New insights into the Laptev Sea tectonics

While the Laptev Sea sedimentary basin belonging to the shelfal area of the Arctic Ocean is promising in terms of hydrocarbon discoveries, its geologic complexity hinders petroleum geologic studies and estimation of its hydrocarbon potential. Existing contradictory views about the tectonic framework and evolution of the Laptev Sea cause considerable uncertainties concerning its prospects. The current situation resulting by the fact that our basic understanding of the geology of the Laptev Sea margin was mostly established before 2000 and was based on a limited amount of seismic data, often of compromised quality. Still, recent years have seen the accumulation of a considerable amount of G&G data capable of improving our understanding of the Laptev offshore geology, although it has not been generalized and comprehensively reviewed to date. A unified dataset comprising both historical and newly acquired G&G data created in the course of this project enabled to revise the tectonic framework of the Laptev Sea. The comprehensive review of the information provided a consistent model for the tectonic evolution of the studied territory and clarified some controversial questions.