Palynology and depositional environments of the Middle to Late Triassic age (Anisian–Rhaetian) Kobbe, Snadd and Fruholmen formations, southern Barents Sea, Arctic Norway

The Middle to Upper Triassic series in the Norwegian Barents Sea represents an important target for hydrocarbon exploration. However, the dating and correlation of these rocks are problematic due to the scarcity of age-diagnostic macrofossils, lateral facies variation and the overall thickness of the succession. Palynology has proven to be a useful dating tool but further work is necessary to improve the zonal resolution, particularly for the Upper Triassic Series. The current paper presents a detailed palynostratigraphy of the Middle – Upper Triassic succession in four exploration wells (7120/12-2, 7228/2-1s, 7-1a and 9-1s) drilled in the Hammerfest and Nordkapp basins. Eleven informal palynological zones are described from the stratigraphic interval spanning the Kobbe, Snadd and Fruholmen formations, which constitute regionally significant hydrocarbon source and reservoir rock facies. The results of this study contribute to a higher resolution palynostratigraphy for the Middle to Upper Triassic strata of the southern Barents Sea (SBS), and an improved correlation with the stratigraphy of the Svalbard Archipelago. Palynofacies data for the succession, presented here for the first time, indicates depositional environments ranging from fluvio-deltaic to offshore marine.