A preliminary Mesozoic and Cenozoic denudation history of the North East Greenland onshore margin

We present new apatite fission track data from SW Clavering O, East Greenla nd. The samples were collected from a vertical topographic profile covering similar to 1000 m of relief. The resulting data were modelled jointly to p roduce an internally consistent thermal history, reflecting denudationally induced shallow level crustal cooling since the Carboniferous. Three distin ct events and a fourth less well-resolved event are inferred from the resul ts of this new modelling approach. Maximum temperatures occurred in the Lat e Palaeozoic, implying a thicker Carboniferous sedimentary pile than presen tly observed. Early Jurassic cooling cannot be directly correlated to a wel l-documented period of elastic sedimentation in Hold-with-Hope, but may ind icate sedimentation at this time in the Jurassic rift axis farther to the e ast. A later mid-Cretaceous cooling episode is reflected in the pre-Palaeog ene basalt unconformity, and this denudation is likely to have shed large a mounts of siliciclastic detritus into the proto-Voring Basin. Early Palaeog ene burial occurred under a thick basaltic pile, and subsequently, denudati on occurred during the Neogene to cool the rocks by similar to 50 degrees C , which may reflect 1-2 km of denudation. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.