Abstract
The Barmur Group of the Tjörnes sequence in North Iceland contains data which are interpreted as up to 20 transgression-regression cycles between 5.3 and 3.2 Ma. The Barmur Group fauna is unique among Cainozoic marine faunas in the North Atlantic region north of the British Isles containing a Pliocene mollusc fauna. The Tjörnes Basin was presumably an early stepping-stone for the invertebrate species migrating from the Pacific into the North Atlantic since the Miocene-Pliocene boundary. A marked faunal change, mainly visible in the lowermost part of the Serripes Zone at about 3.8 Ma, was not only connected to environmental changes in the Tjörnes region but rather due to migration of at least 34 mollusc species of North Pacific origin into the North Atlantic. These species have since been among dominants in marine arctic, subarctic, and even boreal assemblages in the northern part of the Atlantic. We interpret our data as reflecting an overall change in sea-water temperature from summer temperatures between 10 and 15 °C during the deposition of the Tapes Zone and the lower part of the Mactra Zone to colder water conditions with summer temperatures between 5 and 10 °C at the top of the Serripes Zone.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Akhmetiev, M. A., Geptner, A. R., Gladenkov, Y. B., Milanovsky, E. E., & Trifonov, V. G. (1978). Iceland and Mid-Ocean Ridge. Stratigraphy. Lithology. Moscow: Nauka. 204 pp.
Bárðarson, G. G. (1925). A stratigraphical survey of the Pliocene deposits at Tjörnes, in Northern Iceland. Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Biologiske Meddelelser, 4(5), 1–118.
Brandsdóttir, B., Karson, J. A., Magnúsdóttir, S., Guðmundsson, G. B., Jónsdóttir, K., Detrick, B., et al. (2017). Stratigraphy, structure and tectonics of the Eyjafjarðaráll Rift, abandoned southern segment of the Kolbeinsey Ridge, North Iceland. Proceedings from AGU Fall Meeting.
Buchardt, B., & Símonarson, L. A. (2003). Isotope palaeotemperatures from the Tjörnes beds in Iceland: Evidence of Pliocene cooling. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 189, 71–95.
Craig, G. Y. (1967). Size-frequency distribution of living and dead populations of pelecypods from Bimini, Bahamas, B. W. I. Journal of Geology, 75, 34–45.
Cronin, T. M. (1991). Late Neogene marine Ostracoda from Tjörnes, Iceland. Journal of Paleontology, 65(5), 767–794.
Cronin, T. M., Whatley, R., Wood, A., Tsukagoshi, A., Ikeya, N., Brouwers, E. M., et al. (1993). Microfaunal evidence for elevated Pliocene temperatures in the Arctic Ocean. Paleoceanography, 8, 161–173.
De Schepper, S., Schreck, M., Beck, K. M., Matthiessen, J., Fahl, K., & Mangerud, G. (2015). Early Pliocene onset of modern Nordic Seas circulation related to ocean gateway changes. Nature Communications, 6, 8659. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9659
Denk, T., Grímsson, F., Zetter, R., & Símonarson, L. A. (2011). Late Cainozoic Floras of Iceland. 15 Million Years of Vegetation and Climate History in the Northern North Atlantic (Topics in geobiology 35). Dordrecht, The Netherlands/Heidelberg, Germany/London/New York: Springer. 854 pp.
Durham, J. W., & MacNeil, F. S. (1967). Cenozoic migrations of marine invertebrates through the Bering Strait region. In D. M. Hopkins (Ed.), The Bering Land Bridge (pp. 326–349). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Eiríksson, J. (2008). Glaciation events in the Pliocene – Pleistocene volcanic succession of Iceland. Jökull, 58, 315–329.
Eiríksson, J., & Símonarson, L. A. (2020). A brief Résumé of the geology of Iceland. In J. Eiríksson & L. A. Símonarson (Eds.), Pacific – Atlantic mollusc migration. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. This volume, Chapter 1.
Eiríksson, J., Guðmundsson, A. I., Símonarson, L. A., Einarsson, P., Hjartardóttir, Á. R., & Brandsdóttir, B. (2020a). The evolution of the Tjörnes sedimentary basin in relation to the Tjörnes Fracture Zone and the geological structure of Iceland. In J. Eiríksson & L. A. Símonarson (Eds.), Pacific – Atlantic mollusc migration. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. This volume, Chapter 3.
