Intra-continental fold belts CASE 1 West Spitsbergen

Onshore geology offers direct access to crucial rock formations, enhancing our understanding of the oceanic basins' formation in the Arctic and North Atlantic, initially based on offshore geophysical data. The CASE project, initiated by BGR, aimed to connect onshore and offshore features in this region. Previous seismic data from BGR cruises indicated extensional processes offshore, while a compressive fold belt was forming on Spitsbergen and North Greenland. This volume presents findings from the first CASE expedition in Spitsbergen, conducted in collaboration with geologists from various universities. Most of Svalbard's geology is shaped by the Paleozoic Caledonian Orogeny, but the western rim experienced significant crustal shortening during the Early Tertiary Western Spitsbergen Orogeny, resulting in a distinctive fold-and-thrust belt devoid of igneous activity or metamorphism. The formation's cause remains unclear, though offshore work suggested a link to strike-slip movements on a dextral transform fault. Investigations from Brogger Halvoya to Sorkapp, including geological and stratigraphic studies, revealed consistent tectonic movements to the ENE and NE, contradicting the transpressional fold belt concept. The findings indicate that compression occurred mainly before the strike-slip separation of Svalbard and the Barents shelf from Greenland. The CASE program has evolved to include broader Circum-Arctic Structural Even