4D Arctic: A Glimpse into the Structure and Evolution of the Arctic in the Light of New Geophysical Maps, Plate Tectonics and Tomographic Models

• Published in: Surveys in geophysics 2014-09, Vol.35 (5), p.1095-1122
• Main Authors: Gaina, Carmen, Medvedev, Sergei, Torsvik, Trond H., Koulakov, Ivan, Werner, Stephanie C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Arctic regions; Arctic zone; Astronomy; Consumption; Cretaceous; Crusts; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Evolutionary biology; Geophysics; Geophysics/Geodesy; Gravitation; Jurassic; Lower mantle; Mantle; Observations and Techniques; Plate tectonics; Slabs; Tomography
• ISSN: 0169-3298; 1573-0956
• DOI: 10.1007/s10712-013-9254-y

Knowledge about the Arctic tectonic structure has changed in the last decade as a large number of new datasets have been collected and systematized. Here, we review the most updated, publicly available Circum-Arctic digital compilations of magnetic and gravity data together with new models of the Arctic’s crust. Available tomographic models have also been scrutinized and evaluated for their potential to reveal the deeper structure of the Arctic region. Although the age and opening mechanisms of the Amerasia Basin are still difficult to establish in detail, interpreted subducted slabs that reside in the High Arctic’s lower mantle point to one or two episodes of subduction that consumed crust of possibly Late Cretaceous–Jurassic age. The origin of major igneous activity during the Cretaceous in the central Arctic (the Alpha–Mendeleev Ridge) and in the proximity of rifted margins (the so-called High Arctic Large Igneous Province—HALIP) is still debated. Models of global plate circuits and the connection with the deep mantle are used here to re-evaluate a possible link between Arctic volcanism and mantle plumes.