Over the past 20 years intensive palynological studies of Cretaceous to Neogene successions on- and offshore West Greenland have been carried out by GEUS.

In the early nineties GGU (the former Geological Survey of Greenland) focused on sequence stratigraphic analysis of the Cretaceous sediments in West Greenland and a Cretaceous palynostratigraphy was established for the Disko–Nuussuaq–Svartenhuk Halvø area based on 29 surface sections and 12 shallow boreholes (Nøhr-Hansen 1996). The stratigraphy was tested and extended with data from the stratigraphic borehole Umiivik-1 on Svartenhuk Halvø (Dam et al. 1998), and the change in the palynological assemblage across the K/T boundary on Nuussuaq was described by Nøhr-Hansen and Dam (1997).

Fieldwork continued and the discovery of oil seepages in the Palaeogene volcanic succession attracted the industry and several exploration wells were drilled (and abandoned) onshore Nuussuaq in 1995 and 1996, providing new data on the pre-basaltic Paleocene biostratigraphy (Nøhr-Hansen et al. 2002).

New offshore concessions in West Greenland led to requests for new biostratigraphic studies of the exploration wells drilled in 1976 and 1977. A Palaeogene dinocyst biostratigraphy for the 5 old offshore wells and the Qulleq-1 well drilled in 2000 was described by Nøhr-Hansen (2003).

Further commercial interest in the area led to a regional correlation study of the Mesozoic–Palaeogene sequences across the Greenland–Canadian boundary. The study included new data from 6 selected Canadian wells from the Labrador Sea and led to a detailed Cretaceous palynostratigraphy.

Over the past five years, GEUS and the Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic) have cooperated and expanded the regional palynological study with additional 5 wells from the Labrador Sea, resulting in a more detailed age control based on more than 2000 samples from 17 offshore wells. This major correlation project (in prep. for a GEUS bulletin) has mapped out palaeoenviroment, Azolla blooms, local and regional hiati, and 106 bioevents have been identified for the Cretaceous to Neogene succession deposited in the Labrador–Baffin seaway.

Dam, G., Nøhr-Hansen, H., Christiansen, F. G., Boejesen-Koefoed, J. and Laier, T. (1998). The oldest marine Cretaceous sediments in West Greenland (Umiivik-1 borehole) - record of the Cenomanian–Turonian Anoxic Event?. Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin 180, 128–137.

Nøhr-Hansen, H. (1996). Upper Cretaceous dinoflagellate cyst stratigraphy, onshore West Greenland. Bulletin Grønlands geologiske Undersøgelse 170, 104 pp.

Nøhr-Hansen, H. (2003). Dinoflagellate cyst stratigraphy of the Palaeogene strata from the Hellefisk-1, Ikermiut-1, Kangâmiut-1, Nukik-1, Nukik-2 and Qulleq-1 wells, offshore West Greenland. Marine and Petroleum Geology 20, 987–1016.

Nøhr-Hansen, H. and Dam, G. (1997). Palynology and sedimentology across a new marine Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary section on Nuussuaq, West Greenland. Geology 25:9, 851–854

Nøhr-Hansen, H., Sheldon, E. and Dam, G. (2002). A new biostratigraphic scheme for the Paleocene onshore West Greenland and its implications for the timing of the pre-volcanic evolution. In Jolley, D.W. & Bell, B.R. (eds) The North Atlantic Igneous Province: Stratigraphy, Tectonic, Volcanic and Magmatic Processes. Geological Society, London. Special Publication 197, 111–156.