Correlation of Upper Palaeozoic and Mesozoic sequences between Svalbard, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and northern Alaska

Abstract

The Upper Palaeozoic and Mesozoic succession of the Sverdrup Basin of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago is very similar to that of both northern Alaska to the west and Svalbard to the east. These areas were tectonically linked throughout the Upper Palaeozoic and Mesozoic, and were joined by a seaway throughout much of this time. Numerous unconformity-bounded sequences, each with characteristic facies associations, can be correlated across the entire region. The unconformities are interpreted to be tectonic in origin and are possibly related to episodic plate-tectonic re-organizations. Two sequential tectonic regimes affected the Upper Palaeozoic-Mesozoic succession of Arctic Euramerica and each regime had three phases; early rifting, main rifting and thermal subsidence. The first regime lasted from earliest Carboniferous to early Middle Jurassic and was characterized by the formation and development of basins along the former Caledonian-Ellesmerian Orogenic Belt. The second regime is early Middle Jurassic-latest Cretaceous in age and is related to rifting and seafloor spreading in the Amerasia Basin. -Author