Age of the youngest Paleogene flood basalts in East Greenland

Intra-basaltic sediments 50 m below the top of the Paleogene lava succession at Kap Dalton, East Greenland, contain dinoflagellate cysts of late Ypresian-earliest Lutetian age, while sediments immediately above the lavas contain an assemblage of early Lutetian age. Combined with paleomagnetic results, this constrains the termination of the East Greenland Paleogene Igneous Province to the Early-Middle Eocene transition (nannoplankton chronozones NP13-NP14/earliest NP15). This is 6-8 Ma younger than according to previous biostratigraphic age assignments. The new data show that flood basalt volcanism occurred simultaneously with major intrusions occurring further to the south. This corroborates previous assumptions of an important melting event much younger than the continental break-up.