| Summary: | The current effort represents a systematic regional study of the vast and poorly sampled area, linking the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean. The deep structure of the Northern Barents Sea was examined by means of integration various geophysical techniques, including numerical geodynamic modeling. Ocean Bottom Seismometers data have been acquired east of Svalbard and processed using a seismic refraction/reflection tomography method. A series of crustal-scale geotransects, illustrating the architecture of the Cenozoic Northern Barents Sea margin were constructed using gravity modeling, sparse seismic reflection profiles and depth to magnetic sources estimates. The structure of the Mesozoic passive margin, facing to the Amerasia Basin, was inferred based on a similar technique, involving plate reconstructions. Numerical simulations of the lithosphere extension, leading to formation of the Eurasia Basin, was performed using the finite element method. The velocity structure east of Svalbard exhibits evidences of Cretaceous magmatism. In particular, funnel-shaped high-velocity anomalies, reaching 10% relative to the 1D background model, are interpreted as Early Cretaceous magmatic intrusions. Further to the north, a narrow and steep continent-ocean transition was observed. The conjugate northern (and eastern) Barents Sea - Lomonosov Ridge margins are symmetric and narrow whereas the continent-ocean transition on the Podvodnikov Basin's side of the Lomonosov Ridge is broad. On the continental side, the Northern Barents Sea margin is underlain by Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic deep sedimentary basins separated from the oceanic side by the marginal basement uplift. The Northern Barents Sea, including Svalbard, was not affected by the major Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous rifting which gave rise to deep basins in the South Western Barents Sea. However, the area experienced widespread Early Cretaceous magmatism. The emplacement of mafic magmas was controlled by Paleozoic rift structures which were reactivated in the Early ...
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