Neoproterozoic tectonic evolution of the Taimyr Peninsula (Arctic Asia): An example of a Late Precambrian thrust-fold belt

Abstract

Structural relationships between the Neoproterozoic rock complexes of a continental massif, island arc and back-arc basin geodynamic affinities are described and considered in this work based on field observations within the northeastern segment of the Central Taimyr tectonic zone distinguished in the late Hercynian fold-thrust belt of the Taimyr Peninsula. As is established for the first time, rock complexes of the continental massif with the early Late Riphean (Tonian-Cryogenian) volcanogenicsedimentary cover occur in the study region as the allochthonous syn- and post-sedimentary thrust sheets buried in, or thrust over, deposits of a back-arc basin, which accumulated in the terminal Late Riphean (Cryogenian)-initial Vendian (Ediacaran). These and other results of the large-scale structural observations elucidate important details of the tectonic development in the Late Precambrian, when two lateral ensembles of the Neoproterozoic structures originated in the region. In the first half of the Neoproterozoic, the regional tectonic ensemble included the oceanic plate abutting on the continental massif with a volcano-plutonic belt. The subsequent system of an island arc and marginal back-arc basin originated in the second half of the Neoproterozoic and existed approximately till the mid- Vendian (Ediacaran) phase of the intense formation of thrust sheets and folds (Baikalian orogeny).