Iceland Within the Northern Atlantic, Volume 1

Brigitte Van Vliet-Lanoë is Emeritus Research Director at CNRS and is part of the Ocean Geosciences Laboratory at the University of Western Brittany, France. A surface geologist, she is a specialist in stratigraphy and the sedimentary formations of cold continental environments and their deformation by paleoseismicity.

List of Abbreviations ix

Preface xv
Brigitte VAN VLIET-LANOË and Françoise BERGERAT

Introduction xix
Brigitte VAN VLIET-LANOË and René MAURY

Chapter 1. Iceland, in the Lineage of Two Oceans 1
Brigitte VAN VLIET-LANOË and Françoise BERGERAT

1.1. Geographic and geodynamic context 5

1.2. Components of the North Atlantic domain 7

1.2.1. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge 7

1.2.2. The North Atlantic Igneous Province 7

1.2.3. The Icelandic hot spot 8

1.2.4. The Greenland–Iceland–Faroe Ridge 11

1.3. Geodynamic characteristics of Iceland 11

1.3.1. Seismicity 12

1.3.2. Icelandic volcanism 13

1.3.3. Eustatism and the Icelandic glaciers 14

1.4. References 18

Chapter 2. Iceland, an Emerging Ocean Rift 21
Françoise BERGERAT

2.1. Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Icelandic hot spot interactions 21

2.2. Present-day deformations in Iceland 23

2.2.1. Seismicity 24

2.2.2. Motions at plate boundaries 39

2.3. Iceland’s main structural features 40

2.3.1. The paleo-rifts and the active rift 41

2.3.2. The transform zones 58

2.4. Geothermal energy and hydrothermalism 86

2.4.1. Geothermal systems 86

2.4.2. Geysers and hydrothermalism 94

2.5. References 97

Chapter 3. Iceland, A legacy of North Atlantic History 115
Laurent GEOFFROY

3.1. Bathymetry of the Northeast Atlantic domain and geoid anomalies 115

3.2. The North Atlantic and the continental breakup of Laurussia 117

3.2.1. Passive margins and large igneous provinces 118

3.2.2. The early beginnings of the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean 125

3.2.3.Thulean magmatism in the Paleocene and the continental breakup of the Northeast Atlantic 133

3.2.4. Chronology and kinematics of the opening of the Northeast Atlantic 142

3.2.5. The Northeast Atlantic region: mantle plume or not? 151

3.3. The origin of Iceland 159

3.3.1. The anomalous crust of the GIFR ridge and the deep structure of Iceland 159

3.3.2. Icelandic SDRs 162

3.3.3. Interpretations of GIFR and Iceland 165

3.4. References 170

Conclusion 179
Françoise BERGERAT and Laurent GEOFFROY

References 185

List of Authors 199

Index 201

Summary of Volume 2 207