Arctic Tectonics and Volcanism: a multi-scale, multidisciplinary educational approach

• Main Authors: Senger, Kim, Shephard, Grace, Ammerlaan, Fenna, Anfinson, Owen, Audet, Pascal, Coakley, Bernard, Ershova, Victoria, Faleide, Jan Inge, Grundvåg, Sten-Andreas, Horota, Rafael Kenji, Iyer, Karthik, Janocha, Julian, Jones, Morgan, Minakov, Alexander, Odlum, Margaret, Sartell, Anna M. R., Schaeffer, Andrew, Stockli, Daniel, Vander Kloet, Marie A., Gaina, Carmen
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Arctic; Barents Sea; Eurasia Basin; Gakkel Ridge; Longyearbyen; Main Island; Norway; Svalbard; Svalbard Archipelago; Archipelago; UNIS; University Centre in Svalbard; Alaska; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-2024-3; https://gc.copernicus.org/preprints/gc-2024-3/

Geologically, the Arctic is one of the least explored regions of Earth. Its significance, in terms of indigenous populations, resource extraction, tourism, shipping and a rapidly changing climate, is increasing. The Arctic offers geological diversity encompassing onshore and offshore environments, include active subduction zones in Alaska, deep sedimentary basins on the Siberian and Barents Sea shelves, widespread ancient Arctic volcanism and magmatism, the world’s slowest spreading mid-ocean ridge (Gakkel Ridge in the Eurasia Basin), as well as world-class examples of extensional and compressional basins exposed onshore Svalbard. Obtaining data is logistically, economically and environmentally expensive in the high Arctic, but the township of Longyearbyen at 78° N represents a relatively easily accessible gateway to Arctic geology. The year-round settlement on Spitsbergen, the main island of the Svalbard archipelago is home to The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS). Reached by a year-round airport with regular connections to mainland Norway, Svalbard provides a foundation from which to teach and explore Arctic geology via the classroom, the laboratory, and the field. In this contribution, we present a new graduate course (Masters and PhD level) on Arctic Tectonics and Volcanism that we have established and taught annually at UNIS since 2018. We outline the course itself, before presenting student perspectives based on both an anonymous questionnaire (n = 27) and in-depth perceptions of four selected students. The course, with an intake of up to 20 MSc and PhD international students, is held over a 6-week period, typically in Spring or Autumn. The course comprises modules on field and polar safety, Svalbard/Barents Sea geology, wider Arctic geology, plate tectonics, mantle dynamics, geo- and thermochronology, and geochemistry of igneous systems. All modules include individual and group-based exercises in addition to introductory lectures. A field component, which in some years included an ...