Asymmetric geophysical signatures in the Greenland-Norwegian and Southern Labrador Seas and the Eurasia Basin

A thorough examination of geophysical data from the Greenland-Norwegian Sea, Eurasia Basin and southern Labrador Sea shows significant asymmetry of several parameters (basement topography adjusted for sediment loading, free-air gravity anomaly, spreading half-rate and seismicity) with respect to crustal age:

1. (1) Average zero-age depth (0–57 m.y. B.P.), depth of highest rift mountain summits, and depth to magnetic basement (10–30 km from axis of Mohns and Knipovich ridges) is less on the North American plate flanks. The zero-age depth asymmetry is 400–500 m for the Eurasia Basin (0–57 m.y. B.P.) and for Mohns Ridge (57-22 m.y. B.P.), and 150–200 m for younger Mohns Ridge crust (22-0 m.y. B.P.) and for the extinct Aegir Ridge (57-27 m.y. B.P.). There is little or no asymmetry in the Labrador Sea except near the extinct rift valley, where the east flank is 150–300 m shallower. Magnetic depth-to-source computations provide an independent confirmation of basement asymmetry: The belts 10–30 km from the axis of Mohns and Knipovich ridges are 100–150 m shallower on the west flank of these ridges. The shallower ridge flank is topographically rougher, so that average rift mountain summits are 300 m shallower on the west flanks of the Mohns-Knipovich ridges, a larger asymmetry than for average zero-age depth. The amount of topographic asymmetry is greatest near the Mohns-Knipovich bend. Asymmetry appears to be greatest for ridges oriented normal to the spreading direction, and less for oblique spreading.

2. (2) Free-air gravity anomaly asymmetries of +5 to +20 mGal ( + sign indicates west flank is more positive) are associated with topographic asymmetry at least within 10–15 m.y. of the axis of Mohns and Knipovich ridges. Gravity is reduced on the older flanks west of the extinct Mid-Labrador Ridge and east of Mohns Ridge; asymmetric crustal layer thicknesses or densities provide one possible explanation, although deep-seated sources (e.g., mantle convection), unrelated to the crust, cannot be excluded.

3. (3) Spreading half-rate was about 5–15% lower on the North American plate flanks of Mohns Ridge (57-35 m.y.) and in the Eurasia Basin (0–57 m.y.); thus the fast-spreading flank tends to produce deeper, smoother crust. However, topographic asymmetry cannot relate only to spreading-rate asymmetry, since for the young Mohns Ridge crust (<9 m.y. B.P.) faster spreading and higher topography are both associated with the west flank.

4. (4) Mid-plate seismicity is higher on the Eurasia (eastern) flank of Mohns and Knipovich ridge, but this effect may be unrelated to the other three.

The fluid-dynamical model of Stein et al. correctly explains the sense of spreading-rate asymmetry (the North American plate, moving faster over mantle, is growing more slowly). However, the other asymmetries and their causal relationships remain theoretically unexplained.     

Evolution of the Eurasian Basin and its implications to the motion of Greenland along Nares Strait

A combined analysis of the recently collected aeromagnetic data from the Eurasian Basin with the magnetic data from the Labrador Sea, the Norwegian-Greenland Sea and the North Atlantic yields a plate kinematic solution for the Eurasian Basin which is consistent with the solution for the North Atlantic as a whole. It shows that the Eurasian Basin and Norwegian-Greenland Sea started to evolve at about anomaly 25 time, though active seafloor spreading did not start in either of these regions until anomaly 24 time. It further shows that the spreading in the Eurasian Basin has been a result of motion only between the North American and Eurasian plates since the beginning, with the Lomonosov Ridge remaining attached to the North American plate. The relative motion among the North American, Greenland and Eurasian plates as obtained from the plate kinematics of the North Atlantic shows that from Late Cretaceous to Late Paleocene (anomaly 34 to 25) Greenland moved obliquely to Ellesmere Island. It is suggested that most of this motion was taken up within the Canadian Arctic Islands resulting in little or no motion along Nares Strait between Greenland and Ellesmere Island. From Late Paleocene to mid-Eocene (anomaly 25-21) Greenland continued to move obliquely, resulting in a displacement of 125 km along and of 90 km normal to the Nares Strait. From mid-Eocene to early Oligocene another 100 km of motion took place normal to the Strait, which correlates well with the Eurekan Orogeny in the Canadian Arctic Island. During these times the relative motion between Greenland and Svalbard (Eurasian plate) was mainly strike-slip with a small component of compression. The implication of the resulting motion between the North American and the Eurasian plates onto the Siberian platform are discussed.     

