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Thermal maturation of the Lower Palaeozoic strata of northern Greenland from conodont colour alteration index (CAI) data: implications for burial history and hydrocarbon exploration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

H. A. Armstrong ,
M. P. Smith ,
R. J. Aldridge  and
S. J. Tull
H. A. Armstrong
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
M. P. Smith
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
R. J. Aldridge
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
S. J. Tull
Affiliation:
Cambridge Arctic Shelf Programme, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK
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Abstract

Conodont colour alteration data for the Lower Palaeozoic strata of the North Greenland carbonate platform indicate a pattern of increased thermal maturity northwards within the Franklinian Basin. There is little variation in values through the Canadian–Llandovery (Lower Ordovician–Lower Silurian) interval at any given locality. A simplified thermal model for the platform suggests that the predominant control of conodont colour alteration and thermal maturation was maximum depth of burial, which occurred during the mid- to late Silurian. A preliminary integrated scheme for conodont and organic thermal maturity indicators can be compiled from the data now available from North Greenland.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 131 , Issue 2 , March 1994 , pp. 219 - 230
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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