Origins and deformation of post-Caledonian sediments on Blomstrandhalvøya and Lovénøyane, northwest Spitsbergen

ain the Kongsfjorden area of northwest Spitsbergen have been found to be distributed widely over the latter area. The geometry and composition of the sediments indicate synsedimentary fault activity and the present-day topography is a partially exhumed post-Caledonian ( Devonian) landscape. N-S stri king deformation structures in the sediments and post-metamorphic brittle structures in the basement marbles are consistent with purely E-W compression. These structures are comparable with similarly oriented folds, thrusts and cleavages in the larger Devonian basin of Northem Svalbard. Their orientation, however, contrasts markedly with the north- to northeast-direct ed fold and thrust structures developed to the south on Broggerhalvoya. Although the structures on Blomstrandhalvoy a may represent deformation within the foreland of the West Spitsbergen Fold Belt, an earlier