Abstract A number of rock samples were collected from two dredge positions on the Lomonosov Ridge at water depths of 2–3.5 km. The dredge samples are dominated by sediments deformed and metamorphosed under greenschist-facies conditions 470 myr ago according to 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating of metamorphic muscovite. This shows that the Lomonosov Ridge was involved in a major Mid-Ordovician orogenic event that correlates with early arc–terrane accretion observed in northern Ellesmere Island, Svalbard, and other parts of the Caledonian belt. Detrital zircon age spectra of these metasediments span the Mesoproterozoic–Palaeoproterozoic with a main peak at around 1.6 Ga, and a pattern similar to that known from Caledonian metasedimentary rocks in East Greenland and northern Norway, as well as from Cambrian sediments in Estonia and Palaeozoic sediments on Novaya Zemlya. A second population of dredge samples comprises undeformed, non-metamorphic sandstones and siltstones. Detrital zircons in these sediments span the Palaeoproterozoic with a few Archaean zircons. Both rock types are covered by an up to 8 Ma ferromanganese crust and are evaluated to represent outcrop, and apatite fission-track data from three of the rock samples indicate that exposure at the seabed corresponds to a regional event of uplift and erosion that affected the Arctic in the Late Miocene. The data from the Lomonosov Ridge suggest that the 470 Ma orogenic event extended from Scotland and northern Scandinavia into the Arctic, including Svalbard, the Pearya Terrane and the Chukchi Borderlands. Supplementary material: Detrital zircon age data and details of the thermal history constraints are available at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3852151

Abstract We use new models of crustal structure and the depth of the lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary to calculate the geopotential energy and its corresponding geopotential stress field for the High Arctic. Palaeostress indicators such as dykes and rifts of known age are used to compare the present day and palaeostress fields. When both stress fields coincide, a minimum age for the configuration of the lithospheric stress field may be defined. We identify three regions in which this is observed. In north Greenland and the eastern Amerasia Basin, the stress field is probably the same as that present during the Late Cretaceous. In western Siberia, the stress field is similar to that in the Triassic. The stress directions on the eastern Russian Arctic Shelf and the Amerasia Basin are similar to that in the Cretaceous. The persistent misfit of the present stress field and Early Cretaceous dyke swarms associated with the High Arctic Large Igneous Province indicates a short-lived transient change in the stress field at the time of dyke emplacement. Most Early Cretaceous rifts in the Amerasia Basin coincide with the stress field, suggesting that dyking and rifting were unrelated. We present new evidence for dykes and a graben structure of Early Cretaceous age on Bennett Island.

Abstract In Arctic Russia, south of Wrangel Island, Jura–Cretaceous fold belt structures are cut by c. 108–100 Ma plutonic rocks and a c. 103 Ma migmatitic complex (U–Pb, zircon) that cooled by c. 96 Ma ( 40 Ar/ 39 Ar biotite); the structures are unconformably overlain by c. 88 Ma and younger (U–Pb, zircon) volcanic rocks. Wrangel Island, with a similar stratigraphy and added exposure of Neoproterozoic basement rocks, was thought to represent the westwards continuation of the Jura–Cretaceous Brookian thrust belt of Alaska. A penetrative, high-strain, S-dipping foliation formed during north–south stretching in Triassic and older rocks, with stretched pebble aspect ratios of c. 2:1:0.5 to 10:1:0.1. Deformation was at greenschist facies (chlorite+white mica; biotite at depth; temperature c. 300–450°C). Microstructures suggest deformation mostly by pure shear and north–south stretching; the quartz textures and lattice preferred orientations suggest temperatures of c. 300–450°C. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar K-feldspar spectra ( n = 1) and muscovite ( n = 3) (total gas ages c. 611–514 Ma) in Neoproterozoic basement rocks are consistent with a short thermal pulse during deformation at 105–100 Ma. Apatite fission track ages ( n = 7) indicate cooling to near-surface conditions at c. 95 Ma. The shared thermal histories of Wrangel Island and Chukotka suggest that Wrangel deformation is related to post-shortening, north–south extension, not to fold–thrust belt deformation. Seismic data (line AR-5) indicate a sharp Moho and strong sub-horizontal reflectivity in the lower and middle crust beneath the region. Wrangel Island probably represents a crustal-scale extensional boudin between the North Chukchi and Longa basins. Supplementary material: Sample localities, details of the analytical methods, data tables and the full discussion of the results of electron back-scatter diffraction studies of quartz lattice preferred orientations are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3741272

