The Arctic Ocean hosts one of the largest submarine Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) -the Alpha-Mendeleev Ridge - of Mesozoic age and the slowest mid-ocean spreading ridge - the Gakkel Ridge) - on the globe. These extreme variations in the evolution of the present day geology exemplify the highly variable mantle processes beneath the Arctic region in different geological times. Several episodes of subduction in the North Pacific, NE Asia and in the Arctic area itself from Jurassic-Cetaceous times onward generated slab graveyards that are now imaged by improving tomographic models. However, causal relationships between the deep-mantle and surface processes remain unclear. Geoscientific information on the relationship between the onshore geology and offshore ridges and basins in combination with variations in the mantle is the key for any deeper understanding of the entire Arctic Ocean.
This session provides a forum for discussions of a variety of problems linked to the Circum-Arctic geodynamics and aims to bring together a diversity of sub-disciplines including plate tectonics, mantle tomography, geodynamic modelling, igneous and structural geology, geophysical imaging, paleomagnetism, sedimentology and geochemistry. Particularly encouraged are papers that address lithospheric-mantle interactions in the North Atlantic, the Arctic and North Pacific regions, mantle dynamics and vertical and horizontal motion of crustal blocks.