ABSTRACT
The prospects for finding hydrocarbons in northern Greenland are confined to an area stretching from Washington Land in the west to the vicinity of Station Nord in the east. Only early and middle Paleozoic sediments are present over most of the area although evidence for the presence of late Paleozoic(?) to Tertiary(?) sedimentation exists on northeastern Greenland.
The Paleozoic beds can be divided into 2 major zones. A belt of highly folded rocks of variable width is present along northern Greenland from Polaris Promentory to eastern Peary Land. This area is too disturbed to be a potential hydrocarbon province.
South of the fold belt lies an area of less folded beds that merge southward with gently northward-dipping beds of the Stable Shelf area. Both areas may contain hydrocarbons. Thick reefal and reefoid developments are present, as are “patch reefs.” Porosity is well developed in certain units. Source rocks have been mapped. Potential structural traps have been mapped and stratigraphic traps are presumed to exist.
Little is known of the late Paleozoic to Tertiary “basin” in the east. The limited information available indicates that a sequence very similar in age and lithology to the beds of the Sverdrup basin in the Canadian Arctic Islands may be present.
