Sedimentary Geology 152 (2002) 7 – 17
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From isolated buildups to buildup mosaics: 3D seismic sheds
new light on upper Carboniferous–Permian fault controlled
carbonate buildups, Norwegian Barents Sea
Geir Elvebakk a, David W. Hunt b,1, Lars Stemmerik c,*
a
Norsk Hydro Production AS, N-9480 Harstad, Norway
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
c
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen, NV, Denmark
b
Received 20 March 2002; accepted 29 April 2002
Abstract
Carbonate buildups are a common feature of many ancient carbonate platforms, and were especially abundant during the
Palaeozoic. Our present understanding of buildup distribution, and the ability to better predict their location, is however
hampered by the fact that maps of buildups rarely show evidence of widespread spatial organisation and indeed their
distribution often appears chaotic. A previously unrecognized pattern of buildup distribution has been revealed by threedimensional (3D) seismic data recently acquired from the Loppa High, Norwegian Barents Sea. Here, syn-rift Carboniferous –
Permian buildups are not isolated but are instead linked into a mosaic of laterally extensive ridges. The buildups’ location is
controlled by the intersection of three trends of syndepositional faults. Systematic organisation of buildup height, width, density
and external form across the study area appears to have been controlled by changes in accommodation space driven by
differential subsidence. The buildups were remarkably long-lived and developed over an interval of 35 Ma. Despite this
longevity, buildup location remained relatively static and true to the underlying pattern of basement faults, indicating that their
progradation was likely restricted by a combination of factors including limited highstand production, their depositional relief
<420 m, steep flanks and/or differential subsidence. Study of the buildups’ internal seismic geometries, and analogy to wellexposed onshore buildups, indicates that they are composite features, developed through the repeated recolonization of
antecedent bathymetric seafloor highs following hiatuses related to both subaerial exposure and drowning. The picture of
interconnected buildup mosaics described for the first time here provides important new insights as to the spatial and internal
organisation of carbonate buildups and has potentially far-reaching implications for the interpretation of buildups in areas where
good 3D control is poor or unavailable.
D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Carbonate; Buildup; Palaeozoic; Fault control
1. Introduction
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +45-3814-2728; fax: +45-38142050.
E-mail address: LS@geus.dk (L. Stemmerik).
1
Present address: Norsk Hydro Research, Bergen, Norway.
One of the greatest challenges in sedimentology is
to explain the spatial distribution of isolated buildups
on ancient carbonate platforms. This is because in
0037-0738/02/$ - see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 3 7 - 0 7 3 8 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 2 3 2 - 4
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G. Elvebakk et al. / Sedimentary Geology 152 (2002) 7–17
map-view, buildups, seldom show obvious widespread organisation in terms of their location, spacing,
areal extent, elongation or preferred orientation. More
often, maps of buildup distribution reveal little
obvious order, and indeed frequently appear chaotic
(e.g. Hurst, 1980). By way of contrast, dip section
buildups are known to show systematic down slope
organisation in terms of their vertical relief, external
form, internal stacking patterns, facies and fauna (e.g.
Beauchamp, 1993). Such variation attests to the control of water depth and accommodation on buildup
location and development. Given the importance of
these controls, and that of tectonically generated or
depositional slope breaks on buildup location (e.g.
Nilsen et al., 1993; Kirkby and Hunt, 1996; Rankey et
al., 1999; James et al., 2000), the general absence of
widespread map-view trends and order in buildup
distribution is rather perplexing.
Carboniferous –Permian rift-related buildups of the
Loppa High, Norwegian Barents Sea, present a wellconstrained example of such a situation (Fig. 1A,B).
Seismic sections reveal both systematic down ramp
changes in the size, external form and internal geometries of the buildups, and a clear relationship
between syndepositional faulting and carbonate
buildup location (e.g. Fig. 1C; Stemmerik et al.,
1999). However, mapping the buildups over 5000
km2 from a 11 km to 22 km spaced two-dimensional (2D) seismic grid has revealed a picture of
several hundred isolated buildups that is mostly
devoid of obvious spatial organisation (Fig. 1B). Only
in the SE of the area are there obvious NNE – SSW
trends of buildups that can be related to the control of
syndepositional faults on their location.
