Geology of Greenland

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Danish. (May 2024) Click [show] for important translation instructions.

* View a machine-translated version of the Danish article.
* Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
* Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
* You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is `Content in this edit is translated from the existing Danish Wikipedia article at [[:da:Grønlands geologi]]; see its history for attribution.`
* You may also add the template `{{Translated|da|Grønlands geologi}}` to the talk page.
* For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

|

Fold on an island in King Oscar Fjord, thought to result from the Caledonian orogeny. Main Vein (a quartz-gold vein), outcrop exposure at Nalunaq Gold Mine, southern Greenland Inoceramus steenstrup, world's largest fossil mollusk, found on the Nuussuaq Peninsula in western Greenland

Greenland is the largest island on Earth. Only one-fifth of its surface area is exposed bedrock, the rest being covered by ice. The exposed surface is approximately 410,000 km2.

The geology of Greenland is dominated by crystalline rocks of the Precambrian Shield.[1] The crystalline rocks of the Nuuk/Qeqertarsuatsiaat area comprise some of the oldest bedrock in Greenland which covers most of western Greenland. The surface has been altered several times and has an appearance as though it were shaped billions of years ago. This is one of the reasons why the Nuuk area is extraordinary and also because the particular climate zone for the area limits the vegetation which makes it possible to observe impressive km-scale megascopic textures. The bedrock around Nuuk consists of two major lithologic packages, the dark melanocratic Amitsoq gneiss, which is intruded by and complexly folded into the younger leucocratic Nuuk gneiss. This western gneiss complex is approximately 3600 million years old.

The Isua Greenstone Belt in the Isukasia area, southwest Greenland, is extraordinary in that it contains some of the oldest bedrock on the planet, approximately 3800 million years old. The bedrock is not nearly as metamorphosed as the surrounding gneiss bedrock and is therefore of interest for answering how the Earth's surface appeared billions of years ago. There is a massive magnetite resource in this area.

There are large deposits of rare-earth oxides at Kvanefjeld.

Greenland's first gold mine is the Nalunaq mine, which opened in 2004. Nalunaq is located 33 km northeast of Nanortalik, in the Ketilidian Orogenic Belt of southern Greenland (60° 21′ 29″ N, 44° 50′ 11″ W). Gold-quartz mineralization occurs along a shallowly-dipping fault believed to be a thrust fault in which the hanging wall consists of Paleoproterozoic amphibolite-facies metavolcanic rocks, and the footwall consists of variably altered and mineralized volcanic rocks (i.e., volcanogenic massive sulfides). Quartz-gold mineralization has been dated to 1.77 to 1.80 billion years ago (late Paleoproterozoic), during the Ketilidian Orogeny.[2]

The Skaergaard intrusion is a layered mafic intrusion in eastern Greenland formed 55 million years ago during the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean. Skaergaard is one of the world's foremost examples of a layered mafic intrusion which exhibits exceptionally well-developed cumulate layering.

A recent study reported that there is a hot mantle plume rising from the core–mantle boundary to the mantle transition zone beneath central Greenland.[3]

## Fossils

[edit]

A number of fossils were collected in Greenland, mostly on the east coast, from Paleozoic to Holocene, from which the Devonian Acanthostega and Ichthyostega are examples of international relevance.[4][5] The Late Triassic of Jameson Land is particularly relevant due to the finding of early mammals, found in the expeditions of Farish Jenkins. The Fleming Fjord Formation yielded a number of theropod and sauropod tracks,[6] temnospondyls, phytosaurs and stem turtles.

## See also

[edit]

* Gemstone industry in Greenland
* Nagssugtoqidian orogeny

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ "Greenland Geology." Archived 2013-05-17 at the Wayback Machine Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. 20 June 2003 (retrieved 26 Dec 2010)
2. ^ Nalunaq Gold Mine, information courtesy of the mine owner.
3. ^ Toyokuni, G.; Matsuno, T.; Zhao, D. (December 2020). "P Wave Tomography Beneath Greenland and Surrounding Regions: 2. Lower Mantle". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 125. doi:10.1029/2020JB019839.
4. ^ Jarvik, Erik (15 April 1996). "The Devonian tetrapod Ichthyostega" (PDF). Fossils and Strata. 40: 1–206.
5. ^ "Study investigates life histories of earliest known tetrapods". Community Research and Development Information Service. European Commission.
6. ^ Lallensack, J. N., Klein, H., Milàn, J., Wings, O., Mateus, O., & Clemmensen, L. B. (2017). Sauropodomorph dinosaur trackways from the Fleming Fjord Formation of East Greenland: evidence for Late Triassic sauropods. Acta Palaeontol Pol

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Geology of Greenland.

* v
* t
* e

Greenland articles

* Greenland is an autonomous constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark

History|

* Timeline
* Paleo-Eskimo
* Dorset culture
* Thule people
* Norse Colonization
* Eastern Settlement
* Western Settlement
* Language
* Skræling
* Hans Egede
* Treaty of Kiel
* Erik the Red's Land
* Fridtjof Nansen Land
* World War II
* Thule accident
* County of Greenland
* Home rule
* Autonomy (self-rule)
* Cartographic expeditions

Geography|

* Climate
* change
* Fjords
* Geology
* Glaciers
* Ice sheet
* Islands
* by area
* Mountains
* National park
* Rivers
* Straits
* Towns and villages
* Wildlife

Politics|

* Administrative divisions
* Elections
* Independence movement
* Foreign relations
* High Commissioner
* Parliament
* Law enforcement
* LGBT rights
* Military
* Political parties
* Ruling monarchs
* Political leader
* Governor (1728–1730, 1925–1979)
* Inspector (1782–1924)
* Prime Minister (1979–current)

Economy|

* Bank
* Companies
* Krone (currency)
* Fishing industry
* Mining
* National Bank
* Taxation
* Telecommunications
* Tourism
* Transport

Society|

* Demographics
* Inuit
* Inughuit
* Kalaallit
* Tunumiit
* Danes
* Danish
* Greenlander
* Notable individuals
* artists
* Inuit
* Suicide

Culture|

* Art
* Cuisine
* Hunting
* Jante Law
* Mythology
* Language
* Music
* Public holidays
* Religion
* Sports

Symbols|

* Coat of arms
* Flag
* National (civic) anthem
* Royal anthem

* Outline
* Index

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Geology of North America

Sovereign states|

* Antigua and Barbuda
* Bahamas
* Barbados
* Belize
* Canada
* Costa Rica
* Cuba
* Dominica
* Dominican Republic
* El Salvador
* Grenada
* Guatemala
* Haiti
* Honduras
* Jamaica
* Mexico
* Nicaragua
* Panama
* Saint Kitts and Nevis
* Saint Lucia
* Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
* Trinidad and Tobago
* United States

Dependencies and
other territories

* Anguilla
* Aruba
* Bermuda
* Bonaire
* British Virgin Islands
* Cayman Islands
* Curaçao
* Greenland
* Guadeloupe
* Martinique
* Montserrat
* Puerto Rico
* Saint Barthélemy
* Saint Martin
* Saint Pierre and Miquelon
* Saba
* Sint Eustatius
* Sint Maarten
* Turks and Caicos Islands
* United States Virgin Islands

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template