Description: The modern polar cryosphere reflects an extreme climate state with profound temperature gradients towards high-latitudes. It developed in association with stepwise Cenozoic cooling, beginning with ephemeral glaciations and the appearance of sea ice in the late middle Eocene. The polar ocean gateways played a pivotal role in changing the polar and global climate, along with declining greenhouse gas levels. The opening of the Drake Passage finalized the oceanographic isolation of Antarctica, some 40 Ma ago. The Arctic Ocean was an isolated basin until the early Miocene when rifting and subsequent sea-floor spreading started between Greenland and Svalbard, initiating the opening of the Fram Strait / Arctic-Atlantic Gateway (AAG). Although this gateway is known to be important in Earth’s past and modern climate, little is known about its Cenozoic development. However, the opening history and AAG’s consecutive widening and deepening must have had a strong impact on circulation and water mass exchange between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic. To study the AAG’s complete history, ocean drilling at two primary sites and one alternate site located between 73°N and 78°N in the Boreas Basin and along the East Greenland continental margin are proposed. These sites will provide unprecedented sedimentary records that will unveil (1) the history of shallow-water exchange between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic, and (2) the development of the AAG to a deep-water connection and its influence on the global climate system. The specific overarching goals of our proposal are to study: (1) the influence of distinct tectonic events in the development of the AAG and the formation of deep water passage on the North Atlantic and Arctic paleoceanography, and (2) the role of the AAG in the climate transition from the Paleogene greenhouse to the Neogene icehouse for the long-term (~50 Ma) climate history of the northern North Atlantic. Getting a continuous record of the Cenozoic sedimentary succession that recorded the evolution of the Arctic-North Atlantic horizontal and vertical motions, and land and water connections will also help better understanding the post-breakup evolution of the NE Atlantic conjugate margins and associated sedimentary basins.

Description: During the last decades, the Norwegian-Greenland Sea has been a focus of research. Beside commercial interest in hydrocarbon exploration, the region is important for the understanding of the Cenozoic climate evolution from the opening of the North Atlantic at approximately 55 Ma to the late-Cenozoic glaciations. In 2003, the research vessel “Polarstern” conducted a seismic survey along the NE Greenland shelf and slope during expedition “ARKTIS XIX leg 4a”. We reprocessed seven seismic profiles from this data set applying multiple suppression, radon transformation and time migration. Furthermore, a seismic net consisting of 13 processed profiles along the Mid-Norwegian margin with a special focus on the Vøring Plateau area reaching into deep sea were provided by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD). The NPD profiles served as a link between the deep-sea parts of the NE Greenland and Norwegian margins for a seismo-stratigraphic correlation, based on its reflection characteristics and P-wave velocity distribution from Eocene to Pleistocene times. Borehole data of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) and its successor, the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) supported reflection seismic correlation between the two continental margins via sonic velocities from log measurements (if available) and stratigraphic correlations among borehole data based on previous literature researches, shipboard scientific reports and initial reports. Based on these data sets, an updated Cenozoic stratigraphic model of the NE Greenland continental margin could be derived. The results should ease and encourage selections of drilling spots and offshore seismic data acquisition in future, since both will contribute to a more detailed picture of the Cenozoic strata and the geological evolution of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea.

Description: The modern polar cryosphere reflects an extreme climate state with profound temperature gradients towards high-latitudes. It developed in association with stepwise Cenozoic cooling, beginning with ephemeral glaciations and the appearance of sea ice in the late middle Eocene. The polar ocean gateways played a pivotal role in changing the polar and global climate, along with declining greenhouse gas levels. The opening of the Drake Passage finalized the oceanographic isolation of Antarctica, some 40 Ma ago. The Arctic Ocean was an isolated basin until the early Miocene when rifting and subsequent sea-floor spreading started between Greenland and Svalbard, initiating the opening of the Fram Strait / Arctic-Atlantic Gateway (AAG). Although this gateway is known to be important in Earth’s past and modern climate, little is known about its Cenozoic development. However, the opening history and AAG’s consecutive widening and deepening must have had a strong impact on circulation and water mass exchange between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic. To study the AAG’s complete history, ocean drilling at two primary sites and one alternate site located between 73°N and 78°N are proposed. These sites will provide unprecedented sedimentary records that will unveil (1) the history of shallow-water exchange between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic, and (2) the development of the AAG to a deep-water connection and its influence on the global climate system. The specific overarching goals of our proposal are to study: • the influence of distinct tectonic events in the development of the AAG and the formation of deep water passage on the North Atlantic and Arctic paleoceanography, and • the role of the AAG in the climate transition from the Paleogene greenhouse to the Neogene icehouse for the long-term (~50 Ma) climate history of the northern North Atlantic.

Description: The modern polar cryosphere reflects an extreme climate state with profound temperature gradients towards high-latitudes. It developed in association with stepwise Cenozoic cooling, beginning with ephemeral glaciations and the appearance of sea ice in the late middle Eocene. The polar ocean gateways played a pivotal role in changing the polar and global climate, along with declining greenhouse gas levels. The opening of the Drake Passage finalized the oceanographic isolation of Antarctica, some 40 Ma ago. The Arctic Ocean was an isolated basin until the early Miocene when rifting and subsequent sea-floor spreading started between Greenland and Svalbard, initiating the opening of the Fram Strait / Arctic-Atlantic Gateway (AAG). Although this gateway is known to be important in Earth’s past and modern climate, little is known about its Cenozoic development. However, the opening history and AAG’s consecutive widening and deepening must have had a strong impact on circulation and water mass exchange between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic. To study the AAG’s complete history, ocean drilling at two primary sites and one alternate site located between 73°N and 78°N in the Boreas Basin and along the East Greenland continental margin are proposed. These sites will provide unprecedented sedimentary records that will unveil (1) the history of shallow-water exchange between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic, and (2) the development of the AAG to a deep-water connection and its influence on the global climate system. The specific overarching goals of our proposal are to study: (1) the influence of distinct tectonic events in the development of the AAG and the formation of deep water passage on the North Atlantic and Arctic paleoceanography, and (2) the role of the AAG in the climate transition from the Paleogene greenhouse to the Neogene icehouse for the long-term (~50 Ma) climate history of the northern North Atlantic. Getting a continuous record of the Cenozoic sedimentary succession that recorded the evolution of the Arctic-North Atlantic horizontal and vertical motions, and land and water connections will also help better understanding the post-breakup evolution of the NE Atlantic conjugate margins and associated sedimentary basins.