The geological history of the Arctic Ocean in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic

The following stages of development have been identified in the geological history of the Arctic Ocean. (1) Barremian (Aptian)-Albian (~125–100 Ма). Formation of the Alpha-Mendeleev volcanic-tectonic rise and associated basins such as Podvodnikov, Маkarov, Stefansson, etc. Маgmatic complexes such as Seaward Dipping Reflectors (SDR) are characteristic of both the Alpha-Mendeleev Rise and the basins. There was strong stretching of the continental crust, but no rupture occurred. Tectonics were in an intraplate regime. Geodynamics can be explained by the presence of hot material in the mantle. (2) Late Cretaceous (100–70 Ма). The main phase of the Canada Basin opening. The basin opened as a back-arc basin for the Pacific subduction zone. The passive margin of the Canada Basin for the Northwind Ridge slope is characterized by SDR-type magmatic complexes with a probable age of about 125–100 Ма. (3) Late Cretaceous-Paleocene (~70–56 Ма). Intraplate rifting, which covered part of the Canada Basin, the Stefansson Basin, the Laptev Sea region, and the area of the future Eurasia Basin. A large number of faults formed across this vast territory. In the Amerasia Basin, we distinguish the Northwind-Sever rift system (from the Chukotka Borderland to Sever Spur on the Canada margin). (4) Eocene-Quaternary (56–0 Ма). Gradual opening of the Eurasia Basin. At the same time, between 45 and 34 Ма, numerous faults formed in the area of the Alpha-Mendeleev Rise. Маny faults also formed in the Neogene.

1. Лобковский Л.И., Шипилов Э.В., Кононов М.В. Геодинамическая модель верхнемантийной конвекции и преобразования литосферы Арктики в мезозое и кайнозое // Физика Земли. 2013. № 6. С. 20–38.

2. Малышев Н.А., Вержбицкий В.Е., Колюбакин А.А. и др. Технологические аспекты и опыт стратиграфического бурения в морях российской Арктики // Геология нефти и газа. 2024. № 3. С. 19–30.

3. Никишин А.М., Петров Е.И., Старцева К.Ф. и др. Сейсмостратиграфия, палеогеография и палеотектоника Арктического глубоководного бассейна и его российских шельфов // Труды Геологического института РАН. Вып. 632. 2022. 156 с.

4. Соколов С.Д., Лобковский Л.И., Верниковский В.А. и др. Тектоника и геодинамика Восточной Арктики в мезозое // Геология и геофизика. 2022. Т. 63, № 4. С. 389–409.

5. Akinin V.V., Miller E.L., Toro J., et al. Episodicity and the dance of Late Mesozoic magmatism and deformation along the Northern Circum-Pacific margin: NE Russia to the Cordillera // Earth-Science Reviews. 2020, 208. P. 103272.

6. Aleshina K.F., Nikishin A.M., Rodina E.A., et al. Structure of the basement of the near-Laptev part of the Eurasian basin according to geological and geophysical data // Moscow University Geol. Bull. 2024. № 4. P. 102–115.

7. Backman J., Jakobsson M., Frank M., et al. Age model and core-seismic integration for the Cenozoic Arctic Coring Expedition sediments from the Lomonosov Ridge // Paleoceanography. 2008. 23 (1). https://doi.10.1029/2007PA001476.

8. Brotzer A., Funck T., Geissler W.H., et al. Geophysical insights on the crustal structure of Greenland’s northern continental margin towards the Morris Jesup Spur // Tectonophysics. 2022. Vol. 843. P. 229588.

9. Brumley K. Geologic history of the Chukchi Borderland, Arctic Ocean // Stanford University. 2014. http://purl.stanford.edu/hz857zk1405

10. Bruvoll V., Kristoffersen Y., Coakley B.J., et al. The nature of the acoustic basement on Mendeleev and northwestern Alpha ridges, Arctic Ocean // Tectonophysics. 2012, 514–517. P. 123–145.

11. Chauvet F., Sapin F., Geoffroy L., Ringenbach J.-C. Conjugate volcanic passive margins in the austral segment of the South Atlantic — Architecture and development // Earth-Sci. Rev. 2021. 212. P. 103461.

12. Chen Z., Dietrich J., Lane L.S., Li M., Dixon J. Beaufort– Mackenzie Tectono-Sedimentary Element // Drachev S.S., Brekke H., Henriksen E., Moore T. (eds) Sedimentary Successions of the Arctic Region and their Hydrocarbon Prospectivity // Geological Society. London, Memoirs. 2025. 57. https://doi.org/10.1144/M57-2016-3

13. Chernykh A.A., Yakovenko I.V., Kaminskiy V.D., et al. A Tectonic Scheme for the Amerasia Basin of the Arctic Ocean // Doklady Earth Sciences. 2023a. Vol. 510, Part 2. P. 387–393.

