Provenance of sediments in the Faroe-Shetland Basin: Characterisation of possible source componenets in Southeast Greenland

Previous studies provide conficting predictions concerning the source of the sedimentdeposited in the Faroese and British sectors of the Faroe-Shetland Basin. Some studies suggested that the sediment was derived from the UK margin, while other studies point to a Greenlandic source. To test this, we investigated samples from Southeast Greenland between Kangerlussuaq and Timmiarmiut, to assess this area as a source region. U-Pb ages of detrital zircons, compositional data of the heavy mineral suite and garnets have been obtained from stream sediment and till samples. The radiometric age pattern of the zircons change from north to south, with a dominant age range from 2900-2700 Ma. The overall age signature for Southeast Greenland is thus markedly different from that of the samples from the drill cores in the Faroese and British sector, making it unlikely that this part of Greenland was the source for the sediment in the Faroe-Shetland basin. An alternative source exists in central East and North-East Greenland where suitable-aged source rocks with similar metamorphic history are known to occur. This potential
source is more compatible with pollen records and sediment transport directions.