Upper Palaeozoic strata drilled at the Svalis Dome, south-western Barents Sea, contain sedimentary rocks which closely resemble the succession of the Gipsdalen and Tempelfjorden groups in the Svalbard Archipelago. The Gipsdalen Group cores are dominated by fossiliferous grainstones and packstones deposited on a carbonate shelf. Two distinctive different fusulinid faunas show close affinities to fusulinids elswhere in the present Arctic region. The lower Schwagerina parva assemblage indicates a late Asselian to earliest Sakmarian age while beds with Schwagerina kolviensis give a late Artinskian age. The Tempelfjorden Group cores are dominated by silicified, often fossiliferous, wackestones and fragmented siliciclastics of more basinal setting. A palynological assemblage including Scutasporites nanuki, Lueckisporiles virkkiae and Lunotisporiles spp. indicates a Kazanian age for this unit. The recorded palynomorphs resemble Upper Permian assemblages elsewhere in the present Arctic region. At the top of the succession (below the Triassic shales), a fossiliferous packstone with productids resembles the Miseryfjellet Formation, Bjørnøya. No age diagnostic fossils are, however, recorded in this part of the succession.

Inger Nilsson¹, Gunn Mangerud² & Atle Mørk, IKU Petroleum Research, N-7034 Trondheim, Norway.

1-Present address: Saga Petroleum, P.O. Box 1134, N-9401 Harstad, Norway.

2-Present address: Norsk Hydro Research Centre, N-5020 Bergen, Norway.