ABSTRACT Detrital zircon provenance studies of Precambrian metasedimentary rocks in Wedel Jarlsberg Land and Sørkapp Land, Svalbard’s Southwestern Caledonian Basement Province, were conducted to evaluate local stratigraphic correlations and the role of long-distance strike-slip displacements in assembling the basement of the Arctic Caledonides. The detrital zircon U-Pb age spectra of the late Mesoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic metasediments revealed mainly Mesoproterozoic to Paleoproterozoic age signatures characteristic for a Grenville–Sveconorwegian orogen provenance. These results confirmed a stratigraphic correlation between basement units of southern Sørkapp Land and the Isbjørnhamna Group of Wedel Jarlsberg Land and suggest relocation of the tectonic boundary between the Eimfjellet Complex and the Isbjørnhamna Group above the Eimfjellbreane Formation. Moreover, the results support the Vimsodden Kosibapasset Shear Zone (VKZ) as a major tectonic boundary and highlight the inhomogeneity in the Southwestern Caledonian Basement Province. The detrital zircon age signatures south of the VKZ bear similarities with coeval metasediments of the Northwestern Caledonian Basement Province of Svalbard and other localities in the Greenland and Scandinavian Caledonides. In contrast, the detrital zircon age spectra north of the VKZ are comparable with the high Arctic Neoproterozoic sediments of Baltican affinity. In conjunction with previous studies, the results suggest that the basement units may continue across the traditional boundaries of the Svalbard’s Caledonian basement provinces.

Abstract The New Siberian Islands are affected by a number of Mesozoic tectonic events. The oldest event (D1a) is characterized by NW-directed thrusting within the South Anyui Suture Zone combined with north–south-trending sinistral strike-slip in the foreland during the Early Cretaceous. This compressional deformation was followed by dextral transpression along north–south-trending faults, which resulted in NE–SW shortening in the Kotelny Fold Zone (D1b). The dextral deformation can be related to a north–south-trending boundary fault zone west of the New Siberian Islands, which probably represented the Laptev Sea segment of the Amerasia Basin Transform Fault in pre-Aptian–Albian times. The presence of a transform fault west of the islands may be an explanation for the long and narrow sliver of continental lithosphere of the Lomonosov Ridge and the sudden termination of the South Anyui Suture Zone against the present Laptev Sea Rift System. The intrusion of magmatic rocks 114 myr ago was followed by NW–SE-trending sinistral strike-slip faults of unknown origin (D2). In the Late Cretaceous–Paleocene, east–west extension (D3) west of the New Siberian Islands initiated the development of the Laptev Sea Rift System, which continues until today and is largely related to the development of the Eurasian Basin.