S1:Svalbard Composite Tectono-Sedimentary Element, Barents Sea

Mississippian to Middle Pennsylvanian succession; the Billefjorden Group and the lower part of Gipsdalen Group. TSE 1: Uppermost Devonian to Lower Mississippian TSE 1 deposited in an interior continental sag basin possibly related to initial rift stage in SW. TSE 2: Serpukhovian to Moscovian synrift. These two tectono-stratigraphic elements represent the transition from Mississippian continental interior basins of TSE 1 (Figs a and b) to development of rift basins of TSE 2 in the late Mississippian to middle Pennsylvanian (Figs c and d). The continental interior basins of TSE 1 formed shortly after the latest tectonic phase of the Svalbardian (Ellesmerian) tectonic event. The climate changed from tropical humid to tropical semi-arid in the transition from TSE 1 to 2 (Figs a and d) and deposition occurred during global icehouse conditions.