Tectonic evolution of the Knipovich Ridge based on the anomalous magnetic field

Calculation of the downward continuation for the anomalous magnetic field at the Knipovich Ridge showed more complicate segmentation of the spreading oceanic basement than was earlier considered. The structural pattern of the field is evidence that the area consists of no less than four segments separated by transform fracture zones with the azimuth of oceanic crust accretion about 310° and the normal position relative to the rift segments with the azimuth of 40°. The modern location of the axis of the Knipovich Ridge straightens the complicate divergent boundary between the plates in the strike-slip conditions between the spreading centers of the Mohns and Gakkel ridges. The axis is a detachment zone intersecting the oceanic basement having formed from the Late Oligocene. A new magnetoactive layer composed of magmatic products has not yet been formed in this structure.     

Tectonic elements of the Arctic region inferred from small-scale geophysical fields

Satellite altimetry data, Bouguer anomalies, anomalous magnetic field, bottom topography, and Love wave tomography for the deepwater part of the Arctic Ocean Basin and East Siberian Sea have made it possible to detect several new regional tectonic elements. The basin area, 700 km wide and 1800 km long, extending from the Laptev Sea to the Chukchi Borderland is a dextral strike-slip zone with structural elements typical of shearing. The destruction of the Eurasian margin surrounding the Amerasia Basin occurs within this zone. The opening of the Amerasia Basin is characterized by intense plume magmatism superimposed on normal slow spreading in several areas of the paleospreading axis. Magma was supplied through three conduits with minor offsets, the activity of which waned partly or completely by the end of basin formation. The main central conduit formed the structure of the Alpha Ridge. The dextral strike-slip system, which displaces the Gakkel Ridge and structural elements in the basement of the Makarov Basin, most likely extends to the northern termination of the Chukchi Borderland.     

Bathymetry of the Arctic Ocean North of 85° N latitude

Comparison of a new compilation of available Arctic bathymetric data north of 85° N latitude with previously published charts shows large discrepancies in the position and morphology of several major Arctic sea-floor features. Near the North Pole the Lomonosov Ridge pinches to a width of about 20 km with very steep slopes. The crest of the Ridge at this location is displaced dextrally by about 80 km. Also, the crest of this ridge curves towards Ellesmere Island and does not continue towards Greenland. The Marvin Spur is actually a series of knolls or sea mounts with relief varying from 500 to over 1300 m. The 600 km wide arch known as the Alpha Cordillera consists of closed, wide (10–40 km) elongated (180–260 km) troughs and ridges with relief of over 1000 m. Circular sea mounts and deeps are also noted along this Cordillera. The Arctic Mid-Oceanic Cordillera is a rather flat 200 km wide feature that tilts gently upward by about 500 m from the Pole Abyssal Plain to the Barents Abyssal Plain. It is characterized by a series of narrow ridges and troughs usually less than 20 km wide with a central deep trough over 5100 m deep and shallow ridges rising to heights of 2600 m. These features generally parallel the Lomonosov Ridge. This cordillera appears to be abruptly truncated along the Greenwich meridian. The Morris Jesup Plateau is a single pronged northeast trending feature with relatively shallow westward slopes and steeply dipping eastward slopes.     

Opening of the Fram Strait gateway: A review of plate tectonic constraints

We have revised the regional crustal structure, oceanic age distribution, and conjugate margin segmentation in and around the Lena Trough, the oceanic part of the Fram Strait between the Norwegian–Greenland Sea and the Eurasia Basin (Arctic Ocean). The Lena Trough started to open after Eurasia–Greenland relative plate motions changed from right-lateral shear to oblique divergence at Chron 13 times (33.3 Ma; earliest Oligocene). A new Bouguer gravity map, supported by existing seismic data and aeromagnetic profiles, has been applied to interpret the continent–ocean transition and the influence of Eocene shear structures on the timing of breakup and initial seafloor spreading. Assuming that the onset of deep-water exchange depended on the formation of a narrow, oceanic corridor, the gateway formed during early Miocene times (20–15 Ma). However, if the initial Lena Trough was blocked by terrigenous sediments or was insufficiently subsided to allow for deep-water circulation, the gateway probably formed with the first well developed magnetic seafloor spreading anomaly around Chron 5 times (9.8 Ma; Late Miocene). Paleoceanographic changes at ODP Site 909 (northern Hovgård Ridge) are consistent with both hypotheses of gateway formation. We cannot rule out that a minor gateway formed across stretched continental crust prior to the onset of seafloor spreading in the Lena Trough. The gravity, seismic and magnetic observations question the prevailing hypotheses on the Yermak Plateau and the Morris Jesup Rise as Eocene oceanic plateaus and the Hovgård Ridge as a microcontinent.     