On the Loppa High, it seems paradoxical that
although in seismic section, more than 40% of the
Fig. 1. (A) Position of the Loppa High in the Norwegian Barents
Sea. (B) Palaeogeography of the Loppa High during the Gzelian –
Asselian. The distribution of the buildups appears to be largely
devoid of obvious spatial organisation, except in the SE of the area
where there are NNE – SSW buildups trends. The map also shows
the location of the 3D seismic data that covers the Obelix Structure,
and the approximate location of (C) and Fig. 3. (C) Schematic dip
section through the Loppa High illustrating the inferred fault control
on buildup location, a pattern generally not reflected by the mapped
distribution of buildups from the 2D seismic data set (e.g. (B)).
G. Elvebakk et al. / Sedimentary Geology 152 (2002) 7–17
buildups show evidence of fault control on their
location, most of the area mapped from the 2D data
shows little in the way of buildup organisation or
preferred orientation (Fig. 1B). Prior to the arrival of
3D data, we considered that Late Carboniferous –
Early Permian high frequency, high amplitude sea
level changes (e.g. Crowell, 1978; Sohregan and
Giles, 1999) might offer an explanation for the paucity of buildup organisation apparent in Fig. 1B. High
frequency, high amplitude sea level changes would
have repeatedly shifted the optimum depth window
for carbonate production up and down ramp, and so
could have facilitated buildup initiation and growth in
locations aside from the areas of fault controlled relief.
It was thought that in sufficient numbers, the growth
of such buildups might have obscured the linear
trends expected from the widespread control of faulting on buildup location across the high (e.g. Fig. 1C).
The arrival of a new 3D seismic survey acquired
from some 967 km2 of the Loppa High has, however,
radically altered previous understanding of the distribution, external form and connectivity of the buildups.
To our complete surprise, the large isolated carbonate
buildups interpreted from the 2D data (e.g. Fig. 1B)
and so well known from many other late Palaeozoic
carbonate platforms (e.g. Wilson, 1975; Davies et al.,
1989) do not exist. Instead, the buildups are laterally
linked into a mosaic of ridges that bifurcate and
amalgamate along strike. The mosaic of buildups is
related to their initiation and growth over a network of
three intersecting trends of syndepositional faults. The
highly organised picture of laterally linked carbonate
buildup ridges revealed here could not be more different to the seemingly chaotic distribution of isolated
buildups interpreted from the 2D data. The results of
this study have important implications for the interpretation of buildup distribution and connectivity on
ancient carbonate platforms, especially those where
Fig. 2. Relief map of the Obelix Structure for the Gzelian seismic
reflector from the 3D seismic dataset as located in Fig. 1B. Note the
division of the easterly and southerly dipping ramp into several fault
blocks by NE – SW trending faults (F1 – 4). Across the area, there
are systematic changes in the density and the relief of the buildup
ridges and the polygonal intraplatform basins/lagoons that they
enclose from N to S and W to E. The location of the buildups
illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 is also marked. I-M: Inner-middle ramp;
O: outer ramp; cross-hatched area: Evaporite basins.
9
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G. Elvebakk et al. / Sedimentary Geology 152 (2002) 7–17
good 3D control is absent. It is also worth noting that
two other nearby 3D surveys covering the easternmost
part of the Loppa High/westernmost part of the
Bjarmeland Platform and a third 3D survey from the
Finnmark Platform (Fig. 1A) also show laterally
linked buildup ridges and associated polygonal lagoonal patterns. Clearly, the laterally linked buildup
ridges are not a local phenomenon, but have a more
regional distribution.
2. Regional setting
The Loppa High, located in the westernmost
Barents Sea (Fig. 1A), is positioned at the intersection
between the Caledonian, Franklinian and Baikalian
structural trends that were formed during Precambrian – Early Palaeozoic orogenesis. These basement
fabrics are considered to have controlled the orientation
of the three main rift-related NE –SW, N – S and NW –
SE trends of the Carboniferous – Permian fault systems
(e.g. Ziegler, 1982; Gabrielsen et al., 1990; Alsgaard,
1993; Gudlaugsson et al., 1998). Of these, the NE –SW
Caledonian trend that parallels the Nordkapp, Hammerfest and Tromsø basins is most important (Fig.