Abstract The pre-Cenozoic kinematic and tectonic history of the Arctic Alaska Chukotka (AAC) terrane is not well known. The difficulties in assessing the history of the AAC terrane are predominantly due to a lack of comprehensive knowledge about the composition and age of its basement. During the Mesozoic, the AAC terrane was involved in crustal shortening, followed by magmatism and extension with localized high-grade metamorphism and partial melting, all of which obscured its pre-orogenic geological relationships. New zircon geochronology and isotope geochemistry results from Wrangel Island and western Chukotka basement rocks establish and strengthen intra- and inter-terrane lithological and tectonic correlations of the AAC terrane. Zircon U–Pb ages of five granitic and one volcanic sample from greenschist facies rocks on Wrangel Island range between 620 ± 6 and 711 ± 4 Ma, whereas two samples from the migmatitic basement of the Velitkenay massif near the Arctic coast of Chukotka yield 612 ± 7 and 661 ± 11 Ma ages. The age spectrum (0.95–2.0 Ga with a peak at 1.1 Ga and minor 2.5–2.7 Ga) and trace element geochemistry of inherited detrital zircons in a 703 ± 5 Ma granodiorite on Wrangel Island suggests a Grenville–Sveconorwegian provenance for metasedimentary strata in the Wrangel Complex basement and correlates with the detrital zircon spectra of strata from Arctic Alaska and Pearya. Temporal patterns of zircon inheritance and O–Hf isotopes are consistent with Cryogenian–Ediacaran AAC magmatism in a peripheral/external orogenic setting (i.e. a fringing arc on rifted continental margin crust). Supplementary material: Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) U–Pb zircon geochronology data, SIMS zircon 18 O/ 16 O isotopic data, laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry zircon Lu–Hf isotopic data and zircon cathodoluminescence images are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3741314

Abstract Waveform tomography with very large datasets reveals the upper-mantle structure of the Arctic in unprecedented detail. Using tomography jointly with computational petrology, we estimate temperature in the lithosphere–asthenosphere depth range and infer lithospheric structure and evolution. Most of the boundaries of the mantle roots of cratons in the Arctic are coincident with their geological boundaries at the surface. The thick lithospheres of the Greenland and North American cratons are separated by a corridor of thin lithosphere beneath Baffin Bay and through the middle of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago; the southern archipelago is part of the North American Craton. The mantle root of the cratonic block beneath northern Greenland may extend westwards as far as central Ellesmere Island. The Barents and Kara seas show high velocities indicative of thick lithosphere, similar to cratons. The locations of intraplate basaltic volcanism attributed to the High Arctic Large Igneous Province are all on thin, non-cratonic lithosphere. The lithosphere beneath the central part of the Siberian Traps is warmer than elsewhere beneath the Siberian Craton. This observation is consistent with lithospheric erosion associated with the large igneous province volcanism. A corridor of relatively low seismic velocities cuts east–west across central Greenland. This indicates lithospheric thinning, which appears to delineate the track of the Iceland hotspot. Supplementary material: Figures with comparisons of different tomographic models at 50 and 200 km depths are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3817810