Continental ridges in the Arctic Ocean: Lorex constraints

Recent multidisciplinary geophysical measurements over the Lomonosov Ridge close to the North Pole support the widely held belief that it was formerly part of Eurasia. The known lithologies, ages, P-wave velocity structure and thickness of the crust along the outer Barents and Kara continental shelves are similar to permitted or measured values of these parameters newly acquired over the Lomonosov Ridge. Seismic, gravity and magnetic data in particular show that the ridge basement is most likely formed of early Mesozoic or older sedimentary or low-grade metasedimentary rocks over a crystalline core that is intermediate to basic in composition. Short-wavelength magnetic anomaly highs along the upper ridge flanks and crest may denote the presence of shallow igneous rocks. Because of the uncertain component of ice-rafted material, seafloor sediments recovered from the ridge by shallow sampling techniques cannot be clearly related to ridge basement lithology without further detailed analysis. The ridge is cut at the surface and at depth by normal faults that appear related to the development of the Makarov Basin. This and other data are consistent with the idea that the Makarov Basin was formed by continental stretching rather than simple seafloor spreading. Hence the flanking Alpha and Lomonosov ridges may originally have been part of the same continental block. It is suggested that in Late Cretaceous time this block was sheared from Eurasia along a trans-Arctic left-lateral offset that may have been associated with the opening of Baffin Bay. The continental block was later separated from Eurasia when the North Altantic rift extended into the Arctic region in the Early Tertiary. The data suggest that the Makarov Basin did not form before the onset of rifting in the Artic.     

Magmatism of the junction region of the Knipovich and Mohns Ridges (Polar Atlantic): Results of cruise 25 of the R/V “Akademik Nikolai Strakhov”

Based on the investigation of samples recovered during Cruise 25 of the R/V “Akademik Nikolai Strakhov,” the character of magmatism was determined in the flank parts of the rift zone at the 74°05′N and 73°50′N region, where the direction of the rift valley changes from the north-northwest in the Knipovich Ridge to the northeast-trending structures of the Mohns Ridge. It was shown that the tholeiitic magmas of this region shows all the geochemical characteristics of TOR-2, which is typical of the Mohns Ridge and most oceanic rift zones worldwide, and differ from the basalts of the Knipovich Ridge, which are assigned to a shallower type of tholeiitic magmatism (Na-TOR). The persistent depletion of the magmas in terms of lithophile element contents and radiogenic isotope ratios of Sr, Nd, and Pb reflects the conditions of their formation during the ascent of the depleted oceanic mantle, which has occurred without significant complications since the early stages of the formation of the Mohns Ridge.     

New data on the structure of the Knipovich Ridge,North Atlantic

The Knipovich Ridge extends for 550–600 km between the Mohns Ridge and the demarcation Spitsbergen Fracture Zone. The structural features of this ridge are repeatedly mentioned in the literature; however, substantial discrepancies remain in the treatment of its tectonics. New data on the structure of this ridge presented in this paper are based on the results of continuous seismic profiling in the area studied by the expedition of the Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences and the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate on the R/V Akademik Nikolaj Strakhov in 2006; 56 seismic lines allow us to depict zones differing in seismic records that provide insights into their internal tectonic structure. Interpretation of the seismic data makes it possible to compile maps of the acoustic basement surface and sedimentary cover thickness in the studied area. These maps expand our knowledge of the geological history and geodynamics of the Knipovich Ridge at the neotectonic stage of its evolution.     

