The geology of Store Koldewey, North-East Greenland, 76°- 76.45°N. Implications for offshore petroleum geology. Executive Report

This Store Koldewey research project contributes with a significant increase in the understanding of the geology of the Store Koldewey island previously only studied by a few parties during the last century (Fig. 1). The first geological data from the island wre reported by the “Danmark Ekspeditionen” 1906–1908. This expedition made landfall in North-East Greenland first at Store Koldewey and found a winter harbour for the ship “Danmark” just north of Store Koldewey - now a weather station known as Danmarkshavn. Fieldwork by dog sledge on the winter sea ice by Hakon Jarner provided the first collections of rocks and fossils from the sedimentary areas on Store Koldewey which were studied by J.P.J. Ravn (1911). Lauge Koch (1929) published the first geological map of Store Koldewey and in the summer 1933, Eigil Nielsen collected rich fossil faunas in the ravines along the east-coast of the island. From then on, the isolated island was barely visited by geologists until the late 1980es, when the Geological Survey of Greenland (now GEUS) re-mapped East Greenland from 72°N and northwards. L. Stemmerik and S. Piasecki (Stemmerik & Piasecki 1990; Piasecki et al. 2004) obtained 8 days of fieldwork during the mapping campaign and provided data for a new Store Koldewey map (GEUS 2007).