1A,B). During Upper Carboniferous – Permian rifting,
NE –SW oriented hinge faults controlled the gradual
tilting of the fault block to form an overall eastward
dipping carbonate ramp. This ramp was distally steepened and is divided into several ramp segments by N – S
and NW – SE trending faults (e.g. faults F1 – 4, Figs. 2
and 3). The N – S directed faults parallel the main fault
systems in Svalbard and North Greenland and are
related to the Arctic rift system located between Svalbard and North Greenland (Gudlaugsson et al., 1998).
The NW –SE oriented faults are most important in the
northern fault block covered by the 3D data (Figs. 2 and
3) and may represent reactivated Baikalian lineaments
(Alsgaard, 1993).
During the Late Carboniferous and Permian, the
Barents Sea was a part of a huge segmented shelf
system running along the northern margin of Pangea
from the Sverdrup Basin of Arctic Canada, through
North Greenland and Svalbard to the Timan– Pechora
basin in Arctic Russia (Watkins and Wilson, 1989;
Golonka et al., 1994; Stemmerik and Worsley, 1989;
Stemmerik, 2000). During the late Bashkirian – Sakmarian (mid-Carboniferous– Early Permian), this area
was located in the northern semi-arid climatic belt.
Ramp sedimentation was dominated by warm water
carbonates with deep basinal areas filled by evaporites
(e.g. Fig. 1B; Stemmerik, 2000).
Fig. 3. Seismic line and SG9810-6501, as located on Fig. 2, and an interpretative line drawing. Note the obvious fault control on buildup
location and gradual southward thickening of the buildup ridges. The separation of the platform into several fault blocks with contrasting
subsidence histories is apparent. These different fault blocks are characterized by buildups with contrasting density, vertical relief, internal
stacking patterns and external form (e.g. see Figs. 2, 4 and 5).
G. Elvebakk et al. / Sedimentary Geology 152 (2002) 7–17
During rifting, the Loppa High was positioned
close to the eastern margin of a Late Palaeozoic Arctic
rift system located between North Greenland and
Svalbard (Gudlaugsson et al., 1998). It experienced
three distinct late Palaeozoic rift phases; Early Carboniferous, Bashkirian –Moscovian (late Carboniferous) and mid – late Permian. Across the Loppa High,
these phases resulted in overall gradual eastward
tilting, faulting and differential subsidence (e.g. Stemmerik et al., 1999). Well data show initially high rates
of siliciclastic sedimentation during the initial phase
of Bashkirian rifting but that siliciclastic supply had
ceased by the mid-Moscovian as the high was flooded
(Stemmerik et al., 1999; Elvebakk et al., in preparation).
3. Data
In 1998, 3D seismic data covering a large structural
high, known as the Obelix Structure in the central area
of the Loppa High, were acquired (Figs. 1B and 2).
The area was selected on the basis of seismic mapping
of 2D data of various vintages that established the
overall structural framework and palaeogeography
across approximately 5000 km2. Interpretation of the
2D data showed several hundred scattered isolated
buildups on an easterly dipping carbonate ramp that
gradually passed eastward into an evaporite basin
(Fig. 1B), and this picture is consistent with the
regional palaeogeographic framework established by
Stemmerik et al. (1999) and Stemmerik (2000).
4. Results
Detailed seismic facies mapping of the Upper
Carboniferous – Lower Permian interval from the 3D
data shows that the carbonate ramp on the Obelix
Structure is cut by four major NE –SW oriented hinge
faults (F1 – 4, Figs. 2 and 3). They define areas with
different subsidence histories and accordingly different palaeogeography. Displacement on the NE –SW
faults typical increases to the east and south resulting
in low-angle ramp development on each fault block
with the greatest subsidence in the east. Based on
seismic facies mapping, the more rapidly subsiding
northern fault block 1 is believed to represent mainly
11
outer ramp environments, while fault blocks 2 – 4
show well-developed inner ramp and middle ramp
environments passing out into outer ramp and basinal
environments (Fig. 2). The platform on the southernmost fault block shows the same general pattern but
with a much narrower middle shelf. Rough estimates
of subsidence rates based on thickness variations
indicate that on the outer ramp, subsidence was at
least double that experienced by the inner ramp areas
(ca. 40 m/Ma compared to ca. 17 m/Ma).
