The last decade of structural and isotope-age dating studies in Svalbard and East Greenland has provided strong support for the close correlation of these segments of the Caledonide Orogen, as had previously been inferred from stratigraphic evidence. Prior to Tertiary opening of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, Svalbard's Caledonian terranes were an essential part of the Laurentian margin, as witnessed not only by the Early Palaeozoic depositional environments and fauna, but also by the character of the Palaeoproterozoic basement, the Meso-to Neoproterozoic cover, the evidence of late Grenvillian tectono-thermal activity, Caledonian structural style and timing of movements, Caledonian granitic magmatism and Old Red Sandstone (ORS) deposition.Recently published maps of East Greenland show the hinterland allochthons of central East Greenland to strike out obliquely into the continental shelf. The hypothesis promoted here requires that they continue offshore northwards, extending to the northern edge of the NE Greenland shelf and that most of the Svalbard terranes were northerly continuations of the East Greenland Caledonides. Only along the west coast of central Spitsbergen are 'foreign' terranes exposed that have affinity with Pearya, having been located north of the North Greenland foldbelt, apparently unrelated to Laurentia, prior to Ellesmerian Orogeny,The unambiguous affinity of the Svalbardian and Greenlandian (Laurentian) Caledonides contrasts markedly with the Timanide evolution of northeastern Baltica. It confirms previous interpretations that an important Caledonian suture-zone transgresses northeastwards across the Barents Sea, separating Laurentian domains in the NW from the Timanides of Baltica in the SE. The Timanides of northeastern Europe are truncated by, and terminate in the Barentsian Caledonides of the Barents Shelf.

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Svalbard is located in the north-west corner of the Barents Sea shelf and the Eurasian Plate, in a key area for interpreting Caledonian and older orogens in the Arctic region. Recent U-Pb dating in the Nordaustlandet Terrane of eastern Svalbard shows this terrane to consist of a Grenville-age basement, overlain by Neoproterozoic to early Palaeozoic platformal sediments, and intruded by Caledonian anatectic granites. Deformation, metamorphism and crustal anatectic magmatism occurred both during the Grenvillian (960-940 Ma) and Caledonian (450-410 Ma) orogenies. This evolution shows great similarities with

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The basement of the island of Nordaustlandet, northeastern Svalbard, consists of a complex of metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks, granites and augen gneisses, unconformably overlain by the Neoproterozoic Murchisonfjorden Supergroup. Earlier U-Pb dating of the Laponiafjellet and Kontaktberget granites has shown them to be late Grenvillian, with ages of c. 960 Ma and 940 Ma, respectively. Here, we present conventional U-Pb zircon and monazite data, single zircon Pb-evaporation data and ion microprobe data from the Kapp Hansteen Group and Svartrabbane Formation volcanic and subvolcanic rocks, and from the Fonndalen and Ringåsvatnet augen gneisses of central Nordaustlandet. The combined evidence suggests late Grenvillian magmatic ages of 940–970 Ma for all these rocks, with inherited zircons ranging in age from c. 1200 Ma to 2600 Ma. The investigated rocks vary in chemical composition from andesites to rhyolites and granites, and show generally similar trace and rare earth element patterns, with trace element compositions suggesting a volcanic arc or syn-collisional tectonic setting, and major element compositions suggesting a large sedimentary input to the magmas. Contributions from older crustal material are also supported by Nd isotope data and the presence of inherited zircons.The Grenvillian magmatic rocks thus originated in a series of magmatic events along a continental margin over a time span not longer than 30 Ma. The volcanic rocks were extruded onto folded strata of the Brennevinsfjorden Group–Helvetesflya Formation, which must have been deposited in the time interval 1200–960 Ma. Folding of the metasediments preceded the volcanism, but was synchronous with intrusion of the augen gneiss protolith, and was followed by crustal stabilisation, uplift and erosion. This newly formed Grenvillian crust then served as basement for the deposition of the Neoproterozoic Murchisonfjorden Supergroup. The present outcrop pattern of the Grenvillian rocks is largely the result of large-scale Caledonian folding and doming.