Special Publication Series Geology of the Shelves surrounding the New Siberian Islands, Russian Arctic

• Main Authors: D. Franke, K. Hinz
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; East Siberian Shelf; Gakkel Ridge; Laptev Sea; New Siberian Islands; laptev
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.548.6506; http://www.stephan-mueller-spec-publ-ser.net/4/35/2009/smsps-4-35-2009.pdf

Abstract. A total of 11 700 km of multichannel seismic re-flection data were acquired during recent reconnaissance sur-veys of the wide, shallow shelves of the Laptev and west-ern East Siberian Seas around the New Siberian Islands. To the north of the Laptev Sea, the Gakkel Ridge, an active mid-ocean ridge which separates the North American and Eurasian Plates, meets abruptly the steep slope of the con-tinental shelf. Extension has affected the Laptev Shelf since at least the Early Tertiary and has resulted in the formation of three major, generally north-south trending rift basins: the Ust ’ Lena Rift, the Anisin Basin, and the New Siberian Basin. Our data indicate that the rift basins on the Laptev Shelf are not continuous with those on the East Siberian Shelf. The latter shelf can best be described as an epiconti-nental platform which has undergone continuous subsidence since the Late Cretaceous. The greatest subsidence occurred in the NE, manifested by a major depocentre filled with in-ferred (?)Late Cretaceous to Tertiary sediments up to 5 s (twt) thick. On the basis of deep reflection data we revise and ad-just Mesozoic domain boundaries around the New Siberian Islands. 1