Abstract This paper synthesizes the framework and geological evolution of the Arctic Alaska–Chukotka microplate (AACM), from its origin as part of the continental platform fringing Baltica and Laurentia to its southward motion during the formation of the Amerasia Basin (Arctic Ocean) and its progressive modification as part of the dynamic northern palaeo-Pacific margin. A synthesis of the available data refines the crustal identity, limits and history of the AACM and, together with regional geological constraints, provides a tectonic framework to aid in its pre-Cretaceous restoration. Recently published seismic reflection data and interpretations, integrated with regional geological constraints, provide the basis for a new crustal transect (the Circum-Arctic Lithosphere Evolution (‘CALE’) Transect C) linking the Amerasia Basin and the Pacific margin along two paths that span 5100 km from the Lomonosov Ridge (near the North Pole), across the Amerasia Basin, Chukchi Sea and Bering Sea, and ending at the subducting Pacific plate margin in the Aleutian Islands. We propose a new plate tectonic model in which the AACM originated as part of a re-entrant in the palaeo-Pacific margin and moved to its present position during slab-related magmatism and the southward retreat of palaeo-Pacific subduction, largely coeval with the rifting and formation of the Amerasia Basin in its wake. Supplementary material: Supplementary material Plate 1 (herein referred to as Sup. Pl. 1) comprises Plate 1 and its included figures, which are an integral part of this paper. Plate 1 contains regional reflection-seismic-based cross sections and supporting material that collectively constitute CALE Transects C1 and C2 and form an important part of our contribution. Plate 1 is referred to in the text as Sup. Pl. 1, Transects C1 and C2 as Plate 1A and 1B, and plate figures as fig. P1.1, fig. P1.2, etc.). Supplementary material 2 contains previously unpublished geochronologic data on detrital zircon suites and igneous rocks. Supplementary material are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3826813

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.

Abstract The NW–SE-trending Pai-Khoi fold–thrust belt links the Permian Uralian Orogen in the Polar Urals with the early Mesozoic fold belt on Novaya Zemlya. An interpretation of structural lineaments present in southern Novaya Zemlya suggests that the NW–SE-trending fold belt in southernmost Novaya Zemlya may have formed contemporaneously with parallel sinistral strike-slip faults. Analysis of regional-scale geological maps of the adjacent Pai-Khoi fold–thrust belt reveals large-scale structural relationships indicative of sinistral shear along the fold–thrust belt, including the presence of left-stepping en echelon folds within the Kara Shale Allochthon. This interpretation is corroborated by a field study of the allochthon-bounding Main Pai-Khoi Thrust, which reveals a consistently oblique tectonic stretching lineation, pitching 56° towards the east, suggesting tectonic displacement towards the west. It is therefore proposed that the Pai-Khoi fold–thrust belt is best described as a zone of sinistral inclined transpression. The interpretation of the Pai-Khoi fold–thrust belt as a zone of sinistral transpression has important implications for the interpretation of this tectonic boundary. This is reflected in a new structural cross-section through southernmost Novaya Zemlya, which is characterized by thick-skinned tectonics and steep strike-slip faults. These faults may link at depth with the Baidaratsky Fault.

Abstract Mid-Palaeozoic assembly models for the Arctic Alaska–Chukotka microplate predict the presence of cryptic crustal sutures, the exact locations and deformational histories of which have not been identified in the field. This study presents data on the provenance of polydeformed and metamorphosed strata in the southern Brooks Range Schist Belt and Central Belt of presumed Proterozoic–Devonian depositional age, as well as for the structurally overlying strata, to help elucidate terrane boundaries within the Arctic Alaska–Chukotka microplate and to add new constraints to the palaeogeographical evolution of its constituent parts. The protoliths identified support correlations with metasedimentary strata in the Ruby terrane and Seward Peninsula and suggest a (peri-) Baltican origin in late Neoproterozoic–early Palaeozoic time. Proximity to Laurentia is only evident in what are inferred to be post-early Devonian age strata. By contrast, the North Slope and Apoon terranes originated proximal to Laurentia. The mid-Palaeozoic boundary between these (peri-) Baltican and (peri-) Laurentian terranes once lay between rocks of the Schist/Central belts and those of the Apoon terrane, but is obscured by severe Mesozoic–Cenozoic deformation. Whether this boundary represents a convergent or transform suture, when exactly it formed and how it relates to broader Caledonian convergence in the North Atlantic are still unresolved questions. Supplementary material: Details of the analytical methods together with zircon U-Pb and Lu-Hf isotopic data tables are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3805696

Abstract New deep seismological data from Ellesmere Island and the adjacent Arctic continental margin provide new information about the crustal structure of the region. These data were not available for previous regional crustal models. This paper combines and redisplays previously published results – a gravity-derived Moho map and seismological results –to produce new maps of the Moho depth, the depth to basement and the crystalline crustal thickness of Ellesmere Island and contiguous parts of the Arctic Ocean, Greenland and Axel Heiberg Island. Northern Ellesmere Island is underlain by a thick crustal block (Moho at 41 km, c. 35 km crust). This block is separated from the Canada–Greenland craton in the south by a WSW–ENE-trending channel of thinned crystalline crust (Moho at 30–35 km, <20 km thick crust), which is overlain by a thick succession of metasedimentary and younger sedimentary rocks (15–20 km). The Sverdrup Basin in the west and the Lincoln Sea in the east interrupt the crustal architecture of central Ellesmere Island, which is interpreted to be more representative of its initial post-Ellesmerian Orogen structure, but with a later Sverdrup Basin and Eurekan overprint.

