Elsevier

Tectonophysics

Volume 37, Issues 1–3, 5 January 1977, Pages 1-24
Tectonophysics

A seismic and gravity profile across the Arctic Ocean Basin

https://doi.org/10.1016/0040-1951(77)90036-1Get rights and content

Abstract

Gravity and seismic profiles were obtained from ice island ARLIS-II as it drifted across the central Arctic Basin and out into the Greenland Sea. The drift track begins over the Fletcher Abyssal Plain (Makarov Basin) and crosses the Lomonosov Ridge, Pole Abyssal Plain (Fram Basin), Morris Jessup Rise and ends on the edge of the Lena Trough. Hyperbolic reflectors are observed in the Fletcher Abyssal Plain that are interpreted as buried volcanic structures. Up to 1 km of seismic penetration of largely undisturbed sediments were obtained over the Lomonosov Ridge, which is also undercompensated with a + 50 mGal gravity high. This evidence supports the hypotheses of the ridge's origin as a former sliver of the Eurasian continental margin translated into the Arctic Basin by spreading along the Nansen Ridge axis. Fram Basin contains thick sequences of turbidite deposits. Deep reflecting horizons under the Morris Jessup Rise are interpreted as bedded sequences of rhyolitic lava and tuffs.

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    Now with the U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, Mass. 02543, U.S.A.

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