New Data on the Tectonics of Franz Joseph Land (Archipelago and Shelf, Northern Segment of the Continental Margin of the Barents Sea)

Abstract

The current block structure of the archipelago and the surrounding shelf are associated with the tectonic framework of the diagonal system of faults. The northeast-striking faults are in correlation with the series of normal faults in the flank of the Eastern Barents megabasin at the initial, rift-induced stage of the formation in the Middle–Late Paleozoic. The northwest-striking faults were formed in the Jurassic–Cretaceous time, during the tectonic–magmatic stage related to the dominating rift-induced spreading processes in the Arctic affected by the plume. In the archipelago and adjacent shelf, these faults control the zone of transtension about 400 km wide, which appears to be an alteration of grabens and horsts combined with traces of echelon dikes. Therefore, the crossing structural plan of the arched-block rise was formed. This structure was activated in the neotectonics epoch and modified by exaration and erosion.