Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Early Cambrian wave-formed shoreline deposits: the Hardeberga Formation, Bornholm, Denmark

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Journal of Earth Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

During the early Cambrian, the Danish island Bornholm was situated on the northern edge of the continent Baltica with palaeolatitudes of about 35°S. An early Cambrian (Terreneuvian) transgression inundated large areas of Baltica including Bornholm creating shallow marine and coastline environments. During this period, wave-formed shoreline sediments (the Vik Member, Hardeberga Formation) were deposited on Bornholm and are presently exposed at Strøby quarry. The sediments consist of fine- and medium-grained quartz-cemented arenites in association with a few silt-rich mudstones. The presence of well-preserved subaqueous dunes and wave ripples indicates deposition in a wave-dominated upper shoreface (littoral zone) environment, and the presence of interference ripples indicates that the littoral zone environment experienced water level fluctuations due to tides and/or changing meteorological conditions. Discoidal structures (medusoids) are present in the quarry, but due to the relative poor preservation of their fine-scale structures it is difficult to determine if the discoids represent true medusae imprints or inorganic structures. The preservation of the shallow-water bedforms as well as the possible medusae imprints is related to either the formation of thin mud layers, formed during a period of calm water when winds blew offshore for a longer period, or to the growth of bacterial mats. The orientation of the wave-formed bedforms indicates a local palaeoshoreline trending NE–SW and facing a large ocean to the north.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen JRL (1982) Sedimentary structures. Their character and physical basis., Volume 1. Developments in Sedimentology 30AElsevier, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen PA (1997) Earth surface processes. Wiley, Hobroken, NJ

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Banks NL (1973) Tide-dominated offshore sedimentation, Lower Cambrian, north Norway. Sedimentology 20:213–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker JM, Firing YL, Aucan J, Holman R, Merrifield M, Pawlak G (2007) Video-based observations of nearshore sand ripples and ripple migration. J Geophys Res 112:C01007. doi:10.1029/2005JC003451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker M, Schrottke K, Bartholomä A, Erntsen V, Winter C, Hebbeln D (2013) Formation and entrainment of fluid mud layer in troughs of subtidal dunes in an estuary turbidity zone. J Geophys Res Oceans 118:2175–2187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bromley RG (2002) Field meeting: Bornholm, Denmark, 28 August to 4 September, 2000. Proc Geol Assoc 113:77–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bromley RG, Uchman A (1999) Ichnofabric and trace fossils in Palaeozoic and Mesozoic sediments, Bornholm, Denmark. In: Pedersen GK, Clemmensen LB (eds) Field trip guidebook for the 19th regional European meeting of sedimentology, August 1999, Copenhagen, pp 59–68

  • Bruun-Petersen J (1973) “Conical structures” in the lower Cambrian Balka Sandstone, Bornholm (Denmark), and in the lower Devonian Coblenz Sandstone, Marburg (Western Germany). N. Jahrbuch f. Geologie u. Paläontologie, Monatshefte 9:513–528

    Google Scholar 

  • Clausen CK, Vilhjálmsson M (1986) Substrate control of Lower Cambrian trace fossils from Bornholm, Denmark. Palaeo-geogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 56:51–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clemmensen LB, Dam G (1993) Aeolian sand-sheet deposits in the Lower Cambrian Neksø Sandstone Formation, Bornholm, Denmark: sedimentary architecture and genesis. Sed Geol 83:71–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clifton HE, Hunter RE, Phillips RL (1971) Depositional structures and processes in the non-barred high-energy nearshore. J Sediment Petrol 41:651–670

    Google Scholar 

  • Cocks LRM, Torsvik TH (2002) Earth geography from 500 to 400 million years ago: a faunal and palaeomagnetic review. J Geol Soc Lond 159:631–644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cocks LRM, Torsvik TH (2005) Baltica from the late Precambrian to mid-Palaeozoic times: the gain and loss of a terrane’s identity. Earth Sci Rev 72:39–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen KM, Finney SC, Gibbard PL, Fan JX (2013) The ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart v 2014/02. Episodes 36:199–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Collinson J, Mountney N, Thompson D (2006) Sedimentary structures, 3rd edn. Terra Publishing, Harpende

    Google Scholar 

  • Dalrymple RW, Narbonne GM, Smith L (1985) Eolian action and the distribution of Cambrian shales in North America. Geology 13:607–610

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Desjardins PR, Pratt BR, Buatois LA, Mángano MG (2010) Stratigraphy and sedimentary environments of the Lower Cambrian Gog Group in the southern Rocky Mountains of Western Canada: transgressive sandstones on a broad continental margin. Bull Can Pet Geol 58:403–439

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dornbos SQ, Noffke N, Hagadorn JW (2007) Mat-decay features. In: Schieber J, Bose PK, Ericksson PG, Banerjee S, Sarkar S, Altermann W, Catuneanu O (eds) Atlas of microbial mat features preserved within the siliciclastic rock record. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 106–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Dott RH Jr, Byers CW, Fielder GW, Stenzel SR, Winfree KE (1986) Aeolian to marine transition in the Cambro-Ordovician cratonic sheet sandstones of the northern Mississippi Valley, U.S.A. Sedimentology 33:345–367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edlich T (2009) Sfæriske strukturer i Hardeberga Formationen ved Strøby, Bornholm. Unpublished Bachelor Thesis, University of Copenhagen, 36 pp

  • Gallagher EL, Elgar S, Thornton EB (1998) Megaripple migration in a natural surf zone. Nature 394:165–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gravesen P (1996) Geologisk set: Bornholm. Miljø- og Energiministeriet Skov- og Naturstyrelsen, Geografforlaget