Eiríksson, J., Símonarson, L. A., & Knudsen, K. L. (2020b). An age model for the Tjörnes Sequence, North Iceland. In J. Eiríksson & L. A. Símonarson (Eds.), Pacific – Atlantic mollusc migration. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. This volume, Chapter 6.
Eiríksson, J., Símonarson, L. A., & Knudsen, K. L. (2020c). Lithostratigraphy of the Tjörnes sequence in Barmur and Höskuldsvík on the West Coast of Tjörnes, North Iceland. In J. Eiríksson & L. A. Símonarson (Eds.), Pacific – Atlantic mollusc migration. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. This volume, Chapter 5.
Fagerström, J. A. (1964). Fossil communities in paleoecology: Their recognition and significance. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 75, 1197–1216.
Funder, S., Demidov, I., & Yelovicheva, Y. (2002). Hydrography and mollusc faunas of the Baltic and White Sea-North Sea seaway in the Eemian. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 184, 275–304.
Gardner, J. S. (1885). The Tertiary basaltic formation in Iceland (with collaborations by G. Jeffreys and S. V. Wood). Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 41, 93–101.
Gladenkov, Y. B., Krasnov, E. V., Ignatev, A. V., & Scheigus, V. E. (1975). On temperature conditions in the late Cainozoic habitat of Mollusca in the North Atlantic. Doklady of the Academy of Sciences USSR, 223(1), 176–177.
Gladenkov, Y. B., Norton, P., & Spaink, G. (1980). Upper Cenozoic of Iceland. Trudy Geologischeskogo Instituta Academiya Nauk SSSR, 345, 1–116.
Golikov, A. N. (1995). Shell-bearing gastropods of the Arctic. Moscow: Colus. 108 pp.
Grant, G. R., Naish, T. R., Dunbar, G. B., Stocchi, P., Kominz, M. A., Kamp, P. J. J., et al. (2019). The amplitude and origin of sea-level variability during the Pliocene epoch. Nature, 574, 237–241.
Harmer, F. W. (1914). The Pliocene Mollusca of Great Britain, being supplementary to S.V. Wood’s Monograph of the Crag Mollusca (1(1), pp. 1–200). London: The Palæontographical Society.
Harmer, F. W. (1915). The Pliocene Mollusca of Great Britain, being supplementary to S.V. Wood’s Monograph of the Crag Mollusca (1(2), pp. 201–302). London: The Palæontographical Society.
Harmer, F. W. (1918). The Pliocene Mollusca of Great Britain, being supplementary to S.V. Wood’s Monograph of the Crag Mollusca (1(3), pp. 303–461). London: The Palæontographical Society.
Harmer, F. W. (1920). The Pliocene Mollusca of Great Britain, being supplementary to S.V. Wood’s Monograph of the Crag Mollusca (2(1), pp. 485–652). London: The Palæontographical Society.
Harmer, F. W. (1921). The Pliocene Mollusca of Great Britain, being supplementary to S.V. Wood’s Monograph of the Crag Mollusca (2(2), pp. 653–705). London: The Palæontographical Society.
Harmer, F. W. (1923). The Pliocene Mollusca of Great Britain, being supplementary to S.V. Wood’s Monograph of the Crag Mollusca (2(3), pp. 705–856). London: The Palæontographical Society.
Harmer, F. W. (1925). The Pliocene Mollusca of Great Britain, being supplementary to S.V. Wood’s Monograph of the Crag Mollusca (2(4), pp. 857–900). London: The Palæontographical Society.
Hayes, M. O. (1975). Morphology of sand accumulations in estuaries. In L. E. Cronin (Ed.), Estuarine research (pp. 3–22). New York: Academic Press.
Hayes, M. O. (1979). Barrier island morphology as a function of tidal and wave regime. In S. P. Leatherman (Ed.), Barrier Islands (pp. 1–27). New York: Academic Press.
Jancin, M., Young, K. D., Voight, B., Aronson, J. L., & Sæmundsson, K. (1985). Stratigraphy and K/Ar ages across the west flank of the Northeast Iceland Axial Rift Zone, in relation to the 7 Ma volcano-tectonic reorganization of Iceland. Journal of Geophysical Research, 90, 9961–9985.
Johnstrup, J. F. (1877). Indberetning om den af Professor Johnstrup foretagne Undersøgelses-rejse paa Island i Sommeren 1876. Rigsdagstidende, 1876-1877, 1–14.