14. Chernykh A.A., Yakovenko I.Y., Korneva M.S., Glebovsky V.u. Digital Models of the Deep Structure of the Earth’s Crust in the Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean // Geotectonics. 2023b. Vol. 57, Suppl. 1. P. S34–S52.

15. Chian D., Jackson H.R., Hutchinson D.R., et al. Distribution of crustal types in Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean // Tectonophysics. 2016. 691. P. 8–30.

16. Dobretsov N.L., Vernikovsky V.A., Karyakin Y.V., et al. Mesozoic–Cenozoic volcanism and geodynamic events in the Central and Eastern Arctic // Russ. Geol. Geophys. 2013. 54. P. 874–887.

17. Døssing A., Hansen T.M., Olesen A.V., et al. Gravity inversion predicts the nature of the Amundsen Basin and its continental borderlands near Greenland // Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 2014. 408. P. 132–145.

18. Ernst R.E. Large Igneous Provinces // Encyclopedia of Geology (Second Edition). 2021. P. 60–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.12528-X

19. Faleide J.I., Abdelmalak M.M., Minakov A., et al. Eurasia Basin Composite Tectono-Sedimentary Element // Geological Society. London. Memoirs. 2025. Vol. 57.

20. Franke D. Rifting, lithosphere breakup and volcanism: Comparison of magma-poor and volcanic rifted margins // Маr. Petrol. Geol. 2013. 43. P. 63–87.

21. Funck T., Shimeld J. Crustal structure and magmatism of the Маrvin Spur and northern Alpha Ridge, Arctic Ocean // Geophysical Journal International. 2023. Vol. 233. Iss. 1. April 2023. P. 740–768.

22. Gernigon L., Franke D., Geoffroy L., et al. Crustal fragmentation, magmatism, and the diachronous opening of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea // Earth-Science Reviews. 2020. 206. P. 102839.

23. Glebovsky V.Yu., Kaminsky V.D., Minakov A.N., et al. Formation of the Eurasia Basin in the Arctic Ocean as Inferred from Geohistorical Analysis of the Anomalous Маgnetic Field // Geotectonics. 2006. Vol. 40. No. 4. P. 263–281.

24. Hein J.R., Mizell K., Gartman A. Neogene hydrothermal Fe‐ and Mn‐oxide mineralization of Paleozoic continental rocks, Amerasia Basin, Arctic Ocean // Geochemistry. Geophysics. Geosystems. 2024. 25. P. e2023GC010996.

25. Hutchinson D.R., Houseknecht D.W., Mosher D.C. Canada Basin Tectono-Sedimentary Element, Arctic Ocean // Drachev S.S., Brekke H., Henriksen E. and Moore T. (eds). Sedimentary Successions of the Arctic Region and their Hydrocarbon Prospectivity // Geological Society. London. 2025. Memoirs. 57. https://doi.org/10.1144/M57-2022-49

26. Hutchinson D.R., Jackson H.R., Houseknecht D.W., et al. Significance of Northeast-Trending Features in Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean // Geochemistry, Geophys. Geosystems. 2017. 18. P. 4156–4178.

27. Jakobsson M., Маyer L.A., Bringensparr C., et al. The international bathymetric chart of the Arctic Ocean Version 4.0 // Sci. Data. 2020. 7. P. 176.

28. Kashubin S.N., Petrov O.V., Artemieva I.M., et al. Crustal structure of the Mendeleev Rise and the Chukchi Plateau (Arctic Ocean) along the Russian wide-angle and multichannel seismic reflection experiment “Arctic-2012” // J. Geodyn. 2018. 119. P. 107–122.

29. Kossovaya O.L., Tolmacheva T.Yu., Petrov O.V., et al. Palaeozoic carbonates and fossils of the Mendeleev Rise (Eastern Arctic): study of sea bottom dredged material // J. Geodyn. 2018. 120. P. 23–44.

30. Malyshev N.A., Verzhbitskii V.E., Danilkin S.M., et al. Stratigraphic drilling in the northeastern Laptev Sea: main results and further development // Russian Geology and Geophysics. 2025. Vol. 66. № 2. P. 142–159.

