This study examines the role of the depositional environment for the final reservoir quality in four Lower Cretaceous sandstone reservoirs in the southwestern Barents Sea by linking facies to the distribution of primary textures, composition, and diagenetic alteration. Facies analysis reveals slope-to-basin-floor, distal shallow-marine, and deltaic depositional environments. The slope-to-basin-floor ...

Palaeoproterozoic fold-thrust belt structures and steep, lateral shear zones characterize the foreland deformation of Neoarchaean basement tonalites in Vanna, West Troms Basement Complex, northern Norway. Low-grade par-autochthonous and allochthonous cover units (2.4–2.2. Ga) with sandstones and calcareous metapelites exist in separate areas of the foreland. They were formed as intracontinental rift- ...

The Fram Strait is the only deep gateway between the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic Seas and thus is a key area to study past changes in ocean circulation and the marine carbon cycle. Here, we study deep ocean temperature, δ18O, carbonate chemistry (i.e., carbonate ion concentration [CO32−]), and nutrient content in the Fram Strait during the late glacial (35,000–19,000 years BP) and the Holocene based ...

The cryospheric response to climatic warming responsible for recent Arctic sea ice decline can be elucidated using marine geological archives which offer an important long-term perspective. The Holocene Thermal Maximum, between 10 and 6 thousand years ago, provides an opportunity to investigate sea ice during a warmer-than-present interval. Here we use organic biomarkers and benthic foraminiferal ...

Quartzite samples of high purity with a grain size of ~200 μm have been experimentally deformed by coaxial shortening in a solid medium apparatus at 900 °C and at confining pressures ranging from 0.6 to 2 GPa. Most samples have been shortened by ~30% with 0.1 wt% added H₂O. The samples deformed dominantly by crystal plasticity (dislocation creep), and there is a systematic decrease of ...

The Greenland Ice Sheet harbours a wealth of microbial life, yet the total biomass stored or exported from its surface to downstream environments is unconstrained. Here, we quantify microbial abundance and cellular biomass flux within the near-surface weathering crust photic zone of the western sector of the ice sheet. Using groundwater techniques, we demonstrate that interstitial water flow is slow ...

Methane emissions from Arctic continental margins are increasing due to the negative effect of global warming on ice sheet and permafrost stability, but dynamics and timescales of seafloor seepage still remain poorly constrained. Here, we examine sediment cores collected from an active seepage area located between 295 and 353 m water depth in the SW Barents Sea, at Leirdjupet Fault Complex. The ...

The Greenland Ice Sheet is currently not accounted for in Arctic mercury budgets, despite large and increasing annual runoff to the ocean and the socio-economic concerns of high mercury levels in Arctic organisms. Here we present concentrations of mercury in meltwaters from three glacial catchments on the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet and evaluate the export of mercury to downstream ...

Metallic mineral deposits represent natural geochemical anomalies of economically valuable commodities but, at the same time, their weathering may have negative environmental implications. Cu-sulfide mineral deposits have been recognized as deposits with a particularly large environmental footprint. However, different Cu deposits may result in significantly different environmental impacts, mostly ...

The presence of plastics in the marine environment poses a threat to ocean life and has received much scientific and public attention in recent years. Plastics were introduced to the market in the 1950s and since then, global production figures and ocean plastic littering have increased exponentially. Of the 359 million tonnes (Mt) produced in 2018, an estimated 14.5 Mt has entered the ocean. In ...