Paleocene sub-basaltic sediments on Savoia Halvø, East Greenland

Field work by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) on Savoia Halvø, central East Greenland in 2001 (see also Larsen et al. 2002, this volume) included a study of sediments underlying the Palaeogene basalts on the south coast of Scoresby Sund (Fig. 1). The importance of this small exposure is based on the fact that it provides one of the few opportunities for establishing a marine biostratigraphic date for the sediments below the basalts. Dinoflagellate cysts from the sediments provide a maximum Early Paleocene age for the onset of the volcanism in central East Greenland. Reports from previous field work have mentioned the sediments (Hassan 1953; Birkenmajer 1972), but no precise age assignment was presented due to the absence of diagnostic fossils. The sub-volcanic sediments of Savoia Halvø represent the youngest preserved marine sedimentary deposits of the Upper Palaeozoic – Cenozoic rift-basins onshore East Greenland. The overlying Palaeogene flood basalts occasionally contain very thin sedimentary beds between the lava flows, but these were deposited above sea level. Neogene uplift of the East Greenland margin brought a definitive end to accumulation in the old sedimentary basins (Watt et al. 1986; Christiansen et al. 1992).