Excursion guide in the western Maniitsoq impact structure, southern West Greenland. With an introduction on the discovery and geological setting of the impact structure

Adam A. Garde

Publikation: Bog/rapportRapport (offentligt tilgængelig)

Resumé

This field guide is written for a 7-day excursion to the Maniitsoq impact structure in June 2016 with the 12-passenger travelling boat M/S Minna Martek, beginning in Nuuk and ending in Maniitsoq. The excursion is organised by the Geology Department, Ministry of Mineral Resources (Nuuk, Greenland) with participants from this department, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) and industry (North American Nickel Inc).

The main purpose of the excursion is to familiarise the participants with the special features of the Maniitsoq impact structure in the context of the Archaean orogenic evolution in the North Archaean craton, and discuss the impact-related features and their scientific and economic significance. The norite belt in the eastern part of the impact structure with its Ni-Cu mineralisation is not accessible by boat and will not be visited.

The excursion guide begins with an informal account of important steps in the investigation of the impact structure from its discovery in 2009 to May 2016. The idea of an impact structure was conceived in September 2009, and although a great deal of new knowledge has been acquired since then the structure is still poorly known in comparison to other large impact structures on Earth. It is the hope that this introduction will help newcomers appreciate that although the idea of the Maniitsoq impact structure began in a geological office, the structure is now the target of an ongoing research process in many directions, with participants representing different geological backgrounds, and with continuous exposure to the international scene of research in impact processes.

The Maniitsoq impact structure probably represents the remains of the largest currently known impact structure on Earth, but a direct comparison with the sizes of other impact structures is difficult because of their different levels of exhumation.

The author is grateful to Brendan Dyck, Lotta Möller and Leif Johansson (participants in the field work in 2011 that underpins this guide), for commenting and checking up on a near-final version of the manuscript.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
UdgivelsesstedCopenhagen
ForlagGEUS
Antal sider57
Vol/bind2016
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 17 maj 2016

Publikationsserier

NavnDanmarks og Grønlands Geologiske Undersøgelse Rapport
Nummer22
Vol/bind2016

Emneord

  • Greenland

Programområde

  • Programområde 4: Mineralske råstoffer

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