North Kara and Vize-Ushakov Composite Tectono-Sedimentary Elements, Kara Sea

Abstract

North Kara Shelf and adjoining Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago represent a region of a complex tectonic interplay between two large Arctic fold-and-thrust belts: the Early Mesozoic Pay-Khoy-Novaya Zemlya–South Taimyr in the SW and the Late Paleozoic Taimyr–Severnaya Zemlya–in the S-SE and E, and an inferred Devonian/Carboniferous deformation zone in the N. Contractional deformations of different ages formed a series of basement highs and inverted sediment-cored swells that separate deeply subsided sedimentary basins. In the framework of the volume's terminology, this region consists of two composite tectono-sedimentary elements (CTSE), the Vize-Ushakov (VU CTSE) and North Kara (NK CTSE). The principal difference between these elements is in the age of underlying basement rocks, which, in turn, determines the stratigraphic span of the overlying sedimentary successions. In this chapter we characterize the geology of this remote Arctic region based on the available seismic data supported by the published results and our own studies.