By using seismic data and fieldwork, this contribution shows that soft, coal-rich sedimentary rocks absorbed most of early Cenozoic, Eurekan, contractional deformation in central Spitsbergen, thus suggesting that no contractional deformation event is needed in the Late Devonian to explain the deformation differences among late Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. It also shows that the Billefjorden Fault Zone, a major crack in the Earth's crust in Svalbard, is probably segmented.