Effect of inheritance of the de Geer shear zone on 3D opening of the N Atlantic-Arctic ocean basins
This Master's project was assigned to Jon Obrestad Salte who started the Master's program in Earth sciences, UiB, fall 2025. The Master's project is given by the research group Geodynamics and basin studies.
Hovedinnhold
Project description
The North Atlantic-Arctic rifted margins are linked through a large scale transform system along the Barents Sea margin. This transform system reuses the inherited > 800 km long Paleozoic de Geer shear zone. The orientation of the inherited weak zone changes along strike from transgressive along the SW Barents Sea to transgressive along Svalbard which has resulted in the Eocene Svalbard orogen.
This project will involve 3D geodynamic models of rifting and passive margin formation. Models will explore the effect of varying orientation of lithospheric weak zones on deformation along the transform, and focus in particular on the nature of crustal shortening in the transgressive segments, and on pull apart basin formation and rift propagation into the SW Barents Sea in the transtensional segments. Model results will be compared to published seismic data for the area. The overarching objective of the study is to develop a model that explains crustal deformation and associated sedimentary basin formation along the Barents Sea margin.
Proposed course plan during the master's degree (60 ECTS)
GEOV274, GEOV277, GEOV355, GEOV261, GEOV350, GEOV375