The Nordfjord—Sogn Detachment (NSD) is a major extensional
Caledonian Orogeny and was mainly active during the Devonian. It has an estimated displacement of at least 70 km and possibly as much as 110 km.[1] It was reactivated during the Mesozoic and may have influenced the development of fault structures in the North Searift basin.[2]
Extent
The NSD is recognised from the western end of the Sognefjord through to the northern shore of Bremanger, a distance of about 120 km. The exposure is fairly continuous, broken occasionally by fjords and some later high-angle faults, such as the Standal Fault.[3] There is evidence from seismic reflection data that the structure continues offshore to the west.
Geometry
The NSD has an overall low westward dip, although its sinuous outcrop shows that it has a folded geometry with a series of west-plunging
synforms, with Devonian sediments preserved in four of the larger synforms as the Solund, Kvamshesten, Håsteinen and Hornelen basins. It places rocks of the Upper Plate in tectonic contact with rocks of the Lower Plate.[4]
Bounding plates
The upper plate of the NSD consists of rocks of the highest
unconformably overlain by conglomerates and sandstone of Devonian age.[2][3]
The NSD is one of the largest structures formed during the extensional late orogenic to
post-orogenic collapse of the Caledonian mountain belt. This zone of thickened crust, which reached an estimated thickness of over 80 km, began to spread gravitationally during the Devonian period. This period of extensional tectonics affected most of the Caledonian belt, including Northern Scotland, East Greenland and Norway. In Norway, after initial reactivation of the larger thrusts in extension, the whole pile of Caledonian thrust sheets was cross-cut by a series of large extensional shear zones, including the NSD, the Hardangerfjord Shear Zone, the Karmøy Shear Zone and the Bergen Arc Shear Zone.[3]
