Phanerozoic evolution of Fennoscandia: Evidence from apatite fission track, fluid flow and geodynamic data in Finland and Estonia

Abstract

New apatite fission track (AFT) data from Estonia together with previously published data from Finland, all from crystalline basement drill core, constrain the Phanerozoic thermal history. Models show a consistent pattern of heating from Cambrian to end-Carboniferous, with peak paleotemperatures of 60 ± 10 °C when sediment cover was ∼ 0.5 km thicker in the Baltic Paleobasin and ∼ 1.5 km over Precambrian basement in Finland. Prior to the Phanerozoic, the Fennoscandia basement was exhumed to a peneplain by late Neoproterozoic. The evolution of Phanerozoic sedimentary cover can be linked to (1) the Scandinavian Silurian–Devonian Caledonian orogeny, (2) foreland basin and foreland uplift bulge d..