Our understanding of the geologic evolution of the Arctic Ocean and surrounding landmasses remains fragmentary. Over the past decade, a wealth of new data have been acquired and combined with legacy data collections to generate new ideas and models concerning the tectonic and oceanographic development of the Arctic. Such models are increasingly transcending Paleozoic to present-day timescales, sedimentary to through to deepest mantle domains, as well as onshore to offshore environments.

The Arctic is a region of diverse and multi-phase plate tectonic motions – both vertical and horizontal. Its present configuration is largely considered the result of a dominantly extensional regime, with a protracted period of North Atlantic rifting and far-field plate stresses having also affected the region. Several compressional events, such as the Eurekan, Ellesmerian, Caledonian, Timanian orogenies, as well as neighbouring subduction and terrane accretion from the Pacific, have also influenced the Arctic. Widespread rift and mantle plume-related magmatism have occurred and offer key constraints on the timing of tectonic events, and the interaction of surface and mantle processes – but relationships have not yet been fully exploited and synthesized. Furthermore, the nature and age of key bathymetric features, and the timing for the opening and closing of oceanographic gateways, remains uncertain.

The next generation of circum-Arctic geodynamic models must incorporate constraints from various sub-disciplines. These geologic and tectonic models are required to understand the oceanographic development of the Arctic and how it interacted with the rest of the world’s oceans. We envisage a highly interdisciplinary session with a focus on:
(1) Constraints on the age, structure, and geography of the Arctic, including the fossil, sedimentary, crustal, lithospheric and mantle records.
(2) Integrative tectonic models and geodynamic processes and,
(3) Insights on how the tectonic development of the Arctic affected oceanographic processes and exchanges with the other oceans.