Karas, C., Nuernberg, D., Bähr, A., & Groeneveld, J. (2017). Pliocene oceanic seaways and global climate. Scientific Reports, 7, 39842. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep39842
Knies, J., Cabedo-Sanz, P., Belt, S. T., Baranwal, S., Fietz, S., & Rosell-Melé, A. (2014). The emergence of modern sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean. Nature Communications, 5, 5608. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6608
Knudsen, K. L., Eiríksson, J., & Símonarson, L. A. (2020). Foraminifera in the Pliocene Barmur Group on Tjörnes, North Iceland. In J. Eiríksson & L. A. Símonarson (Eds.), Pacific – Atlantic mollusc migration. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. This volume, Chapter 8.
Lisiecki, L. E., & Raymo, M. E. (2005). A Pliocene-Pleistocene stack of 57 globally distributed benthic δ18O records. Paleoceanography, 20, PA1003. https://doi.org/10.1029/2004PA001071
Lisiecki, L. E., & Raymo, M. E. (2007). Plio-Pleistocene climate evolution; Trends and transitions in glacial cycle dynamics. Quaternary Science Reviews, 28, 56–69.
Löffler, A. (1995). Fossile Hölzer von Tjörnes (Island) und ihre paläoklimatischen Aussagen. Neues Jahrbuch der Geologie und Paläontologie, 198, 183–196.
Madsen, F. J. (1949). Marine Bivalvia. The Zoology of Iceland, IV(63), 1–116.
Magnúsdóttir, S., Brandsdóttir, B., Driscoll, N., & Detrick, R. (2015). Postglacial tectonic activity within the Skjálfandadjúp Basin, Tjörnes Fracture Zone, offshore Northern Iceland, based on high resolution seismic stratigraphy. Marine Geology, 367, 159–170.
Matthiessen, J., Knies, J., Vogt, C., & Stein, R. (2009). Pliocene palaeoceanography of the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 367, 21–48.
Miller, K. G., Mountain, G., Wright, J. D., & Browning, J. V. (2011). A 180-million-year record of sea level and ice volume variations from continental margin and deep-sea isotopic records. Oceanography, 24, 40–53.
Mörch, O. A. L. (1871). On the Mollusca of the Crag formation of Iceland. Geological Magazine, 8, 391–400.
Naish, T. R., & Wilson, G. S. (2009). Constraints on the amplitude of Mid-Pliocene (3.6-2.4 Ma) eustatic sea-level fluctuations from the New Zealand shallow-marine sediment record. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 367, 169–187.
Nordsieck, F. (1969). Die europäischen Meeresmuscheln (Bivalvia). Vom Eismeer bis Kapverden, Mittelmeer und Schwarzes Meer. Stuttgart, Germany: Gustav Fischer. 256 pp.
Norton, P. E. P. (1975). Paleoecology of the Mollusca of the Tjörnes sequence, Iceland. Boreas, 4, 97–110.
Ólafsson, E. (1749). Enarrationes historicae de natura et constitutione Islandiae, formatae et transformatae per eruptiones ignis. Hafniae, Denmark: J. Höpffner. 148 pp.
Ólafsson, E. (1772). Vice-Lavmand Eggert Ólafsens og Land-physici Biarne Povelsens Reise igiennem Island, foranstaltet af Videnskabernes Sælskab i Kiøbenhavn 1-2. Soröe, Denmark: Videnskabernes Sælskab. 1042+84 pp.
Óskarsson, I. (1982). Skeldýrafána Íslands 1-2. Samlokur í sjó. Sæsniglar með skel. Reykjavík, Iceland: Leiftur. 351 pp.
Paijkull, C. W. (1867). Bidrag till kännedomen om Islands bergsbyggnad. Kungliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar, 7, 1–50.
Poppe, G. T., & Goto, Y. (1991). European seashells (Vol. 1). Wiesbaden, Germany: Christa Hemmen. 352 pp.
Poppe, G. T., & Goto, Y. (1993). European seashells (Vol. 2). Wiesbaden, Germany: Christa Hemmen. 221 pp.
Sæmundsson, K. (1974). Evolution of the axial rifting zone in Northern Iceland and the Tjörnes Fracture Zone. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 85, 495–504.
