Circum-Arctic lithospheric transects from onshore to offshore

Abstract:

Understanding the evolution of the lithosphere over time involves the integration and interpretation of geological and geophysical data, combined with good knowledge of the physical processes at work in the lithosphere giving rise to past and present structures. Tectonic activity related to the rifting process created the present-day structure of today’s Arctic basins and bathymetric highs, and in the process modified older structures and architecture of the crust and lithosphere. The correlation of circum-Arctic terranes and orogens help to not only reconstruct paleogeography but to also define the role and determine the nature of the lithospheric processes that were active in the complex tectonic evolution of the Arctic.

CALE (Circum Arctic Lithosphere Evolution), an international and multidisciplinary effort involving c. 35 geologists and geophysicists from ten different countries working to link the onshore and offshore regions across the circum-Arctic region, is a scientific network in it’s last year of a 5-year program. Sedimentary cover and crust to mantle cross-sections from onshore to offshore have been created integrating the latest scientific knowledge and data sets available for the Arctic. The project’s principal Arctic transects include: Ellesmere-Canada Basin, Pacific Ocean-Lomonosov Ridge through the Bering Strait, across the Laptev Sea rift to the DeLong Islands, Barents and Kara regions across Timan-Pechora and Taimyr. These sections, the culmination of the CALE project, and their principle findings will be presented for the first time with discussion of outstanding issues yet to be resolved.