Tectonics and magmatism of ultraslow spreading ridges

The tectonics, structure-forming processes, and magmatism in rift zones of ultraslow spreading ridges are exemplified in the Reykjanes, Kolbeinsey, Mohns, Knipovich, Gakkel, and Southwest Indian ridges. The thermal state of the mantle, the thickness of the brittle lithospheric layer, and spreading obliquety are the most important factors that control the structural pattern of rift zones. For the Reykjanes and Kolbeinsey ridges, the following are crucial factors: variations in the crust thickness; relationships between the thicknesses of its brittle and ductile layers; width of the rift zone; increase in intensity of magma supply approaching the Iceland thermal anomaly; and spreading obliquety. For the Knipovich Ridge, these are its localization in the transitional zone between the Gakkel and Mohns ridges under conditions of shear and tensile stresses and multiple rearrangements of spreading; nonorthogonal spreading; and structural and compositional barrier of thick continental lithosphere at the Barents Sea shelf and Spitsbergen. The Mohns Ridge is characterized by oblique spreading under conditions of a thick cold lithosphere and narrow stable rift zone. The Gakkel and the Southwest Indian ridges are distinguished by the lowest spreading rate under the settings of the along-strike variations in heating of the mantle and of a variable spreading geometry. The intensity of endogenic structure-forming varies along the strike of the ridges. In addition to the prevalence of tectonic factors in the formation of the topography, magmatism and metamorphism locally play an important role.     

Bottom-simulating reflections and geothermal gradients across the western Svalbard margin

Seismic reflection data reveal prominent bottom-simulating reflections (BSRs) within the relatively young (<0.78 Ma) sediments along the West Svalbard continental margin. The potential hydrate occurrence zone covers an area of c. 1600 km². The hydrate accumulation zone is bound by structural/tectonic features (Knipovich Ridge, Molloy Transform Fault, Vestnesa Ridge) and the presence of glacigenic debris lobes inhibiting hydrate formation upslope. The thickness of the gas-zone underneath the BSR varies laterally, and reaches a maximum of c. 150 ms. Using the BSR as an in-situ temperature proxy, geothermal gradients increase gradually from 70 to 115 °C km⁻¹ towards the Molloy Transform Fault. Anomalies only occur in the immediate vicinity of normal faults, where the BSR shoals, indicating near-vertical heat/fluid flow within the fault zones. Amplitude analyses suggest that sub-horizontal fluid migration also takes place along the stratigraphy. As the faults are related to the northwards propagation of the Knipovich Ridge, long-term disturbance of hydrate stability appears related to incipient rifting processes.     

Thermal implications for the evolution of the spitsbergen transform fault

Heat flow taken between Svalbard and Greenland reveal three thermal provinces:

1. (1) the Molloy Ridge within the Spitsbergen Transform,

2. (2) the Yermak Plateau

3. (3) the northeastern margin of Svalbard (Nordaustlandet).

The Molloy Ridge is a short spreading segment and the average heat flow is much above the Sclater et al. (1971), cooling curve but agrees with values from the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. An additional zone of intrusion identified by heat flow lies to the northwest of the Molloy Ridge. It straddles both the visible fracture zone and part of the Yermak Plateau. A thermal boundary lies between the warm western segment of the Yermak Plateau and the shelf off Nordaustlandet. If the thermal subsidence of the western Yermak Plateau can be traced to the latest heating episode then it is likely that the crust is similar to oceanic in composition and not older than 13 m.y. (approximately 20 m.y. younger than the northeastern segment of the plateau). Plate rotation shows that there was no room for the western segment of the plateau prior to anomaly 7. We postulate that the original transform is associated with the Hornsund Fault zone. In response to deviatoric stress across the oblique ridge-transform system, the Nansen Ridge propagated southwestward aborting the old transform trace, and shifted to its present position.It is suggested that this propagation and migration of the ridge-transform system across a zone of extensional deviatoric stress allowed the massive intrusion of basalt forming the Western Yermak Plateau. The propagation phenomenon coincides with large-scale Tertiary volcanic activity on Svalbard.Readjustment and migration of the oblique transform is still taking place. As the transform-ridge system is liberated from continental constraints, the migration rate will diminish as orthogonality is approached.     

