On the Billefjorden fault zone in Garmdalen, central Spitsbergen: implications for the mapping of major fault zones during geological fieldwork and for the tectonic history of Svalbard

The study suggests that strain partitioning of early Cenozoic Eurekan contraction alone may explain the deformation patterns in Paleozoic rock units in central Spitsbergen, i.e., that Late Devonian Svalbardian contraction is not required, and that a major segment of the Billefjorden Fault Zone formed in the early Cenozoic. The present work illustrates the crucial need for interdisciplinary approaches and composite educational backgrounds in science.