New data on the stratigraphy and depositional environment for Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous deposits of the Stolbovoi Island (New Siberian Islands)

Abstract

The section of Mesozoic terrigenous deposits over 1200 m thick has been described, and a new geological map of the Stolbovoi Island southern half has been compiled. The inference has been made that the sedimentary sequence represents a single uniform turbidite complex, which is indivisible into lithological units and which does not show transition to shallow-marine facies either in the visible foot section or visible roof section. The complex accumulated in the foreland basin emerged on the margin of the Novosibirsk-Chukchi continental block during the Anyuian orogeny. The presence of upper Volgian deposits (Upper Jurassic) with a visible thickness of 640 m, Berriasian (Ryazanian) deposits about 100-m thick, and lower Valanginian deposits with a visible thickness of ∼200 m has been established on the basis of identification of fossils represented by remains of bivalve mollusks (the genus Buchia). Finds of upper Volgian buchias in the southeastern part of the island are inconsistent with field geological observations of the sequence of deposits. Paleontological data acquired for the island southern part suggest the presence of a transverse thrust fault, along which upper Volgian rocks were thrust over lower Neocomian rocks. The possibility of another interpretation of the data has also been considered. The correlation of the Buchia Beds of the Stolbovoi Island, Nordvik Peninsula, the basin of the Anyui River, and northern California has been carried out. The inference about a close relationship between the biota of the Stolbovoi Island and the North Pacific paleobiogeographic realm has been drawn.