Seismic geologic structure model for the sedimentary cover of the Laptev Sea part of the Lomonosov Ridge and adjacent parts of the Amundsen Plain and Podvodnikov Basin

Abstract

Seismic data on the southern (Laptev Sea) extremity of the Lomonosov Ridge were used to develop a new structural model for the sedimentary cover. It permitted a correlation between the seismic cross-sections of the ridge crest and two deep-sea basins: the Podvodnikov Basin and the Amundsen Plain. It is the first time that a seismic model has taken into account both regional seismic-reflection profiles obtained from NP drifting ice stations and recent high-resolution CDP data. Our seismic model agrees both with geological data on the Laptev Sea continental margin and the data obtained from deep-sea drilling into the Lomonosov Ridge under the IODP-302 project. The sedimentary cover of the southern Lomonosov Ridge and adjacent parts of the Amundsen Plain and Podvodnikov Basin was dated at the Aptian–Cenozoic. The sedimentary section is divided by two main unconformities, of Campanian–Paleocene and Oligocene–Early Miocene ages. The cover contains a structurally complicated graben system, which is an extension of the New Siberian system of horsts and grabens, recognized in the shelf. Sedimentation began in the grabens in the Aptian–Albian and ended with their complete compensation in the Paleocene.