Chapter 50 Geology and tectonic development of the Amerasia and Canada Basins, Arctic Ocean

Abstract Amerasia Basin is the product of two phases of counterclockwise rotational opening about a pole in the lower Mackenzie Valley of NW Canada. Phase 1 opening brought ocean–continent transition crust (serpentinized peridotite?) to near the seafloor of the proto-Amerasia Basin, created detachment on the Eskimo Lakes Fault Zone of the Canadian Arctic margin and thinned the continental crust between the fault zone and the proto-Amerasia Basin to the west, beginning about 195 Ma and ending prior to perhaps about 160 Ma. The symmetry of the proto-Amerasia Basin was disrupted by clockwise rotation of the Chukchi Microcontinent into the basin from an original position along the Eurasia margin about a pole near 72°N, 165 W about 145.5–140 Ma. Phase 2 opening enlarged the proto-Amerasia Basin by intrusion of mid-ocean ridge basalt along its axis between about 131 and 127.5 Ma. Following intrusion of the Phase 2 crust an oceanic volcanic plateau, the Alpha–Mendeleev Ridge LIP (large igneous province), was extruded over the northern Amerasia Basin from about 127 to 89–75 Ma. Emplacement of the LIP halved the area of the Amerasia Basin, and the area lying south of the LIP became the Canada Basin.