¹ – Polar Marine Geological Research Expedition (PMGE), Pobeda Street 24, 188512, St. Petersburg, Lomonosov, Russia, e-mail: alexander.tebenkov@peterlink.ru

² – All-Russia Research Institute for geology and mineral resources of the World Ocean (VNIIOkeangeologia), Anglijsky pr. 1, 190121, St. Petersburg, Russia, e-mail: gus-evgeny@yandex.ru

Spitsbergen is located in the northwestern corner of the Eurasian Plate in a key area for reconstruction of the geological history of the North Atlantic and Arctic regions. According to modern interpretations, Spitsbergen was assembled during the Caledonian orogeny from four different terraines with their own pre-Caledonian history. They are separated by N-S faults and a Devonian graben, and overlain by Carboniferous to Tertiary platform sediments. The Tertiary fault belt as result of Atlantic opening occures around the western shore of the archipelago. The marine part of the area can be subdivided into three tectonic units – the typical shelf in the southeastern and two continental slopes: in the north and in the west.

 To illustrate the geological position of Spitsbergen and its varied composition together with surrounding shelf, a set of maps in 1:1 000 000 scale has been chosen as the most convenient one. The introduced set of maps is result of summarized data, which were obtained by geologists from different countries. A.K. Orvin made the first map in 1936. Norwegian Polar Institute in 1960 and in 2002 published the more recent maps (Winsnes, Dallmann et al., 2002). The diferrenc of represented ones is that the sea floor bedrock geology around the archipelago is shown in the same legend as on the land. Geophysical results as seismic profiles and aeromagnetic observations carried out mainly by Norwegians and Russians, were used for the marine part of these maps.

GIS technology has made it easy to incorporate the new data and connected materials into the maps. The geological map of Spitsbergen and the surrounding shelf with text description is a part of the set of maps, which additionally includes geomorphological and tectonic ones. The maps of Mineral and Quaternary deposits are nearest targets for the complete set. The completion of the prepared maps by collected data and organises them, as real Information System is the main future target.

 Reference to this abstract:

Tebenkov A.M., Sharin V.V., Gusev E.A. & Mavljudov B.R. Set of geological maps of Spitsbergen (Svalbard) and the surrounding shelf (1:1 000 000 scale). Arctic geology, hydrocarbon resources and environmental challenges. Abstracts and proceedings of the Goelogical Society of Norway. 2004, № 2, p.178.