ABSTRACT Detrital zircon U-Pb and Hf isotopic data from Ordovician to Devonian–Carboniferous sedimentary rocks sampled from the Pearya terrane and adjacent areas, northern Ellesmere Island, record temporal variation in detrital zircon signature on the northeastern Arctic margin of Laurentia. Ordovician to Silurian clastic sediments deposited on the Pearya terrane record a provenance signal from before terrane accretion. This signal is dominated by Ordovician arc material and grains derived from recycling of Proterozoic metasedimentary and metaigneous basement. This pattern is similar to Neoproterozoic detrital zircon spectra from the Svalbard and East Greenland Caledonides, supporting the exotic nature of the Pearya terrane and links between Pearya and the Arctic Caledonides. Sedimentary rock deposited in the late Ordovician and early Silurian deep water basin of the Clements Markham fold belt likewise record a recycled source containing abundant early Neoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic aged zircon. This contrasts with similarly aged units on Franklinian shelf, which contain much more abundant Paleoproterozoic zircon ages. The provenance of the late Devonian–Carboniferous(?) Okse Bay Formation is dominated by sediment reworked from the units exposed in Pearya or the East Greenland Caledonides, with new sources derived from Paleoproterozoic domains of the Canadian-Greenland shield and late Devonian igneous rocks documented in Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg Islands, and Arctic Alaska. In contrast, detrital zircon age spectra from Devonian sedimentary rocks in the western Ellesmerian Clastic Wedge and northern Cordilleran clastic wedge of the Mackenzie Mountains contain abundant zircon grains yielding ages characteristic of the Caledonian and Timanian Orogens. This contrast suggests that the northeastern and northwestern sectors of the Paleozoic Laurentian Arctic margin received sediments from different terranes, with the northeast being dominated by reworked Caledonide terrane and Laurentian craton detritus, and the northwest likely receiving sediment from elements of Arctic Alaska–Chukotka. These detrital zircon data indicate that the Pearya terrane was isolated from northern Laurentia until after the late Silurian. The accretion of the Pearya terrane is constrained between the late Silurian and middle Devonian by stratigraphy, detrital zircon provenance shifts indicating a Laurentian cratonic source by the early Carboniferous, metamorphism in the orthogneiss basement observed between ca. 395 and 372 Ma, and the emplacement of the Cape Woods post-tectonic pluton at 390 Ma.

ABSTRACT The Nordaustlandet terrane of Svalbard plays a critical role in evaluating strike-slip displacements in the Caledonian orogen. Comparison of Silurian and Tonian magmatism in Nordaustlandet, East Greenland, and the Pearya terrane on Ellesmere Island provides a means to evaluate models of large-scale versus minimal displacements. Augen gneiss with an emplacement age of 972 ± 5 Ma demonstrates that the Tonian granite suite is coeval with the calc-alkaline Kap Hansteen volcanic rocks. Zircon from Silurian leucosomes, leucogranites, and granites is dominated by xenocrystic components, making it analytically difficult to isolate magmatic versus inherited age domains. Zircon systematics from a relatively undeformed Silurian granite (431 ± 5 Ma) resemble those of similar granites interpreted to be Tonian in age (e.g., Kontaktberget granite). Assuming less deformed granites of Nordaustlandet are Silurian, synemplacement or syntectonic deformation of Tonian augen gneiss and volcanic rocks is no longer required. Tonian magmatic rocks of Svalbard share a common origin with basement rocks of the Pearya terrane within a continental arc system, but are distinctly older than Tonian igneous and metamorphic rocks of East Greenland. Migmatite complexes and granite intrusions in Nordaustlandet, with ages ranging from 440 to 425 Ma, are coeval with granites in East Greenland that record the combined effects of subduction beneath Laurentia and mid-crustal melting. Migmatites in East Greenland are juxtaposed with low grade rocks by syn-contraction normal faults whereas migmatites show gradational contacts into lower grade rocks on Nordaustlandet. These differences in basement age and structural setting preclude proximity of the Nordaustlandet terrane with East Greenland during the 440–400 Ma continent-continent collision phase (Scandian) of the Caledonian orogen. Similarly, differences in depositional, magmatic, and metamorphic history between the Pearya terrane basement and Nordaustlandet terrane argue against simple offset of crustal fragments. The Pearya and Nordaustlandet terranes likely were not involved in the main phase of crustal thickening directly related to collision of Baltica and Laurentia, but rather resided on a convergent boundary north of the Scandian continent-continent collision zone, consistent with models of Gee and Teben’kov (2004) and Johansson et al. (2005).

ABSTRACT New zircon U-Pb dates from the Mount Fitton, Mount Sedgwick, Mount Schaeffer, Old Crow, and Dave Lord plutons indicate that granitoids of the Old Crow plutonic suite in northern Yukon were emplaced in the North Slope subterrane of the Arctic Alaska composite terrane between 375 ± 2 Ma and 368 ± 3 Ma. Whole-rock major and trace element and Nd-Sr isotope geochemistry, combined with zircon trace element and Hf isotope geochemistry, indicate magma genesis involved significant contribution from older continental crust. Samples from the five plutons yield whole-rock εNd (t) values from -3.9 to -11.6 and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr (i) ratios of 0.7085–0.7444 and 0.8055. Zircon εHf (t) values range from -6.2 to -13.3. These North Slope subterrane granitoids are generally younger and isotopically more evolved than felsic rocks in the Coldfoot and Hammond subterranes of the southern Brooks Range (Arctic Alaska terrane), but in part are coeval with felsic rocks on the Seward and Chukotka peninsulas. The North Slope granitoids are also coeval and geochemically similar to arc magmatism in the Yukon-Tanana terrane in Yukon and on Axel Heiberg and northern Ellesmere islands, Nunavut. The Old Crow plutonic suite is interpreted as part of a Late Devonian arc system developed along the Arctic and Cordilleran margins. Late Devonian plutons were most likely emplaced after initial translation of the North Slope subterrane along the northern Laurentian margin. The plutons lie within or north of the Porcupine shear zone and thus do not limit post-Late Devonian displacement on the boundary between the North Slope subterrane and northwestern Laurentia.

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 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.