Dr. Fred Gaidies and current PhD student Thereza Yogi, Carleton alumni Olivier Heldwein and Dr. Jamie Cutts, as well as colleagues from UBC (Vancouver) and the University of Vienna publish their latest research on the metamorphic evolution of the Caledonian mountain belt in Arctic Norway. The Caledonides formed in the Paleozoic when the lapetus Ocean closed during the convergence and collision of Laurentia, Avalonia and Baltica.
The roots of this ancient mountain belt are exceptionally well preserved in Arctic Norway, providing the ideal natural laboratory to study its complex tectonic history. Using a variety of state-of-the-art theoretical, petrographical and analytical techniques combined with high-resolution field work, Gaidies et al. are able to map out different tectonic units and their metamorphic evolutions through time. In addition, they discover a cryptic orogenic event that took place ca. 45 Myr before the lapetus Ocean closed, and which has not been identified in Arctic Norway before.
Gaidies F, Heldwein OKA, Yogi MTAG, Cutts JA, Smit MA, Rice AHN. Testing the equilibrium model: an example from the Caledonian Kalak Nappe Complex (Finnmark, Arctic Norway).
To view article, please click on Journal of Metamorphic Geology
Photo credit: Fred Gaidies
Posted on: Wednesday, December 15, 2021