The High Arctic Large Igneous Province: first seismic-stratigraphic evidence for multiple Mesozoic volcanic pulses on the Lomonosov Ridge, central Arctic Ocean

Abstract

We use seismic reflection data acquired by an over-winter expedition on drifting sea ice in the central Arctic Ocean to explore a possible spatial and temporal magmatic relation between the sub-bottom geology of part of the deep Arctic Ocean and the Mesozoic volcanic rocks found on the islands and the bordering continental shelf of Franz Josef Land and Svalbard. The new dataset from the North American segment (85–90°N) of the Lomonosov Ridge, central Arctic Ocean documents several Mesozoic volcanic pulses over a distance of c. 600 km along the ridge. This volcanism borders a domain of high magnetic field intensity over the adjacent Alpha Ridge in the deep basin where the magnetic source rocks and recent seismic reflection data indicate extensive Mesozoic magmatism. We suggest that the Mesozoic volcanism on the Lomonosov Ridge in its palaeo-position at the former continental margin north of Franz Josef Land and Svalbard spatially links the Mesozoic magmatic pulses of the continental High Arctic Large Igneous Province (HALIP) of polar Europe to volcanism on the adjacent Alpha Ridge in the deep Arctic Ocean. Increased input of heat to the upper crust on the Lomonosov Ridge enhanced maturation of hydrocarbon source rocks as manifested by the presence of gas or fluid escape pipes restricted to the area of volcanism.