| Publisher Information: |
Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap; Department of Geosciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim 7031, Norway; Department of Arctic Geology, The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), Longyearbyen 9171, Norway; Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), Oslo 0806, Norway; Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Oslo 0562, Norway; Department of Earth System Science, University of Hamburg, 20146 Hamburg, Germany; Department of Geosciences, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø 9019, Norway; Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark; Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo 0315, Norway; Centre for Planetary Habitability (PHAB), University of Oslo, Oslo 0315, Norway; Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Acton, Canberra, Australia; Department of Geo-energy and Storage, The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen 1350, Denmark; Mineral Resources, CSIRO, Australia; Geological Institute, RWTH-Aachen University, 52062 Aachen, Germany; Geological Survey of Canada (GSC)/Commission géologique du Canada, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Arctic Geology, The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), Longyearbyen 9171, Norway; EP Skolithos, Sisikveien 36, 4022 Stavanger, Norway; Geological Survey of the Netherlands (TNO), Utrecht 3584 CB, the Netherlands; Institute of Geosciences, Kiel University, 24118 Kiel, Germany; Equinor, Bergen, Norway; Department of Arctic Geology, The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), Longyearbyen 9171, Norway; Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo 0315, Norway; Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo 0315, Norway; Volcanic Basin Energy Petroleum Research AS (VBER), Oslo; School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA, United Kingdom |
| Description: |
Sedimentary rocks can provide information about the Earth paleoenvironment and are studied extensively to understand the causes and consequences of global climate changes in deep time. They facilitate long-time perspectives that constrain climate models and provide analogues for how Earth systems may respond to, and recover from, intervals of profound environmental change, including projected anthropogenic change. The Norwegian Svalbard archipelago offers an extensive Phanerozoic stratigraphic record that reflects the geological evolution of the northern flanks of continental assemblages that include Laurentia, Eurasia, and Pangea. Svalbard's Phanerozoic sedimentary and paleoclimatic archive is controlled largely by Svalbard's overall northward plate-tectonic motion from equatorial to high latitudes but also by regional to local formation of topography and basins in response to long-term plate reorganization, as well as the near- and far-field influence of large igneous province activity on the tectono-stratigraphic and paleoclimatic development. Various sedimentary and geochemical proxies, such as bentonite beds and carbon isotope excursions associated with the far-reaching environmental effects of the Siberian Traps, the High Arctic Large Igneous Province, and the North Atlantic Igneous Province, are present in Svalbard's near complete geological record. As such, Svalbard is unique in that these and numerous other global environmental perturbations are recorded within a relatively restricted study area, with most of the key events preserved and recorded in easily accessible drill cores and well-exposed outcrop sections. Here we review deep-time paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate research in Svalbard by summarizing 148 peer-reviewed scientific articles. The review builds on the well-established tectono-stratigraphic and lithostratigraphic framework, as well as state-of-the art environmental reconstructions, to provide insights into the Earth system during the Phanerozoic northward drift of Svalbard and the ... |