Scientists discover microcontinent found between Greenland and Canada

Scientists have found a submerged microcontinent off the west coast of Greenland. Named the Davis Strait proto-microcontinent, it was created by tectonic activity in the region. This discovery of the New Proto Microcontinent helps us understand more about how the Earth’s crust develops.

Plate tectonics, which causes earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain formation, play a key role in forming continents. The Davis Strait, a boundary between Canada and Greenland, has a history of tectonic activity dating back 33 to 61 million years during the Paleogene period. This activity formed a unique feature: a thicker-than-normal piece of continental crust underwater.

The Davis Strait proto-microcontinent is a 19-24 km thick piece of thinned continental crust, surrounded by two narrow bands of thinner crust (15-17 km). These bands separate it from mainland Greenland and Baffin Island.

In a study published in Gondwana Research, scientists aimed to understand how this microcontinent formed. They reconstructed the movements of tectonic plates over the last 30 million years. Doctoral researchers Luke Longley, Dr. Jordan Phethean from the University of Derby, UK, and Dr. Christian Schiffer from Uppsala University, Sweden, explains proto-microcontinents as “regions of relatively thick continental lithosphere separated from major continents by a zone of thinner continental lithosphere.”

The team looked at the age of faults related to the rifting, the mid-ocean ridge, and associated transform faults using maps from gravity and seismic reflection data. They found that rifting between Canada and Greenland began about 118 million years ago during the Lower Cretaceous. Seafloor spreading in the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay began around 61 million years ago. The main formation of the proto-microcontinent took place between 49 and 58 million years ago when the direction of seafloor spreading between Canada and Greenland changed along the Pre-Ungava Transform Margin. This change led to the separation of the Davis Strait proto-microcontinent. Later, Greenland collided with Ellesmere Island and joined the North American plate.

The Davis Strait, which connects the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay between Greenland and Canada, has always intrigued scientists with its complex geology. This new research uncovers a microcontinent created by complex tectonic processes, offering new insights into the history of the North Atlantic.

Dr. Jordan Phethean from the University of Derby explained why this discovery matters. “The well-defined changes in plate motion that occur in the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay, which have relatively limited external complications affecting them, make this area an ideal natural laboratory for studying microcontinent formation,” he said. “Rifting and microcontinent formation are absolutely ongoing phenomena – with every earthquake we might be working towards the next microcontinent separation. The aim of our work is to understand their formation well enough to predict that very future evolution.”

This discovery, detailed in the recent Gondwana Research study, helps us understand the formation of other microcontinents around the world. Examples include the Jan Mayen microcontinent northeast of Iceland, the East Tasman Rise southeast of Tasmania, and the Gulden Draak Knoll in Australia.

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