A Study of geophysical data from the Billefjorden Fault Zone, Spitsbergen (Svalbard)

Spitsbergen (Svalbard) is traversed by several major fault systems trending approximately N-S. One of them, the Billefjorden Fault Zone (BFZ), is a major long-lived lineament on Spitsbergen (Harland et al., 1974; Birkenmajer, 1975) running the length of Wijdefjorden in N Spitsbergen. The BFZ has been interpreted to be part of a major Late Devonian transform fault, and more than 200 km sinistral strike-slip movement has been suggested (Harland et al., 1974). The BFZ is well exposed for only 80 km north of Billefjorden, and is buried beneath the sedimentary cover in S Spitsbergen. It is therefore not known if the BFZ extends to the south of Spitsbergen into the barents Sea.