The Neoproterozoic Timanide Orogen of eastern Baltica: introduction

Abstract

This volume was conceived during EUROPROBE’s investigations into the dynamic evolution of the Palaeozoic Uralide Orogen and relationships northwards into the Eurasian high Arctic. During these European Science Foundation studies, the preservation of Neoproterozoic deformation over large regions of northern Europe became increasingly apparent. This mainly Vendian tectonic event is referred to as the Timanian Orogeny and became the focus of many recent and on-going investigations. Much progress has been made in understanding Timanian Orogeny and a Memoir synthesizing our current knowledge is not only timely, but also relevant to Neoproterozoic global tectonic reconstructions.The type area for the Timanide Orogen is located in the Timan Range of northwestern Russia, which separates the East European Craton from the Pechora Basin and Polar Urals. The orogen extends over a distance of at least 3000 km, from the southern Ural Mountains of Kazakhstan to the Varanger Peninsula of northernmost Norway, flanking the eastern margin of the older craton (Fig. 1). From the Timan Range, it reaches northeastwards below the thick Phanerozoic successions of the Pechora Basin and Barents Shelf (O’Leary et al. 2004), and reappears in the Polar Ural Mountains and northwards through Pai Khoi to Novaya Zemlya. Timanian orogeny thus influenced a vast region of northwestern Russia. The Phanerozoic cover, Arctic shelf areas and, further east, Uralian deformation, obscure the importance of this orogenic event for the geodynamic evolution of Europe.The Timanide Orogen has been referred to by various other names, most frequently as the ‘Baikalides’. The term ‘Baikalian Orogeny’

Crustal structure and evolution of the Arctic Caledonides: Results from controlled-source seismology

“…Gee et al, 2008). The Svalbard Archipelago comprises at least three crustal blocks and different hypotheses have been proposed for the Caledonian terrain assembly (Harland et al, 1997;Gee and Teben'kov, 2004;Cocks and Torsvik, 2011). The western terrains have Laurentian affinities (e.g.…”

A lithosphere-scale structural model of the Barents Sea and Kara Sea region

“…1) located in the southeast of the study area, gives proof of this collisional event. Orogeny-associated terrane accretion proceeded northeastwards from the Timan Range at least to the Timan-Pechora Basin and is assumed to have continued northwards beneath the eastern Barents Sea as far as to the northern Kara Sea (Gee and Pease, 2004;Lorenz et al, 2007;Pease and Scott, 2009). Earliest sedimentation in these regions is reported as having occurred in latest Precambrian times (Ivanova et al, 2011;Klimenko et al, 2011;Lorenz et al, 2007).…”

“…Beside the change in seismic impedance due to contrasting physical properties of the rocks, also highvelocity rocks such as intrusive volcanics (e.g. East Barents Sea basin, Svalbard, Timan-Pechora Basin, West Siberian Basin) aggravate the distinction between sediments and crystalline crust (Artyushkov, 2005;Breivik et al, 2005;Gee et al, 2000;Ivanova et al, 2011;Vyssotski et al, 2006). This may connote locally an underestimation of the pre-midPermian sedimentary thickness and an overestimation of the subsedimentary crustal thickness.…”

Neoproterozoic–early Paleozoic provenance evolution of sedimentary rocks in and adjacent to the Farewell terrane (interior Alaska)

“…The few speculative reconstructions that include displaced Arctic terranes discussed herein typically show the Farewell terrane more closely associated with Siberia through much of the Paleozoic (Colpron and Nelson, 2011;Beranek et al, 2013a). The Arctic Alaska-Chukotka and Alexander terranes are more commonly shown in association with the Timanide orogen, a late Neoproterozoic belt that formed along the eastern margin of Baltica (e.g., Gee and Pease, 2004;Amato et al, 2009;Beranek et al, 2013a;Ayuso and Till, 2014;Till et al, 2014a).…”