Scientists from the Novosibirsk State University (NSU) and the Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics of the SB RAS proved the existence of a single paleocontinent Arctida in ancient times, and also studied its geological history of development. The authors published the results of their research in the journal Precambrian Research, and they were briefly reported in a press release from NSU.
In their work, the scientists used paleomagnetic data collected over the past 20 years in studies of the island archipelagoes of the Arctic Ocean. Geologists have studied the characteristics of magnetic fields that were preserved in ancient rocks at the time of their formation, which made it possible to determine their nature and origin.
Arctida 950 million years ago. Image: nsu.ru
The results of the study showed that in ancient times there were not one, as previously thought, but two Arctic continents. The first (named Arctida-I by scientists) arose about a billion years ago and was part of the larger continent of Rodinia, which disintegrated 750 million years ago. Arctida-I was also divided into separate blocks that drifted on the periphery of the Siberian paleocontinent, which was previously located near the equator.
About 250 million years ago, according to the study, the continent was rebirth - Arctida II was formed. Its components were the same blocks as those of the collapsed Arctida-I, but they were already located on the periphery of modern Eurasia - almost in the same place as now.
Dmitry Metelkin. Photo: nsu.ru
Remains of Arctida II currently include Franz Josef Land, the Spitsbergen archipelago, the shelf of the Kara Sea, including the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago and the northern coast of the Taimyr Peninsula, the New Siberian Islands, the shelf of the East Siberian Sea, the Chukchi Sea together with the continental territories of Chukotka and the northern Alaska, the island structures of North America, together with Ellesmere Island and others near Greenland.
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