Dating of late Paleozoic rifting events in the North Atlantic: new biostratigraphic data from the uppermost Devonian and Carboniferous of East Greenland

The uppermost Devonian and Carboniferous sedimentary rocks in East Greenland include eight spore-pollen assemblages of early Tournaisian (Tn1) to mid-Visean (V3) and Westphalian age. The recognition of these assemblages provides the first firmly established biostratigraphic scheme of these sedimentary rocks and dates the earliest phase of late Paleozoic extensional tectonics in East Greenland as pre-Tournaisian. The latest rift pulse of the Paleozoic started in the Westphalian, and new half-graben systems continued to develop along the basin margins until Autunian(?) time. This new age information suggests that late Paleozoic rifting events were synchronous in the entire North Atlantic-Arctic region. -Authors