The Albian-Turonian (Cretaceous) succession in the Ikorfat Fault Zone, Nuussuaq Basin (West Greenland) and the study of potential source-rocks

The purpose of the project ”Source rock evaluation, Nuussuaq Basin” is to provide new data on the marine mudstones of the Upper Cretaceous Itilli Formation, as a potential source rock in the Nuussuaq Basin. The backbone of the project is the Albian to Early Turonian non-marine to marine succession adjacent to the Ikorfat fault zone on the north coast of Nuussuaq. To a large extent, the project is based on new data from samples and digital images collected during a fieldtrip in July 2016:

1) Numerous images were taken from helicopter. Together with aerial photos they form the basis for a new detailed geological map, a vertical cross-section and a conceptual model for the structural development of the Ikorfat fault zone area on the north coast of Nuussuaq.

2) Several sedimentological sections of the Kome, Slibestensfjeldet and Itilli formations were measured

3) Seventy-five hand specimens were collected for palynological, isotopic and organic geochemical analyses. The samples represent the Lower Cretaceous Kome-, Slibestensfjeldet-, and Atane formations, and the steeply dipping, Upper Cretaceous mudstone succession of the Itilli Formation in the Ikorfat fault zone area. All the Itilli Formation mudstones in northern Nuussuaq, from Ikorfat and westwards, are referred to the Umiivik Member.