Sæmundsson, K. (1986). Subaerial volcanism in the western North Atlantic. In P. R. Vogt (Ed.), The geology of North America. Volume M. The Western North Atlantic Region (pp. 69–86). Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America.
Schlesch, H. (1924). Zur Kenntnis der pliocänen Cragformation von Hallbjarnarstadur, Tjörnes, Nordisland und ihrer Molluskenfauna. Archiv für Molluskenkunde, 1, 309–370.
Schwarzbach, M. (1955). Beiträge zur Klimageschichte Islands I. Allgemeiner Uberblick der Klimageschichte Islands. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie: Monatshefte, 3, 97–130.
Schwarzbach, M., & Pflug, H. D. (1957). Beiträge zur Klimageschichte Islands VI. Das Klima des jüngeren Tertiärs in Island. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie: Abhandlungen, 104, 279–298.
Símonarson, L. A., & Eiríksson, J. (2008). Tjörnes – Pliocene and Pleistocene sediments and faunas. Jökull, 58, 331–342.
Símonarson, L. A., & Eiríksson, J. (2020a). Systematic overview of the Pliocene Molluscs and Barnacles of the Barmur Group on Tjörnes, North Iceland. In J. Eiríksson & L. A. Símonarson (Eds.), Pacific – Atlantic mollusc migration. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. This volume, Chapter 7.
Símonarson, L. A., & Eiríksson, J. (2020b). Migration of Pacific Marine Fauna into the North Atlantic Across the Arctic Ocean in Pliocene and early Pleistocene time. In J. Eiríksson & L. A. Símonarson (Eds.), Pacific – Atlantic mollusc migration. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. This volume, Chapter 14.
Sneli, J. A., Schiøtte, T., Jensen, K. R., Wikander, P. B., Stokland, Ø., & Sørensen, J. (2005). The marine Mollusca of the Faroes. Annales Societatis Scientarium Færoensis Supplementum, 42, 1–190.
Stefánsson, U. (1962). North Icelandic waters. Rit Fiskideildar, 3, 1–269.
Strauch, F. (1963). Zur Geologie von Tjörnes (Nordisland). Sonderveröffentlichungen des Geologischen Instituts der Universität Köln, 8, 1–129.
Strauch, F. (1972). Zum Klima des nordatlantisch-skandischen Raumes im jüngeren Känozoikum. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft, 123, 163–177.
Strauch, F. (2006). Aufgearbeitete baculitide Ammoniten im marinen Pliozän Nordislands. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Monatshefte, 1, 28–40.
Thorson, G. (1941). Marine Gastropoda Prosobranhiata. The Zoology of Iceland, 4(60), 150.
Thorson, G. (1944). The zoology of East Greenland. Marine Gastropoda Prosobranchiata. Meddelelser om Grønland, 121(13), 181.
Verhoeven, K. (2012). A reconstruction of the depositional history and palaeoenvironment of Northeast Iceland: A combined terrestrial and marine palynological approach. PhD thesis, Ghent University, Ghent. 192 pp.
Verhoeven, K., Louwye, S., & Eiríksson, J. (2013). Plio-Pleistocene landscape and vegetation reconstruction of the coastal area of the Tjörnes Peninsula, Northern Iceland. Boreas, 42, 108–122.
Verhoeven, K., Louwye, S., Eiríksson, J., & De Schepper, S. (2011). A new age model for the Pliocene-Pleistocene Tjornes section on Iceland: Its implication for the timing of North Atlantic-Pacific palaeoceanographic pathways. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 309, 33–52.
Winkler, G. G. (1863). Island, der Bau seiner Gebirge und dessen geologische Bedeutung: nach eigenen, dort ausgeführten Untersuchungen. München, Germany: Gummi Verlag. 303 pp.
Wood, S. V. (1857). A monograph of the Crag Mollusca with description of shells from the Upper Tertiaries of the British Isles 2. Bivalves (Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society Volume, 9(33)) (pp. 217–342). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Símonarson, L.A., Knudsen, K.L., Eiríksson, J. (2021). Reconstructing the Paleoenvironments of the Pliocene Barmur Group in the Tjörnes Basin, North Iceland. In: Eiríksson, J., Símonarson, L.A. (eds) Pacific - Atlantic Mollusc Migration . Topics in Geobiology, vol 52. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59663-7_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59663-7_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-59662-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-59663-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)