ABSTRACT Anatomical analyses of fossil woods, supplemented by information from coal petrographic investigations, provide data for reconstructing the Cretaceous–Paleogene, mostly swampy woodland vegetation of the high latitudes. This paper is focused on the taxonomic description of conifers that have been recovered from a number of plant fossil Lagerstätten in Nathorstland, Yukon North Slope–western Mackenzie Delta, Ellesmere Island, northern Trolleland, and Kotel’nyi Island. The investigation revealed a relatively low taxonomic diversity. Wood-anatomical identification of Taxodioxylon vanderburghii provides evidence for the genus Metasequoia . The determination of Glyptostroboxylon cf. rudolphii demonstrates the most likely presence of Glyptostrobus , and the genus Cunninghamia is proved by the identification of Glyptostroboxylon tenerum . Moreover, this first evidence of Cunninghamia in the high latitudes establishes this plant as an “Arctic conifer.” Piceoxylon laricinoides (Høeg) comb. nov., a new combination, is proposed for a fossil wood species that represents the genus Larix . Fossils identified as Protopiceoxylon woods, Protopiceoxylon sp., and Protopiceoxylon yukonense represent the extinct gymnospermous Protopinaceae group. A fossil forest from the Split Lake Lagerstätte focusing on the habitus of in situ trunks and stumps was reconstructed. The vegetation encompasses a succession with three stages, an Equisetum reed facies, a Metasequoia swamp forest facies, and a Larix swamp forest facies. The taxonomic investigation suggests a widely distributed zone of vegetation with various conifers in the high latitudes. The lignite samples are characterized by predominantly woody (xylite) tissues with well-preserved, mummified stems and roots and a variable content of liptinite macerals, mostly resinite and suberinite. The intensive yellow fluorescent textinite of characteristic zoned structures and distinct microspores was observed in all investigated lignites.

ABSTRACT The sinistral Wegener Fault in the Nares Strait between northwest Greenland and eastern Ellesmere Island (Canadian Arctic) represents a tectonic element in the Arctic whose existence and significance have been controversial for more than 50 years. Some workers interpret the Wegener Fault as an important early Tertiary transform related to movement of the Greenland plate relative to the North American plate. Others view it as insignificant or reject its existence. While onshore studies in the Canadian portion of the northern Nares Strait region have proven the existence of important sinistral strike-slip faults related to the offshore Wegener Fault, the southern continuation of the Wegener Fault in the southern Kane Basin and Smith Sound is unclear. In particular, Smith Sound has been interpreted as a location of an undisturbed continuation of the Proterozoic basement from Greenland to Ellesmere Island, with only one possible location of the Wegener Fault near the east coast of Ellesmere Island. Our structural studies along the west coast of Smith Sound and adjacent areas of eastern Ellesmere Island suggest a three-phase tectonic evolution. Phase 1 is a brittle deformation (strike-slip faults, partly as conjugate sets) that took place under ~NW–SE shortening. It also occurs at the Smith Sound coast and did not affect the Paleogene deposits. Structures of this phase are assigned to the Paleocene and can be related to the Wegener Fault in the offshore area of Smith Sound just east of the eastern coast of Ellesmere Island. Deposition of thick conglomerates of the Paleocene Cape Lawrence Formation and relatively younger clastic sediments of the Eureka Sound Group (Paleocene–?Eocene) is interpreted to be related to local depocenters associated with the sinistral Wegener Fault. Following uplift and subsidence during normal faulting associated with Phase 2 deformation, younger contractional deformation under ~NE–SW shortening (strike-slip faults, partly as conjugate sets) of Phase 3 deformation also affected the Paleogene deposits. Phases 2 and 3 can both be assigned to the Eocene. Our interpretation points to a polyphase deformational history in the early Paleogene, which partly interfered with deposition of Paleogene clastic sediments. The first deformational phase in the Paleocene is related to the sinistral Wegener Fault, which, in the offshore areas, is not interpreted as a distinct through-going plane but as displaced by ~W–E striking faults. Therefore, our observation and interpretation support the existence of this fault in the southern Nares Strait region, east of the Ellesmere Island coast in Smith Sound.

Abstract This paper considers the lithospheric structure and evolution of the wider Barents–Kara Sea region based on the compilation and integration of geophysical and geological data. Regional transects are constructed at both crustal and lithospheric scales based on the available data and a regional three-dimensional model. The transects, which extend onshore and into the deep oceanic basins, are used to link deep and shallow structures and processes, as well as to link offshore and onshore areas. The study area has been affected by numerous orogenic events in the Precambrian–Cambrian (Timanian), Silurian–Devonian (Caledonian), latest Devonian–earliest Carboniferous (Ellesmerian–svalbardian), Carboniferous–Permian (Uralian), Late Triassic (Taimyr, Pai Khoi and Novaya Zemlya) and Palaeogene (Spitsbergen–Eurekan). It has also been affected by at least three episodes of regional-scale magmatism, the so-called large igneous provinces: the Siberian Traps (Permian–Triassic transition), the High Arctic Large Igneous Province (Early Cretaceous) and the North Atlantic (Paleocene–Eocene transition). Additional magmatic events occurred in parts of the study area in Devonian and Late Cretaceous times. Within this geological framework, we integrate basin development with regional tectonic events and summarize the stages in basin evolution. We further discuss the timing, causes and implications of basin evolution. Fault activity is related to regional stress regimes and the reactivation of pre-existing basement structures. Regional uplift/subsidence events are discussed in a source-to-sink context and are related to their regional tectonic and palaeogeographical settings.

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