Recent plate tectonics of the Arctic Basin and of northeastern Asia

The recent tectonics of the Arctic Basin and northeastern Asia are considered as a result of interaction between three lithospheric plates: North-America, Eurasia and Spitsbergen. Seismic zones (coinciding in the Norway-Greenland basin with the Kolbeinsey, Mohns and Knipovich ridges, and in the Arctic Ocean with the Gakkel Ridge) clearly mark the boundaries between them. In southernmost Svalbard (Spitsbergen), the secondary seismic belt deviates from the major seismic zone. This belt continues into the seismic zone of the Franz Josef Land and then merges into the seismic zone of the Gakkel Ridge at 70°–90°E. The smaller Spitsbergen plate is located between the major seismic zone and its secondary branch.Within northeastern Asia, earthquake epicenters with magnitude over 4.5 are concentrated within a 300-km wide belt crossing the Eurasian continent over a distance of 3000 km from the Lena estuary to the Komandorskye Islands. A single seismic belt crosses the northern sections of the Verkhoyansky Ridge and runs along the Chersky Ridge to the Kolymo-Okhotsk Divide.To compute the poles of relative rotation of the Eurasian, North-American and Spitsbergen plates we use 23 new determinations of focal-mechanism solutions for earthquakes, and 38 azimuths of slip vectors obtained by matching of symmetric mountain pairs on both sides of the Knipovich and Gakkel ridges; we also use 14 azimuths of strike-slip faults within the Chersky Ridge determined by satellite images. The following parameters of plate displacement were obtained: Eurasia/North America: 62.2°N, 140.2°E (from the Knipovich Ridge section south of the triple junction); 61.9°N, 143.1°E (from fault strikes in the Chersky Ridge); 60.42°N, 141.56°C (from the Knipovich section and from fault strikes in the Chersky Ridge); 59.48°N, 140.83°E, α = 1.89 · 10⁻⁷ deg/year (from the Knipovich section, from fault strikes in the Chersky Ridge and from the Gakkel Ridge section east of the triple junction). The rate was calculated by fitting the 2′ magnetic lineations within the Gakkel Ridge).North-America/Spitsbergen: 70.96°N, 121.18°E, α = −2.7 · 10⁻⁷ deg/year from the Knipovich Ridge section north of the triple junction, from earthquakes in the Spitsbergen fracture zone and from the Gakkel Ridge section west of the triple junction). Eurasia/Spitsbergen: 70.7°N, 25.49°E, α = −0.99 · 10⁻⁷ deg/year (from closure of vector triangles).     

Structure and composition of the sedimentary cover in the Knipovich Rift valley and Molloy Deep (Norwegian-Greenland basin)

The multidisciplinary approach is used to analyze the structure of the sedimentary cover in the northern Knipovich Rift valley, Molloy Fracture Zone and synonymous basin, Svyatogor and Hovgard rises, Gorynych Hills, Litvin and Pogrebitskii seamounts, and western slope of the Spitsbergen Archipelago studied in Cruise 24 of the R/V Akademik Nikolaj Strakhov. Materials of the bathymetric survey with multibeam echo sounder, as well as continuous seismic and vertical acoustic profiling, revealed two main (NNW- and NNE-trending) systems of fractures in the neotectonic structure of the region. It was established that a system of NNE-oriented fractures, linear zones of the dominant development of keyboard deformations included, is consistent with the strike of magnetic anomalies reconstructed for this region. Tectonic aspects of the Knipovich Rift and prospects of its further development are considered. Based on the wave field pattern of continuous seismic profiling (CSP) records, four seismocomplexes indicating contrasting sedimentation settings and intense tectonic processes at different formation stages of the northern Norwegian-Greenland Sea are conditionally defined in the sedimentary cover of the study region. It was established the Molloy Fracture Zone is responsible for a system of horizontal reflectors of acoustically transparent structureless light spots (“blankings”) in the upper well-stratified part of the sedimentary section, which are characteristic of areas with ascending pore fluids. The micropaleontological study (palynomorphs of higher plants, dinocysts, planktonic foraminifers, and diatoms) revealed the presence of Miocene assemblages in sediments. Benthic foraminifers include late Paleocene-middle Eocene assemblages. The composition of rock-forming components demonstrates a directed succession of mineral-terrigenous associations from the feldspar-quartz type to mesomictic quartz-graywacke type.     

