Stratigraphic and fission track evidence for the rising Iceland Plume in the Maastrichtian

Stratigraphic evidence shows the presence of an unconformity starting at 68 Ma (Maastrichtian) in the Canadian archipelago, on- and off-shore west and north Greenland, in Svalbard, on the Lomonosov Ridge, in East Greenland, on- and off-shore Norway and the Faroe Basin (Japsen et al., 2023). These observations are consistent with interpretation of apatite fission track data in the same areas. We suggest that this unconformity reflects doming above the rising head of the Iceland Plume in the upper mantle and prior to its impact at the base of the lithosphere at 62 Ma, 6 Myr later. These observations are consistent with the predictions of Campbell (2007) who showed evidence that pre-impact doming can become evident 3 to 10 Myr before plume impact, and that the diameter of the dome can be of the order of 1000 to 2000 km.

References.

Campbell, 2007. Testing the plume theory. Chem. Geol. 241, 153–1117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2007.01.024

Japsen, Green, Chalmers, 2023. Synchronous exhumation episodes across Arctic Canada, North Greenland and Svalbard in relation to the Eurekan Orogeny. Gondwana Research, 117, 207-229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2023.01.011