Progress in understanding the age and origin of the alpha ridge, arctic ocean

Multiparameter geophysical measurements and geological samples from CESAR suggest that close to Canada the Alpha Ridge is oceanic in nature and was built in part by volcanic activity. It is unclear whether this part of the ridge formed in an intraplate or a plate margin environment. Estimates from paleontological, heat flow and magnetic data place the construction of a volcanic ridge within the Cretaceous period between about 120 and 80 Ma ago, the interval in which the Canada Basin seafloor formed but clearly before the creation of the Lomonosov Ridge. The place of the Makarov Basin in this chronology remains unclear.