The Jan Mayen Microcontinent and the Evolution of the NE Atlantic Region

Breakup and seafloor spreading between Greenland and Eurasia established a series of new plate boundaries in the North Atlantic region since the Late Paleocene. A regional kinematic model from the pre- breakup to present day is assuming that Eurasia and Greenland moved apart as a two plates system. However, new regional geophysical datasets and quantitative kinematic parameters show that this system suffered several adjustments since its inception and suggest that additional temporal plate boundaries existed in the NE Atlantic. Among the consequences of numerous plate boundary relocations is the formation of a highly extended or even fragmented Jan Mayen microcontinent (JMMC) and subsequent deformation of its margins and surrounding regions. The new plate kinematic model and preliminary interpretations of potential field and seismic data indicate that the JMMC experienced a significantly longer and more complex tectonic evolution than has previously been considered. Several separate tectonic blocks within the JMMC have been interpreted, and we suggest that the southernmost extended, fragmented character of the JMMC is a product of several failed ridge propagation attempts of the Kolbeinsey Ridge. In addition, we have identified several compressional events SE and NE of the JMMC that are partially ground truth by geophysical evidences. Our model implies a series of failed ridges offshore the Faroe Islands, a northern propagation of the Aegir Ridge NE of JMMC, and a series of triple junction and/or propagators in the southern Greenland Basin. The propagation of plate boundaries within the Greenland plate led to episodic magmatic events, as suggested by recent studies.