Circum-Arctic Structural Events: Tectonic Evolution of the Arctic Margins and Trans-Arctic Links with Adjacent Orogens

The circum-Arctic region has received considerable attention over the past several decades with vigorous debate focused on topics such as mechanisms for opening the Eurasian and Amerasian basins, the importance of plume-related magmatism in the development of the Arctic Ocean, and mechanisms for ancient terrane translation along the Arctic margins. In recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Circum-Arctic Structural Events (CASE) program, an international polar research effort organized and led by the Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR) of Germany, this volume presents results from 18 major field expeditions involving over 100 international geoscientists from a broad spectrum of disciplines. The resulting publication focuses on the Proterozoic to Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the circum-Arctic region with correlations to adjacent orogens.
Evidence for subtropical warmth in the Canadian Arctic (Beaufort-Mackenzie, Northwest Territories, Canada) during the early Eocene
-
Published:June 14, 2019
-
CiteCitation
Marie Salpin, Johann Schnyder, François Baudin, Guillaume Suan, Jean-Pierre Suc, Speranta-Maria Popescu, Séverine Fauquette, Lutz Reinhardt, Mark D. Schmitz, Loïc Labrousse, 2019. "Evidence for subtropical warmth in the Canadian Arctic (Beaufort-Mackenzie, Northwest Territories, Canada) during the early Eocene", Circum-Arctic Structural Events: Tectonic Evolution of the Arctic Margins and Trans-Arctic Links with Adjacent Orogens, Karsten Piepjohn, Justin V. Strauss, Lutz Reinhardt, William C. McClelland
Download citation file:
- Share
ABSTRACT
During the Paleocene–Eocene, the Earth experienced the warmest conditions of the Cenozoic and reduced equator-to-pole temperature gradients. Compared to low- and mid-latitude sites, Paleogene environmental changes are less documented in Arctic regions, although such high latitude areas constitute a critical domain to constrain global climate changes. Floral and faunal assemblages indicative of exceptionally warm and humid conditions during the late Paleocene–early Eocene have been reported in several localities around the Arctic Ocean. Additional studies are required to ascertain the effects of Paleocene–Eocene global environmental changes on western Arctic regions. Here we present multiproxy data from early Eocene deltaic plain sediments of the Mackenzie Delta (Canada). This environment is characterized by littoral forest, including swamp, showing that the mangrove Avicennia grew in Arctic Canada near 75°N under air temperatures averaging 21–22 °C annually and 10–14 °C in winter and with precipitation of 1200–1400 mm/yr. Kaolinite contents are high (up to 75% of clay assemblages), as under a modern subtropical climate. The Avicennia pollens recently found in the New Siberian Islands and in Arctic Canada imply that warm and wet conditions were widespread along the Arctic coast during the early Eocene. It also suggests a marine connection between the Arctic Basin and the mid-latitude oceans. We propose that an oceanic current must have connected the Arctic Basin to the Atlantic and/or Pacific and that an internal current developed in the Arctic Basin since the early Eocene.
- absolute age
- Arctic region
- Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin
- biostratigraphy
- C-13/C-12
- Canada
- carbon
- Cenozoic
- clay minerals
- depositional environment
- Eocene
- isotope ratios
- isotopes
- lower Eocene
- microfossils
- Northwest Territories
- O-18/O-16
- oxygen
- paleoclimatology
- Paleogene
- palynomorphs
- pyrolysis
- reconstruction
- Rock-Eval
- sheet silicates
- silicates
- stable isotopes
- subtropical environment
- Tertiary
- U/Pb
- Western Canada
- Caribou Hills