Crustal structures of the Canada basin near Alaska, the Lomonosov ridge and adjoining basins near the North Pole

Seismic refraction surveys conducted in 1976 and 1979 over the broken ice surface of the Arctic Ocean, reveal distinctly different crustal structures for the Fram, Makarov and Canada basins. The Canada Basin, characterized by a 2–4 km thick sedimentary layer and a distinct oceanic layer 3B of 7.5 km/s velocity has the thickest crust and is undoubtedly the oldest of the three. The crust of the Makarov Basin has a thin sedimentary layer of less than 1 km and is about 9 km in total thickness. The Fram Basin has a similarly thin sedimentary layer but is 3–4 km thicker than the Makarov as it approaches the Lomonosov Ridge near the North Pole. The ridge itself is cored by material with a velocity of 6.6 km/s and may be a metagabbro similar to oceanic layer 3A. This ridge root material extends to a depth of about 27 km, where a change occurs to upper-mantle material with a velocity of 8.3 km/s. The core is overlain by up to 6 km of material with a velocity of about 4.7 km/s which could be oceanic layer 2A basalts or continental crystalline rocks with some sedimentary material.The Fram Basin probably began to open contemporaneously with the North Atlantic about 70 m.y. ago, by spreading along the Nansen-Gakkel Ridge. Although not yet dated, the Makarov Basin is probably no older than the initiation of the Fram Basin and may be much younger. The Alpha Ridge may once have been part of the Lomonosov Ridge, splitting off to form the Makarov Basin between 70 and 25 m.y. ago and possibly contributing to the Eurekan Orogeny of 25 m.y. ago, evident on Ellesmere Island. In contrast, the likely age of the Canada Basin lies in the 125–190 m.y. range and may have been formed by the counter-clockwise rotation of Alaska and the Northwind Ridge away from the Canadian Arctic Islands. The Lomonosov Ridge emerges from this scenario as a block resulting from a strike-slip shear zone on the European continental shelf, related to the opening of the Canada basin (180-120 my) and then becomes an entity broken from this shelf by the opening of the Eurasia Basin (70-0 m.y.).     

Generations of spreading basins and stages of breakdown of Wegener’s Pangea in the geodynamic evolution of the Arctic Ocean

Chronological succession in the formation of spreading basins is considered in the context of reconstruction of breakdown of Wegener’s Pangea and the development of the geodynamic system of the Arctic Ocean. This study made it possible to indentify three temporally and spatially isolated generations of spreading basins: Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, Late Cretaceous-Early Cenozoic, and Cenozoic. The first generation is determined by the formation, evolution, and extinction of the spreading center in the Canada Basin as a tectonic element of the Amerasia Basin. The second generation is connected to the development of the Labrador-Baffin-Makarov spreading branch that ceased to function in the Eocene. The third generation pertains to the formation of the spreading system of interrelated ultraslow Mohna, Knipovich, and Gakkel mid-ocean ridges that has functioned until now in the Norwegian-Greenland and Eurasia basins. The interpretation of the available geological and geophysical data shows that after the formation of the Canada Basin, the Arctic region escaped the geodynamic influence of the Paleopacific, characterized by spreading, subduction, formation of backarc basins, collision-related processes, etc. The origination of the Makarov Basin marks the onset of the oceanic regime characteristic of the North Atlantic (intercontinental rifting, slow and ultraslow spreading, separation of continental blocks (microcontinents), extinction of spreading centers of primary basins, spreading jumps, formation of young spreading ridges and centers, etc., are typical) along with retention of northward propagation of spreading systems both from the Pacific and Atlantic sides. The aforesaid indicates that the Arctic Ocean is in fact a hybrid basin or, in other words, a composite heterogeneous ocean in respect to its architectonics. The Arctic Ocean was formed as a result of spatial juxtaposition of two geodynamic systems different in age and geodynamic style: the Paleopacific system of the Canada Basin that finished its evolution in the Late Cretaceous and the North Atlantic system of the Makarov and Eurasia basins that came to take the place of the Paleopacific system. In contrast to traditional views, it has been suggested that asymmetry of the northern Norwegian-Greenland Basin is explained by two-stage development of this Atlantic segment with formation of primary and secondary spreading centers. The secondary spreading center of the Knipovich Ridge started to evolve approximately at the Oligocene-Miocene transition. This process resulted in the breaking off of the Hovgard continental block from the Barents Sea margin. Thus, the breakdown of Wegener’s Pangea and its Laurasian fragments with the formation of young spreading basins was a staged process that developed nearly from opposite sides. Before the Late Cretaceous (the first stage), the Pangea broke down from the side of Paleopacific to form the Canada Basin, an element of the Amerasia Basin (first phase of ocean formation). Since the Late Cretaceous, destructive pulses came from the side of the North Atlantic and resulted in the separation of Greenland from North America and the development of the Labrador-Baffin-Makarov spreading system (second phase of ocean formation). The Cenozoic was marked by the development of the second spreading branch and the formation of the Norwegian-Greenland and Eurasia oceanic basins (third phase of ocean formation). Spreading centers of this branch are functioning currently but at an extremely low rate.     

