Cenozoic tectonosedimentary development and erosion estimates for the Barents Sea continental margin, Norwegian Arctic

Abstract

The Barents Sea shelf has been experienced extensive uplift and erosion in the Cenozoic. However, the pre-glacial erosion has been so far less constrained in comparison to the glacial erosion. This paper aims to better understand the early–middle Cenozoic erosion in the western Barents Sea and the late Cenozoic erosion in the northern Barents Sea by using the mass-balance approach. The study utilizes seismic and well data to map the Cenozoic sediments and to estimate their volumes. The paleoenvironmental reconstruction is used to delineate the size of the likely source areas. From this, the average erosion and erosion rates are estimated. It is important to quantify the erosion as an effort to lower the risk in petroleum exploration in the Barents Sea. This study is also essential to understand the sedimentation pattern and their relation to the tectonic development. The paper suggests an N-S trending of uplift and erosion in the early–middle Cenozoic and E-W trending of uplift and erosion in the late Cenozoic. For the first time, the glacial erosion is estimated in the northeastern Svalbard/northern Barents Sea continental margin, which reflects the sediment input to the Arctic Ocean. The average erosion rates show one order of magnitude lower than the glacial erosion rates. The estimated numbers from this thesis are compared to the other high-latitude margins and in agreement with present-day systems.