Tectonic variation and structural evolution of the West Greenland continental margin

The study sets out to unravel the tectonic evolution and lateral structural variation of the West Greenland (Baffin Bay, Davis Strait and Labrador Sea) and to consider its hydrocarbon potential in light of this new evaluation. The study follows a multidisciplinary approach by using 2D seismic, gravity, magnetic, depth-dependent stretching data combined with heat flow and petroleum system modelling. The Western Greenland margin evolved through a complex combination of processes that included multiple phases of extension, varying degrees of subsidence and margin uplift. Basin fill architecture indicates that the margin changes dramatically laterally along the margin. Two rift events were recognized based on architecture of syn-rift sediments. The complex structural variation along the margin is revealed by: the presence of a clear magnetic lineament indicating formation of oceanic crust in Labrador Sea at Chron 31; a good correlation between gravity anomalies in areas of oceanic crust where the extinct spreading axis between Canada and Greenland was identified; areas of continental crust with greater uncertainty in the structure of the continental lithosphere; and greater extension accommodated by the lithosphere in its entirety, rather than by the upper crust alone as indicated by depth-dependent stretching along the margin This study therefore demonstrates that understanding the complex processes involved in multiple-rifting and depth-dependent stretching is important to constraining hydrocarbon potential of passive margin basins.