31. Metelkin D.V., Abashev V.V., Vernikovsky V.A., Mikhaltsov N.E. Paleomagnetic Evidence for the Iceland Plume Paleogeographic Stationarity and Early Cretaceous Маnifestation in the High Arctic // Doklady Earth Sciences. 2021. Vol. 501. Part 2. P. 1015–1019.

32. Mosher D.C. Hutchinson D.R. Canada Basin Geologic Structures of the Arctic Basin / Eds. A. Piskarev, V. Poselov, V. Kaminsky // Springer. Cham. Switzerland, 2019. P. 295–325.

33. Mukasa S.B., Andronikov A., Brumley K., et al. Basalts from the Chukchi Borderland: 40Ar/39Ar Ages and Geochemistry of submarine intraplate lavas dredged from the western Arctic Ocean // American Geophysical Union. 2020. https://doi.10.1029/2019JB017604

34. Nikishin A.M., Aleshina K.F., Rodina E.A., et al. Tectonic evolution of the Amerasia Basin, Arctic Ocean // Gondwana Research. 2025. 146. P. 173–199.

35. Nikishin A.M., Foulger G.R., Akinin V.V., et al. Arctic Cretaceous tectonic and igneous mega-province (TIMP): regional domains and geodynamics // Journal of Geodynamics. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jog.2024.102031

36. Nikishin A.M., Gaina C., Petrov E.I., et al. Eurasia Basin and Gakkel Ridge, Arctic Ocean: Crustal asymmetry, ultra-slow spreading and continental rifting revealed by new seismic data // Tectonophysics. 2018. 746. P. 64–82.

37. Nikishin A.M., Маlyshev N.A., Petrov E.I. Geological Structure and History of the Arctic Ocean // EAGE Publications bv. 2014. https://doi.org/10.3997/9789462821880

38. Nikishin A.M., Petrov E.I., Cloetingh S., et al. Arctic Ocean Mega Project: Paper 2 — Arctic stratigraphy and regional tectonic structure // Earth-Sci. Rev. 2021b. 217. P. 103581.

39. Nikishin A.M., Petrov, E.I., Cloetingh S., et al. Arctic Ocean Mega Project: Paper 3 — Mesozoic to Cenozoic geological evolution // Earth-Sci. Rev. 2021c. 217. P. 103034.

40. Nikishin A.M., Petrov E.I., Cloetingh S., et al. Arctic Ocean Mega Project: Paper 1 — Data collection // Earth-Sci. Rev. 2021a. 217. P. 103559.

41. Nikishin A.M., Rodina E.A., Startseva K.F., et al. Alpha-Mendeleev Rise, Arctic Ocean: A double volcanic passive margin // Gondwana Res. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2022.10.010

42. O’Brein T.V., Miller E.L., Benowitz J.P., et al. Dredge samples from the Chukchi Borderland: Implications for paleogeographic reconstruction and tectonic evolution of the Amerasia Basin of the Arctic // American Journal of Science. 2016. Vol. 316. P. 873–924.

43. Petrov O.V., Smelror M. (eds.). Tectonics of the Arctic // Springer Geology. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46862-0

44. Piskarev A., Poselov V., Kaminsky V. (Eds.). Geologic Structures of the Arctic Basin // Springer International Publishing, Cham. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77742-9

45. Posamentier H.W., Nikishin A.M., Aleshina K.F., et al. Carbonate deposition in the Arctic during the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Маximum (PETM) and Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO) // Gondwana Research. 2025. 139. P. 136–146.

46. Shimeld J., Boggild K., Mosher D.C., Jackson H.R. Reprocessed multi-channel seismic-reflection data set from the Arctic Ocean, collected using icebreakers between 2007–2011 and 2014–2016 for the Canadian Extended Continental Shelf program // Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 8850. 2021, 1. https://doi.org/10.4095/329248

47. Skolotnev S., Aleksandrova G., Isakova T., et al. Fossils from seabed bedrocks: Implications for the nature of the acoustic basement of the Mendeleev Rise (Arctic Ocean) // Маr. Geol. 2019. 407. P. 148–163.

48. Skolotnev S.G., Fedonkin M.A., Korniychuk A.V. New Data on the Age of Маgmatic Rocks in the Alpha–Mendeleev Rise (Arctic Ocean) Based on the Results of Isotope U/Pb Dating of Zircons // Doklady Earth Sciences. 2023. https://doi.10.1134/S1028334X23601736

49. Weigelt E., Jokat W., Eisermann H. Deposition history and paleo-current activity on the southeastern Lomonosov Ridge and its Eurasian flank based on seismic data // Geochemistry, Geophysics. Geosystems. 2020. 21. P. e2020GC009133.