Abstract The Laptev Sea in the Siberian Arctic represents a unique tectonic junction of an active spreading ridge, the Gakkel Ridge in the Eurasian oceanic basin, with the Siberian Arctic continental margin. New long-offset seismic profiles acquired in recent years provide a reliable basis for deciphering the structural and seismic stratigraphic characteristics of the Laptev Rift System. The tectonic development of the Laptev Shelf represents a sequence of four phases controlled by relative plate movements: (1) intense brittle normal faulting (an initial rifting or stretching phase) affected the entire shelf in the Late Cretaceous(?)–Paleocene(?); (2) a thinning/exhumation phase resulted in exhumation of the lower continental crust and probably upper mantle in the western part of the rift system – this phase is inferred to have occurred during the Late Paleocene to Early Eocene, preceding and accompanying continental break-up in the Eurasia Basin; (3) a stalled rift phase characterized by either a dramatically reduced rate of extension, or a non-extension/compression regime controlled by major reorganization of the plate movements – the onset of this fourth phase is inferred to coincide with the initiation of seafloor spreading in the southern Eurasia Basin at around 53–50 Ma; and (4) reactivation of the rifting in the mid-Miocene (a second rift phase).

Abstract The exhumation and shortening history associated with the Taimyr fold–thrust belt is determined using apatite fission track and balanced cross-section analysis. Eighteen samples from across northern, central and southern Taimyr are used for apatite fission track analysis. These include granite, meta-arenite and sandstone samples with stratigraphic ages ranging from the late Proterozoic to Early Cretaceous. Fission track lengths and central ages are used to model the thermal history of the region and indicate three episodes of cooling in the Early Permian, earliest Triassic and Late Triassic. The thermochronological data are integrated with two balanced regional cross-sections. The regional structural style of deformation reflects a thick-skinned thrust system with 15% shortening (minimum estimate). This is consistent with thickening during early Permian Uralian orogenesis, followed by later heating, uplift and cooling associated with Siberian Trap magmatism and/or Mesozoic transpression.

Abstract The tectonomagmatic evolution of eastern Chukotka, NE Russia, is important for refining the onset of Pacific plate subduction, understanding the development of the Amerasia Basin, and constraining Arctic tectonic reconstructions. Field mapping and strategic sample collection provide relative age constraints on subduction-related continental arc magmatism in eastern Chukotka. Ion microprobe U–Pb zircon ages provide absolute constraints and identify five magmatic episodes ( c. 134, 122, 105, 94 and 85 Ma) separated by three periods of uplift and erosion ( c. 122–105, 94–85 and post-85 Ma). Volcanic rocks in the region are less contaminated than their plutonic equivalents which record greater crustal assimilation. These data, combined with xenocrystic zircons, reflect the self-assimilation of a continental arc during its evolution. Proto-Pacific subduction initiated by c. 121 Ma and arc development occurred over c. 35–50 myr. Crustal growth was simultaneous with regional exhumation and crustal thinning across the Bering Strait region. Ocean–continent subduction in eastern Chukotka ended at c. 85 Ma. The timing of events in the region is roughly synchronous with the inferred opening of the Amerasia Basin. Simultaneous arc magmatism, extension and development of the Amerasia Basin within a back-arc basin setting best explain these coeval tectonic events. Supplementary material: Includes SIMS U–Pb and geochemistry data tables, detailed geological map and geochemical figures which are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3784565