4.1. Linked mosaic buildup ridges: external form and
internal characteristics
Regional correlation with existing seismic, well
and biostratigraphic data indicate that the seismic
buildups were established in the early Moscovian
and that their growth lasted until the early Sakmarian
(ca. 35 Ma). The buildups range from 350 to 1200 m
thick and in seismic section the majority appear to be
almost stationary, especially in outer ramp environments (Figs. 3 and 4). However, mapping of the
buildups has shown that they are not isolated, as
was previously thought from extensive study of the
2D data (e.g. Fig. 2). Instead, they form well-defined
and continuous but somewhat sinuous ridges, many of
which can be traced over distances of 45 km (Fig. 3).
The main orientations of the buildup ridge are NE –
SW, N – S and NW – SE; the latter being typical of the
northernmost fault block. There is good agreement
between the location and orientation of the buildup
ridges and the mapped position of basement controlled syndepositional faults (e.g. Figs. 4 and 5).
In cross-section, the width of the buildups that
comprise the ridges is typically 0.5 –1.5 km, with a
maximum of approximately 3 km. Buildup density
varies from inner to outer ramp settings. In the inner
ramp, the buildups are most extensive and can cover
<65% of the area whereas in outer ramp settings, the
figure is nearer 35% (Fig. 2). At the resolution of
seismic data (ca. 30– 40 m), the external form of the
buildups appears to be rather smooth but is frequently
somewhat asymmetric. The steeper flanks preferentially face seaward, towards the east and south (Fig.
2). The buildups’ flanks dip from a few degrees up to
50j and the outer ramp buildups tend to have steeper
slopes than those in inner and middle settings, as the
former developed greater seafloor relief (Figs. 4 and
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Fig. 4. (A) Seismic line across an outer ramp buildup mosaic in the southern part of the study area. (B) Detailed three-dimensional view from the
3D surface of the buildup mosaic and its polygonal lagoon. (C) Mapped pattern of basement faults that localised buildup location.
5). The steepest slopes occur in buildups affected by
syn-sedimentary faulting.
Internally, the buildups show some complex stacking patterns within third-order seismic sequences that
are typically in the order of 50– 100-m thick (Figs. 4
and 5). The buildups typically display low relief
undulations of up to 50 m along their length. The
creation of random orientation seismic lines from the
3D data, specifically positioned to view lateral varia-
bility along the length of the buildup mosaics, indicates that the undulating relief is related to lateral
progradation of the buildups along the ridges outward
from individual growth centres.
4.2. Semi-enclosed basins/lagoons
The buildup ridges form mosaics that enclose
polygonal basins or lagoons <6 km across (Figs.
G. Elvebakk et al. / Sedimentary Geology 152 (2002) 7–17
13
Fig. 5. (A) Seismic line across an inner ramp buildup mosaic in the northern part of the study area. (B) Detailed three-dimensional view from the
3D surface of the buildup mosaic and its polygonal lagoon. (C) Mapped pattern of basement faults that localised buildup location.
3 –5). They are predominantly filled by parallel to
subparallel seismic reflectors that often thicken
towards the buildups’ flanks (Figs. 4 and 5). Mapping
reveals that as buildup density changes from the inner
to outer ramp so does the area and depositional relief
of these polygonal semi-enclosed basins or lagoons
(Figs. 2, 4 and 5). In outer ramp settings, the buildups
attained a maximum depositional relief of approximately 350 m (e.g. 120 ms two-way travel time
(TWT) given average seismic velocity of 6000 m/s).
These large outer ramp buildup ridges enclose polygonal basins/lagoons typically 2 –3 km across but up to
6.25 km wide (Fig. 4). After restoration for structural
dip, the measured depth of the outer ramp lagoons is
normally between 225 and 300 m (e.g. 75 and 100 ms
TWT at 6000 m/s) with a maximum of 420 m (e.g.
140 ms TWT, 6000 m/s). Internally, the floors of these
larger lagoons tend to be subdivided by lower relief
buildups into 1.5 – 3 km wide polygonal subbasins/
lagoons (Fig. 4).