Segmentation and seismicity of the ultraslow Knipovich and Gakkel mid-ocean ridges

Comprehensive analysis of detailed bathymetric data obtained during legs 24–27 of the R/V Akademik Nikolai Strakhov has been carried out on the Knipovich Ridge. The revealed variations of magmatic activity along the axis supplement the available information on segmentation of this ridge [7, 19, 33]. The new statistical data characterize seismic activity under settings of ultraslow oblique extension. As follows from the seismic data, the Knipovich Ridge belongs to structural units with intermediate geodynamics between the spreading ridge and transform fault. Magmatic and amagmatic segments of the Arctic ultraslow Knipovich and Gakkel mid-ocean ridges are compared.     

Geology and tectonics of the northeast Russian Arctic region,based on seismic data

The structure of the sedimentary cover and acoustic basement in the northeastern Russian Arctic region is analyzed. Beneath the western continuation of the North Chukchi trough and Vil’kitskii trough, a Late Caledonian (Ellesmere) folded and metamorphozed basement is discovered. It is supposed that Caledonides continue further into the Podvodnikov Basin until the Geofizikov branch. A large magnetic anomaly in the Central Arctic zone has been verified by seismostratigraphic data: the acoustic basement beneath the Mendeleev (and partially Alpha) Ridge is overlain by trapps. Wave field analysis showed that the acoustic basement of the Lomonosov Ridge has folded structure, whereas beneath the Mendeleev Ridge, the sporadic presence of a weakly folded stratum of Paleozoic platform deposits is interpreted. It is supposed that the Caledonian and Late Cimmerian fold belts in the periphery of the Arctida paleocontinent appeared as a result of collision between arctic continental masses and southern ones. After Miocene extension and block displacements identified from appearance of horsts, grabens, and transverse rises both on the shelf and in the ocean, a general subsidence took place and the present-day shelf, slope, and the deepwater part of the Arctic Ocean formed.     

Conditions of formations of slightly enriched tholeiites in the northern Knipovich Ridge

New petrological and geochemical data were obtained for basalts recovered during cruise 24 of the R/V “Akademik Nikolay Strakhov” in 2006. These results significantly contributed to the understanding of the formation of tholeiitic magmatism at the northern end of the Knipovich Ridge of the Polar Atlantic. Dredging was performed for the first time both in the rift valley and on the flanks of the ridge. It showed that the conditions of magmatism have not changed since at least 10 Ma. The basalts correspond to slightly enriched tholeiites, whose primary melts were derived at the shallowest levels and were enriched in Na and depleted in Fe (Na-TOR type). The most enriched basalts are typical of the earlier stages of the opening and were found on the flanks of the ridge in its northernmost part. Variations in the ratios of Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopes and lithophile elements allowed us to conclude that the primary melts generated beneath the spreading zone of the Knipovich Ridge were modified by the addition of the enriched component that was present both in the Neogene and Quaternary basalts of Spitsbergen Island. Compared with the primitive mantle, the extruding magmas were characterized by positive Nb and Zr anomalies and a negative Th anomaly. The formation of primary melts involved melting of the metasomatized depleted mantle reservoir that appeared during the early stages of opening of the Norwegian-Greenland Basin and transformation of the paleo-Spitsbergen Fault into the Knipovich spreading ridge, which was accompanied by magmatism in western Spitsbergen during its separation from the northern part of Greenland.     

Nares Strait—A suture zone: Geophysical and geological implications

The motion of Greenland relative to Ellesmere Island along Nares Strait is determined from poles of rotation which provide control for the motion independent of local geology and geophysics. The plate kinematics around the North Atlantic Ocean, the Norwegian and Greenland Seas and the Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean constrain motion along Nares Strait. These motions are checked by examining the stability characteristics of the triple junctions. These junctions are found to be stable. The motion along Nares Strait between anomalies 34 and 13 is a combination of strike-slip and compression. The regional geology is found to support the plate reconstructions. The local geology of the Nares Strait area is reviewed and found not to refute the predicted motions. The geophysical and geological data are interpreted in terms of the Wilson cycle, the opening and closing of an ocean. The Nares Strait area has the characteristics of a cryptic suture, a join between regions of collided continental crust.