Abstract The 400 km long transect through Ellesmere Island is located perpendicular to the North American continental margin between the Arctic Ocean in the NNW and the Greenland–Canadian Shield in the SSE. It provides an insight into the structural architecture and tectonic history of the upper parts of the continental crust. The northernmost segment of the transect is dominated by the composite Pearya Terrane, which amalgamated with the Laurentian margin during the Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous Ellesmerian Orogeny. The Neoproterozoic to Devonian Franklinian Basin is exposed south of the terrane boundary and most probably overlies the crystalline basement of the Greenland–Canadian Shield. The structures along the transect in this area are dominated by kilometre-scale Ellesmerian folding of the Franklinian Basin deposits above a deep-seated detachment, which is suggested to be located at the boundary between the basement of the Canadian Shield and the overlying >8 km thick Franklinian Basin. Following the development of the Late Mississippian–Palaeogene Sverdrup Basin, the complex Eurekan deformation reactivated Ellesmerian thrust faults and probably parts of the associated deep-seated detachment. In addition, large Eurekan strike-slip faults affected and displaced pre-Eocene deposits and tectonic structures, particularly in the northern part of the transect. Supplementary material: The complete transect (Segment 1 to 5) through Ellesmere Island between the Arctic Ocean in the NNW and Kane Basin in the SSE is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3783608

Abstract We perform an integrated analysis of magnetic anomalies, multichannel seismic and wide-angle seismic data across an Early Cretaceous continental large igneous province in the northern Barents Sea region. Our data show that the high-frequency and high-amplitude magnetic anomalies in this region are spatially correlated with dykes and sills observed onshore. The dykes are grouped into two conjugate swarms striking oblique to the northern Barents Sea passive margin in the regions of eastern Svalbard and Franz Josef Land, respectively. The multichannel seismic data east of Svalbard and south of Franz Josef Land indicate the presence of sills at different stratigraphic levels. The most abundant population of sills is observed in the Triassic successions of the East Barents Sea Basin. We observe near-vertical seismic column-like anomalies that cut across the entire sedimentary cover. We interpret these structures as magmatic feeder channels or dykes. In addition, the compressional seismic velocity model locally indicates near-vertical, positive finger-shaped velocity anomalies (10–15 km wide) that extend to mid-crustal depths (15–20 km) and possibly deeper. The crustal structure does not include magmatic underplating and shows no regional crustal thinning, suggesting a localized (dyking, channelized flow) rather than a pervasive mode of magma emplacement. We suggest that most of the crustal extension was taken up by brittle–plastic dilatation in shear bands. We interpret the geometry of dykes in the horizontal plane in terms of the palaeo-stress regime using a model of a thick elastoplastic plate containing a circular hole (at the plume location) and subject to combined pure shear and pressure loads. The geometry of dykes in the northern Barents Sea and Arctic Canada can be predicted by the pattern of dilatant plastic shear bands obtained in our numerical experiments assuming boundary conditions consistent with a combination of extension in the Amerasia Basin sub-parallel to the northern Barents Sea margin and a mild compression nearly orthogonal to the margin. The approach has implications for palaeo-stress analysis using the geometry of dyke swarms. Supplementary material: Details on traveltime tomography model: Resolution tests, traveltime information and ray coverage are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3783542

Abstract To better understand the sediment provenance and exhumation history of Novaya Zemlya’s Mesozoic fold–thrust belt, we apply detrital zircon U–Pb geochronology combined with zircon and apatite fission track analyses to samples from the Precambrian to late Permian siliciclastic successions of the southern and northern islands. The Silurian to early Devonian samples are dominated by zircons (1.14–0.9 Ga) characteristic of the Sveconorwegian Orogen. Zircon fission track ages for individual units are older than their stratigraphic ages and consistent with single-age population distributions. The zircon fission track results document no annealing after deposition and therefore preserve provenance information, which indicates that the source rock(s) of each sample most likely experienced the same thermal event. The results support the erosion and recycling of Sveconorwegian-aged zircon from the Fennoscandian shield during Caledonian orogenesis to the Barents Sea Shelf and Novaya Zemlya. Apatite fission track ages and thermal modelling identify a rapid cooling event at 220–210 Ma, consistent with late Triassic deformation on Novaya Zemlya. Supplemental material: Detrital zircon U–Pb LA-ICP-MS data of samples from Novaya Zemlya, is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3787364