Geodynamics and evolution of the northern East European Platform in the late Precambrian as inferred from regional seismic profiling

Abstract

The available geological data on the Meso-and Neoproterozoic rocks in the north of the East European Platform are considered, involving the results of a comprehensive study along regional seismic profile I-I that extends for 460 km and crosses the main structural units of the Mezen Syneclise from SW to NE. Many previously unknown structural features of aulacogens filled with thick (up to 4–8 km) sequences of the Meso-and Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks that make up the preplate complex are demonstrated in this profile. The Riphean rocks are subdivided into three seismostratigraphic sequences: the lower part of the Lower Riphean, the Lower-Middle Riphean, and the Upper Riphean. The geodynamic events in the north of the East European Platform are correlated with those that occurred in its central part and the adjacent foldbelts.