Early palaeozoic basin development of North Greenland -part of the Franklinian Basin

The North Greenland segment of the Franklinian Basin bordering the present Arctic Ocean accumulated up to 8 km of Cambrian-Devon strata, which are well exposed and permit recognition of seven stages in the evolution of the basin. Each stage (except the first) is characterized by differentiation into a southern shelf and slope and a northern deep-water trough. With time the basin expanded southwards leading to final foundering of the shelf areas in the late Silurian. Some stratigraphical developments in the basin can be linked to the rising Caledonian mountains in East and North-East Greenland. Accumulation in the Franklinian Basin was brought to a close in the latest Devonian by the Ellesmerian orogeny.