Circum-Arctic Lithosphere Evolution
CONTAINS OPEN ACCESS

Structural transect through Ellesmere Island (Canadian Arctic): superimposed Palaeozoic Ellesmerian and Cenozoic Eurekan deformation
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Published:January 01, 2018
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
- Arctic Archipelago
- Arctic Ocean
- Arctic region
- basement
- Canada
- Canadian Shield
- Cenozoic
- continental crust
- cross sections
- crust
- decollement
- deep-seated structures
- deformation
- depth
- displacements
- Ellesmere Island
- Ellesmerian Orogeny
- faults
- fold and thrust belts
- folds
- geometry
- Laurentia
- North America
- Nunavut
- orientation
- Paleozoic
- Queen Elizabeth Islands
- reactivation
- stereographic projection
- structural analysis
- style
- Sverdrup Basin
- tectonic elements
- tectonics
- terranes
- Eurekan Orogeny
- Franklinian Basin
- Bache Peninsula
- Hazen Plateau
- Judge Daly Promontory
- Yelverton Pass
- Pearya Terrane