Impact of Timanian thrust systems on the late Neoproterozoic–Phanerozoic tectonic evolution of the Barents Sea and Svalbard

• Main Authors: Koehl, Jean-Baptiste P., Magee, Craig, Anell, Ingrid M.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Barents Sea; Norway; Svalbard; Svalbard Archipelago; Northern Norway; Novaya Zemlya
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2021-71; https://se.copernicus.org/preprints/se-2021-71/

The Svalbard Archipelago is composed of three basement terranes that record a complex Neoproterozoic–Phanerozoic tectonic history, including four contractional events (Grenvillian, Caledonian, Ellesmerian, and Eurekan) and two episodes of collapse- to rift-related extension (Devonian–Carboniferous and late Cenozoic). These three terranes are thought to have accreted during the early–mid Paleozoic Caledonian and Ellesmerian orogenies. Yet recent geochronological analyses show that the northwestern and southwestern terranes of Svalbard both record an episode of amphibolite (–eclogite) facies metamorphism in the latest Neoproterozoic, which may relate to the 650–550 Ma Timanian Orogeny identified in northwestern Russia, northern Norway and the Russian Barents Sea. However, discrete Timanian structures have yet to be identified in Svalbard and the Norwegian Barents Sea. Through analysis of seismic reflection, and regional gravimetric and magnetic data, this study demonstrates the presence of continuous, several kilometers thick, NNE-dipping, deeply buried thrust systems that extend thousands of kilometers from northwestern Russia to northeastern Norway, the northern Norwegian Barents Sea, and the Svalbard Archipelago. The consistency in orientation and geometry, and apparent linkage between these thrust systems and those recognized as part of the Timanian Orogeny in northwestern Russia and Novaya Zemlya suggests that the mapped structures are likely Timanian. If correct, these findings would indicate that Svalbard’s three basement terranes and the Barents Sea were accreted onto northern Norway during the Timanian Orogeny and should, hence, be attached to Baltica and northwestern Russia in future Neoproterozoic–early Paleozoic plate tectonics reconstructions. In the Phanerozoic, the study suggests that the interpreted Timanian thrust systems represented major preexisting zones of weakness that were reactivated, folded, and overprinted by (i.e., controlled the formation of new) brittle faults during later tectonic events. These faults are still active at present and can be linked to folding and offset of the seafloor.