Depositional dynamics and sequence development in a tidally influenced marginal marine basin: Early Jurassic Neill Klinter Group, Jameson Land Basin, East Greenland - From Depositional Systems to Sedimentary Successions on the Norwegian Continental Margin - page 292

identify genetically related depositional units, it
is therefore important to distinguish key bound-
ing surfaces in the depositional succession,
formed as subaerial unconformities, transgressive
surfaces, surfaces that are combinations of subae-
rial exposure and subsequent transgression and
maximum flooding surfaces. In this respect, the
change in dominance of energy systems from flu-
vial to tidal and wave processes during a cycle of
fall and rise in sea-level is thought to be of partic-
ular significance to understanding of the 3D facies
distribution of paralic deposits and their reservoir
properties (Emery & Myers, 1996; Posamentier &
Allen, 1999; Catuneanu, 2006).
In tectonically stable basins with overall aggrad-
ing depositional architecture, tide-influenced
sedimentation may occur over one or several
orders of sea-level cycles (e.g. Dam & Surlyk, 1998;
Martinius et al ., 2001; Midtkandal & Nystuen,
2009) and be comprised of nearly identical but
complex depositional architecture (Allen, 1990;
Choi et al ., 2004; Choi & Dalrymple, 2004;
Dalrymple et al ., 1990, 1991, 2003, 2012; Gastaldo
et al ., 1995; Gingras et al ., 1999; Martinius & Van
den Berg, 2011; Tessier, 2012).
The primary aim of this study is to record multi-
scaled facies variations, depositional architecture
and sequence development as a function of basin
configuration and variation in relative sea-level in
the Early Jurassic a marginal marine Neill Klinter
Group (Rosenkrantz, 1934; Surlyk et al ., 1973;
Dam & Surlyk, 1998) of the Jameson Land Basin,
East Greenland (Figs 1 and 2).
The secondary aim of the study has been to
provide qualitative and quantitative data for appli-
cation in reservoir modelling of analogous res-
ervoir sandstones on the Halten Terrace on the
Norwegian continental shelf. Conceptual under-
standing of the three-dimensional distribution of
depositional processes in the formation of tide-
influenced sandstone reservoirs is crucial in mod-
elling their multi-scale complex heterogeneity
(Martinius et al ., 2005). Analogue data from the
overall progradational to retrogradational tide-
influenced to wave-dominated Neill Klinter Group
(Fig. 2) are considered to (1) increase understanding
of the range of natural variability in heterolithic
tide-influenced paralic depositional systems, (2)
contribute with data for characterisation and con-
struction of static and dynamic reservoir models,
(3) reduce uncertainties in the choice and range
of values of modelling parameters and their effect

on geo-model and fluid-flow properties and (4)
improve the current understanding of the dynamic
behaviour of these reservoir rocks to assist in
development and production decisions.

REGIONAL SETTING AND
STRATIGRAPHY

The coastal zone of East Greenland is cut by domi-
nantly N-S-trending faults that controlled basin
development and sediment infill in the Palaeozoic
and the Mesozoic East Greenland rift system
(Surlyk, 1990a). Younger NW-SE trending cross-
faults are postulated along the present-day fjords
(Bütler, 1948; Surlyk, 1977, page 326; Dam et al .,
1995; Surlyk, 2003). The approximately 100 km-
wide and 250 km-long Jameson Land Basin is
located in the southernmost segment of the rift
system and forms a slightly southward-plunging
(1 to 2°) ~ 17 km thick synclinal structure (Larsen
& Marcussen, 1992; Mathiesen et al ., 2000). The
Jameson Land Basin hosts a ~ 13 km thick conti-
nental and marine Late Palaeozoic rift-basin suc-
cession overlain by a ~ 4 km thick continental to
marine post-rift succession of a latest Palaeozoic
to Mesozoic sag-basin (Larsen & Marcussen, 1992;
Mathiesen et al ., 2000; Surlyk, 2003).
The latest Triassic to Early Jurassic succession
along the eastern margin of the Jameson Land
Basin is well exposed in response to crustal uplift
(2 to 3 km) in connection with the opening of the
Norwegian-Greenland Sea during the Cenozoic
(Christiansen et al ., 1992; Hansen, 2000; Johnson &
Gallagher, 2000; Mathiesen et al ., 2000). The semi-
continuous cliff-faces are 200 to 400m-high with
7° stratal dip towards the west and are aligned
sub-parallel to the depositional strike with limited
3D control (Fig. 3). Palaeogene (~ 55Ma) intrusive
dolerite sills are common in the southern Jameson
Land, where these follow mudstone units (Fig. 3).
These intrusives are rare in the northern area.
The paralic Pliensbachian-Toarcian Neill Klinter
Group ( sensu Dam & Surlyk, 1998; Surlyk, 2003)
in the Jameson Land Basin was established by
marine inundation of the Rhaetian-Sinemurian
lacustrine basin, represented by the Kap Stewart
Group (Dam & Surlyk, 1992, 1993; Dam et al .,
1995; Surlyk, 2003), from the south. The younger
deposits unconformably overlie the older sedi-
ments and onlap basement along the basin mar-
gins. The basin received sediments from erosion