In contrast, updip in inner ramp settings, the
buildups tend to range in width from 0.5 to 1 km
and enclosed polygonal lagoons with a typical width
of 1 –2.5 km, one 4-km wide being an extreme (Figs.
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G. Elvebakk et al. / Sedimentary Geology 152 (2002) 7–17
3 and 5). In the inner ramp setting, spit-like morphologic features are quite commonly resolved in the
lagoons, and are normally located adjacent to bends
in the buildup ridges. Locally, these spit-like features
are observed to have prograded to fill the lagoons,
ultimately to create mound-shaped polygonal buildups.
5. Discussion
5.1. Buildup growth and the controls of faulting and
differential subsidence
A mosaic of build-up ridges and semi-enclosed
polygonal basins/lagoons form the dominant morphological elements of the Bashkirian – Sakmarian carbonate ramp systems developed on the Obelix Structure,
Loppa High (Figs. 2– 5). The buildups and lagoons
show distinct inner ramp to outer ramp variation of
their spacing, vertical size, width, depositional relief
and external form (Figs. 2 – 5). However, no variation
in the overall shape of the lagoons and orientation of
the buildups is observed (Fig. 2). The 3D seismic data
reveal a direct correlation between the distribution and
orientation of sea floor bathymetry controlled by
underlying pre- and syn-sedimentary faults and
buildup location (Figs. 2, 4 and 5). The buildups are
typically located along the down dip margins of the
underlying footwall blocks (Figs. 4 and 5). Those
areas of the Obelix Structure with no or few faults, as
in a down dip part of the inner ramp environment of
fault block 2 (e.g. area Y in Fig. 2), demonstrate the
importance of fault controlled bathymetry on buildup
locations, as here, the sea floor appears as a rather
smooth, slightly undulating surface virtually devoid of
buildups and obvious pattern. Across the Obelix
structural high, the growth of the buildups is thought
to have initiated in inner ramp environments during
the mid-Carboniferous, with initial buildup location
and spacing controlled by the underlying fault pattern
(Figs. 3– 5). Through time, the inner ramp environments were displaced updip (west) to the slowly
subsiding updip areas of the high. Thus, middle and
outer ramp environments dominated across most of
the study area. The down ramp variability observed in
buildup density, external form, thickness and internal
stacking, and also in the dimensions of the polygonal
lagoons, is considered to be related to both local
variations in fault density and most importantly, to
tectonically driven east – west variations in accommodation development (Fig. 2).
In the updip more gently subsiding western parts of
the study area, inner ramp environments are considered to have continued to dominate during the Late
Carboniferous and Early Permian. However, even
here the fault controlled pattern of buildups is retained
despite the fact that a significant number of the
buildups show periodic episodes of progradation in
updip areas of the high of up to 450 m. The reason for
the longevity of the basement controlled pattern of
buildups in the updip areas must be because of
continued subsidence related to active faulting and/
or differential compaction. For this is the only mechanism that would act to reestablish the pattern of
buildup location in areas where they were able to
prograde laterally.
In contrast, the eastern down dip areas of the ramp
experienced greater rates of tilting and subsidence. As
a consequence, it is thought that inner ramp environments progressively retreated updip to be replaced by
deeper water outer ramp conditions after the initial
growth of the buildups during the Moscovian. Here,
the thickest and steepest buildups enclose the largest
polygonal lagoons (Figs. 3 and 4). These larger
lagoons are thought to have formed through the
selective drowning of some of the buildup ridges,
possibly at times when increased rates of subsidence
and high rates of glacio-eustatic sea level rise were
coincident. Subsequent reorganisation of the system
created lagoons of greater width divided into sublagoons by the crests of the drowned antecedent buildups.
