expressed in source-to-sink systems, mainly using techniques such as provenance, facies analysis, petrography, and sediment volumes. Herein we present preliminary provenance and petrography results mainly from Induan-aged sandstones and clasts from the Havert Formation. On the Finnmark Platform, upper Permian spiculate mudstones, limestones, and sparse sandstones are overlain by Lower Triassic mudstones and interbedded sandstones, which deposited as turbidites and prograding deltas. In order to determine how the signal from the catchment changed in relation to the great climatic changes, it is of high importance to examine changes within provenance and sediment volumes across the Permian-Triassic transition.