L.A. DARAGAN-­SUSHCHOVA, O.V. PETROV (VSEGEI), YU.I. DARAGAN­-SUSHCHOV (VNIIOkeangeologia), D.I. LEONT’EV, I.N. SAVEL’EV (VSEGEI)

History of formation of the Eurasian basin, the Arctic Ocean, based on seismic data

Analysis of recent seismic materials resulted in the step-­by-­step reconstruction of the history of formation of the Eurasian Basin, the Arctic Ocean was performed. It is shown that according to geological and seismic data, the Eurasian Basin formed long before the beginning of spreading postulated by magnetostratigraphy, approximately 60–120 Ma earlier. In the part of Amundsen basin adjacent to the Laptev Sea, in the southern part of the Lomonosov Ridge, and the Eastern Lomonosov Basin, the sedimentary cover has appeared from the Aptian, overlapping the Late Cimmerian folded basement. It is quite possible that from the Taimyr Peninsula and Barents-­Kara margin, the age of basal horizons of the cover is older, Jurassic – Early Cretaceous. The Miocene-­Quaternary age of the Gakkel Ridge was established. Multi­age folded complexes of the Taimyr and Laptev Sea Shelf continuing into the ocean, as well as numerous protrusions which supplied subcrustal material to the cover and the basement have been identified in the acoustic basement of the Eurasian Basin adjacent to the Laptev Sea. These facts indicate the continental type of the crust in this part of the Eurasian Basin, which was subjected to the processes of scattered spreading and the initial stage of basification of the earth’s crust. The closest analog similar in age and morphology to the Eurasian Basin is the Red Sea region.
Keywords: Arctic Ocean, Eurasian Basin, seismic facies analysis, wave fields, Gakkel Ridge, scattered spreading, protrusions.