5.2. Buildup growth and sea level changes
The 350 –1200 m thick seismic buildups shown
here were incredibly long-lived and grew in overall
warm and dry palaeoclimatic conditions over a time
interval of approximately 35 Ma. The internal seismic
geometries of the third-order buildup sequences suggest that during sea level rises carbonate sedimentation retreated to small pinnacle-like growth centres as
large parts of the ridges periodically drowned (Elvebakk et al., in preparation). These pinnacles are
typically developed at the intersection of different
G. Elvebakk et al. / Sedimentary Geology 152 (2002) 7–17
trending ridges and are interpreted to have developed on bathymetric highs. During the subsequent
highstand/fall in sea level active buildup development shifted laterally along the ridges, extending
along and downlapping onto parts of the buildup
mosaics that were previously drowned. This pattern
of growth is evident from the arrangement of
oblique and toplapping clinoforms that dip away
from the superimposed pinnacle structures interpreted to have formed along the buildup ridges
during overall transgression and sea level highstand.
However, little progradation off of the buildup
ridges occurred.
Comparison to time-equivalent buildups exposed
on the island of Bjørnøya, Spitsbergen, North Greenland and Arctic Canada (Beauchamp, 1993; Stemmerik et al., 1994; Stemmerik, 1996; Pickard et al.,
1996; Samuelsberg and Pickard, 1999), and the subsurface of the Barents Sea (Bugge et al., 1995;
Stemmerik et al., 1995; Ehrenberg et al., 1998)
indicates that the third-order seismic buildup sequences are comprised of stacked subseismic buildup
sequences. The subseismic buildups are typically 5–
10 m thick and are normally bounded by composite
exposure/flooding surfaces (e.g. Beauchamp, 1993;
Stemmerik et al., 1994; Stemmerik, 1996; Pickard et
al., 1996; Samuelsberg and Pickard, 1999). They
represent transgressive-highstand deposits of fourthand fifth-order sequences thought to have formed as a
consequence of high amplitude/frequency glacioeustatically driven sea level fluctuations.
Thus, despite the fact that high amplitude sea level
changes during the late Carboniferous and earliest
Permian would have shifted the optimum depth
window for carbonate growth, considerable distances
up and down ramp buildup growth was repeatedly
limited to relatively narrow zones over long time
spans to form the seismic scale buildups (e.g. Figs.
3 –5). Thus, it appears that either highstand production and progradation of the carbonate systems was
very limited and/or that differential subsidence continued during buildup development to limit lateral
growth. The latter situation must have been important
in those parts of the inner ramp where buildups
periodically prograded to fill the interridge basins/
lagoons, yet the basement controlled pattern of
buildup distribution was maintained. It is therefore
most likely that the pattern of buildup distribution
15
inherited from the basement structure was controlled
by continued faulting and/or subsidence driven by
differential compaction acting in concert with limited
highstand production.
6. Summary and conclusions
Previous study of an extensive closely spaced 2D
grid of seismic data from the Loppa High revealed a
fault controlled distally steepened ramp covered by
several hundred isolated carbonate buildups (e.g. Figs.
1B and 3). Although the pattern of buildups mapped
from the 2D data did not largely appear to reflect the
known control of faulting on their location, it seemed
to present a realistic depiction of buildup distribution
that was consistent with existing knowledge of
buildup distribution on other Palaeozoic platforms.
The pattern of buildup development apparent from the
3D seismic data is without precedent, and has provided a picture of buildup distribution that could
hardly be more different to that produced from the
2D data.
There is a direct relationship between active faults
and the location of the interconnected mosaic of
buildups. Systematic down ramp changes in the
density, height, width and external form of the buildups appear to be related to regional accommodation
gradients resulting from fault block tilting. The
remarkable picture of buildups on the Loppa High
has far-reaching implications for the interpretation of
buildups in areas where good 3D control is poor or
unavailable. It may well be the case that comparable
morphologic patterns also exist on other ancient
carbonate platforms, but require exceptional 3D data
to be revealed. Clearly, any increase in the lateral
extent and connectivity of buildups also has potential
economic importance as many hydrocarbon reservoirs
are located in carbonate buildups.
Acknowledgements
The authors like to thank Statoil, Enterprise Oil
Norwegian, Fortum Petroleum, Norsk Agip and
Norsk Hydro Produksjon for the permission to publish
this paper. LS acknowledges additional support from
the Carlsberg Foundation and publishes with the
16
G. Elvebakk et al. / Sedimentary Geology 152 (2002) 7–17
permission of the Geological Survey of Denmark and
Greenland.
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