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagadorn JW, Miller RF (2011) Hypothesized Cambrian medusae from Saint John, New Brunswick, reinterpreted as sedimentary structures. Atl Geol 47:66–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hagadorn JW, Dott RH Jr, Danrow D (2002) Stranded on a Late Cambrian shoreline: medusae from central Wisconsin. Geology 30:147–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamberg L (1989) Tidevands- og stormdominerede lavmarine aflejringssystemer relateret til en epikratonisk transgression, Nedre Kambriske Hardeberga Formation, Skåne. Unpublished Thesis, University of Copenhagen, 127 pp

  • Hamberg L (1991) Tidal and seasonal cycles in a Lower Cambrian shallow marine sandstone (Hardeberga Fm.) Scania, Southern Sweden. In: Smith DG, Reinson GE, Zaitlin BA, Rahmani RA (eds) Clastic tidal sedimentology, vol 16. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geology Memoir, Calgary, Alberta, pp 255–274

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansen K (1936) Die Gesteine des Unterkambriums von Bornholm. Dan Geol Unders 2(62):1–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Haq B, Schutter SR (2008) A chronology of Paleozoic sea-level changes. Science 322:64–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hiscott RN, James NP, Pemberton SG (1984) Sedimentology and ichnology of the Lower Cambrian Bradore Formation, Coastal Labrador: fluvial to shallow-marine transgressive sequence. Bull Can Pet Geol 32:11–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen S (1997) Trace fossils from the Lower Cambrian Mickwitzia sandstone, south-central Sweden. Fossils Strata 42:1–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Matthews SC, Cowie JW (1979) Early Cambrian transgression. J Geol Soc Lond 136:133–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKie T (1990) Tidal and storm influenced sedimentation from a Cambrian transgressive passive margin sequence. J Geol Soc Lond 147:785–794

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miles J, Thorpe A, Russell P, Masselink G (2014) Observations of bedforms on a dissipative macrotidal beach. Ocena Dyn 64:225–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Møller LNN, Friis H (1999) Petrographic evidence for hydrocarbon migration in Lower Cambrian sandstones, Bornholm, Denmark. Bull Geol Soc Den 45:117–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Moszydłowska M, Vidal G (1992) Phytoplankton from the Lower Cambrian Læså Formation on Bornholm, Denmark: biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironmental constraints. Geol Mag 129:17–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen AT, Schovsbo NH (2007) Cambrian to basal Ordovician lithostratigraphy in southern Scandinavia. Bull Geol Soc Den 53:47–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen AT, Schovsbo NH (2011) The Lower Cambrian of Scandinavia: depositional environment, sequence stratigraphy and palaeogeography. Earth Sci Rev 107:207–310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noffke N (1998) Multidirectional ripple marks arising from biological and sedimentological processes in modern lower supratidal deposits (Mellum Island, southern North Sea). Geology 26:879–882

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noffke N (2008) Turbulent lifestyle: microbila mats on Earth’s sandy beaches—today and 3 billion years ago. GSA Today 18:4–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pflüger F, Gresse PG (1996) Microbial sand chips—a non-actualistic sedimentary structure. Sediment Geol 102:263–274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poulsen V (1966) Cambro-Silurian stratigraphy of Bornholm. Meddelelser fra Dansk Geologisk Forening 16:117–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Poulsen MLK, Svendsen J, Friis H (2000) NaturBornholm og Hadeborgprofilet—en geologisk lokalitet ved NaturBornholm. Geol Nyt 5:9–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubin DM (1987) Cross-bedding, bedforms, and paleocurrents. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Concepts in Sedimentology and Paleontology, vol 1. Tulsa, Oklahoma, p 187

  • Schieber J, Bose PK, Eriksson PG, Banerjee S, Sarkar S, Altermann W, Catuneanu O (eds) (2007) Atlas of microbial mat features preserved within the siliciclastic rock record. Atlas in geoscience, vol 2. Elsevier, Amsterdam, p 311

    Google Scholar 

  • Seilacher A (2008) Fossil art. An exhibition of the Geologisches Institut Tuebingen University Germany. CBM-publishing, Laasby, p 97

    Google Scholar 

  • Surlyk F (1980) Denmark. In: geology of the european countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. In: Dunod, and Comité National Francais de Géologie (C.N.F.G.) on the occasion of the 26th international geological congress, 50 pp

  • Torsvik TH, Rehnström EF (2001) Cambrian palaeomagnetic data from Baltica: implications for true polar wander and Cambrian palaeogeography. J Geol Soc Lond 158:321–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young GA, Hagadorn JW (2010) The fossil record of cnidarian medusae. Palaeoworld 19:212–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Earlier versions of the manuscript received comments by Per Ahlberg, Lars Hamberg, Orsolya Sztanó and Finn Surlyk. The present manuscript benefitted much from constructive criticism by journal reviewers Sebastian Lindhorst and James Hagadorn. Adolf Seilacher is acknowledged for catalysing interest for this study and Hans Luginsland for preparing the beautiful casts of the medusoids in the Strøby quarry. We also thank NaturBornholm and Claus Beyer for sharing their knowledge of the medusoids with us. The Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management is thanked for providing the opportunity to conduct this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lars B. Clemmensen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Clemmensen, L.B., Glad, A.C. & Pedersen, G.K. Early Cambrian wave-formed shoreline deposits: the Hardeberga Formation, Bornholm, Denmark. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 106, 1889–1903 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-016-1393-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-016-1393-1

Keywords

Navigation