Arctic Volcanism in Woodfjorden, Spitsbergen: Expedition Report
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Date:
19/10/2023
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Time:
4:00 pm
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The Woodfjorden-Bockfjorden area in northwestern Spitsbergen hosts the world’s northernmost onshore thermal springs, three extinct Quaternary volcanoes and extensive Miocene basalts that overlie an uplifted Devonian sedimentary basin. The thermal springs and volcanoes are located along a major fault zone. In July 2023 a 14-day international multi-disciplinary geoscientific expedition to the area was done in order to cover scientific objectives spanned from gas bubble sampling in thermal springs to petrographic rock sampling and constraining the crustal structure using magnetotelluric data. Specifically, I was involved in mapping and sampling of the Quaternary volcanic centres at Sverrefjellet and Halvdanpiggen. The collected samples will be analyzed for, amongst others, geochronology and magnetic petrology.