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Advancing understanding of the geologic evolution of the Arctic region

May 29th, 2019
Advancing understanding of the geologic evolution of the Arctic region
View NNE across Kulutingwak Fiord towards Mitchell Point on the northern coast of EllesmereIsland, Nunavut, Canada. This area consists of Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic granitoid gneisswith minor mica schist, amphibolite, quartzite, and marble of the crystalline basement of the exotic andcomposite Pearya Terrane. Photo by Nicola Boll. Credit: Nicola Boll.

In recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Circum-Arctic Structural Events (CASE) program, a multidisciplinary, international polar research effort organized and led by the Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR) of Germany, this volume presents results from 18 major field expeditions involving more than 100 geoscientists. The book focuses on the Proterozoic to Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the circum-Arctic region with correlations to adjacent orogens.

The circum-Arctic region has received considerable attention over the past several decades with vigorous debate focused on topics such as mechanisms for opening the Eurasian and Amerasian basins, the importance of plume-related magmatism in the Arctic Ocean's development, and mechanisms for ancient terrane translation along the Arctic margins.

In 1998, to facilitate and increase research in the region, Dr. Franz Tessensohn initiated the CASE program (then "Correlation of Alpine Structural Events in Spitsbergen and North Greenland"). After pre-site surveys, the first BGR expeditions took place in 1992. In 1998, after the original study areas were extended to Ellesmere Island and Siberia, the CASE program was renamed "Circum-Arctic Structural Events."

Volume editor Karsten Piepjohn (Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe) states that the CASE program has "provided an inclusive platform for government and university researchers to perform field-based multidisciplinary scientific studies in a very remote part of the world." Organized regionally (Circum-Arctic, Siberia, Svalbard, Northeast Greenland, Canadian Archipelago, and North Slope Alaska/Yukon), this volume includes new datasets and syntheses from CASE-related expeditions. These contributions span multiple disciplines, from paleobotany to thermochronology, and ultimately provide critical updates to our understanding of one of the last geological frontiers on our planet.

More information:
rock.geosociety.org/Store/detail.aspx?id=SPE541

Provided by Geological Society of America

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