Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System
Published January 20, 2025 | Version v1
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Geology of Svalbard: Deep-time and Deep-Earth (SVALGEOL)

Authors/Creators

  • 1. Department of Arctic Geology, The University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway – UNIS
  • 2. Geodynamics of the Polar Regions, Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany – Uni Bremen
  • 3. Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo, Norway – NGI
  • 4. Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim, Norway – NGU
  • 5. Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar und Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany – AWI
  • 6. Department of Earth System Sciences, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany – UHH
  • 7. Department of Geosciences, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway – UiT
  • 8. Department of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Sogndal, Norway – HVL
  • 9. Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Norway – UiB
  • 10. Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway – NHM
  • 11. Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden – UMU
  • 12. Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway – UiO
  • 13. Geodetic Institute, Norwegian Mapping Authority, Hønefoss, Norway – NMA
  • 14. Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden – UU
  • 15. Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, AGH University of Krakow, Kraków, Poland – AGH
  • 16. Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, Norway – MET Norway
  • 17. Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, Poland – IG PAS
  • 18. Department of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy – UNINA
  • 19. NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway – NTNU
  • 20. Volcanic Basin Energy Research AS, Oslo, Norway – VBER
  • 21. Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Hannover, Germany – BGR
  • 22. Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland – Uni Helsinki
  • 23. Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Acton, Canberra, Australia – ANU
  • 24. Department of Geoenergy and Storage, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark – GEUS
  • 25. National Research Council of Italy, Roma, Italy – CNR
  • 26. Geological Institute, RWTH-Aachen University, Aachen, Germany – RWTH
  • 27. CSIRO Mineral resources, Australian resources research centre, Kensington, WA, Australia – CSIRO

Description

This is chapter 2 of the State of Environmental Science in Svalbard (SESS) report 2024 (https://sios-svalbard.org/SESS_Issue7).

Geology is omnipresent in Svalbard, defining among other parameters the location of all major settlements. The SVALGEOL chapter provides an overview of the geology of Svalbard, and how it influences local and global society. We briefly describe the history of geological exploration and mapping of Svalbard, before outlining the various data sets geoscientists use in their work. We then focus on two key aspects of geology: the study of “deep-time” (i.e., rocks older than 2.58 million years; the pre-Quaternary period) and the study of “deep-Earth” (i.e., integration of data from Earth’s surface to the interior). By investigating the Earth System at the scale of millions to billions of years, geologists can decipher how the global climate has varied through time. Furthermore, studying different proxies allows us to investigate the processes linking the geosphere with the biosphere (e.g., evolution of life, recovery following mass extinctions). By using field and various geophysical data, geologists can understand the properties of the Earth from its surface to its core, and the processes causing them. Furthermore, by coupling deep, shallow and surface observations with a time component, geoscientists can characterise the underlying processes that also influence society (e.g., natural gas emissions, permafrost development, geothermal potential, earthquakes). 

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SESS2024_SVALGEOL.pdf

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