New Siberian Islands represent a Paleozoic–Mesozoic crustal block exposed in the East Siberian Arctic shelf between the Laptev and East Siberian seas. The islands were extensively studied 30-40 years ago during the State geologic mapping program. Since that time, there has been a prolonged gap in studying these islands with just a few new results being published.

We present 2-volume report summarising the most recent geological observations and results of rock samples analytical studies performed in 2014 and 2015 by Dr. Andrey Prokopiev (Diamond and Precious Metal Geology Institute RAS, Yakutsk), Dr. Victoria Ershova (St. Petersburg State University), and Dr. Vladimir Tumskoy (Moscow State University).

The Volume 1 provides a brief summary of Summer 2014 9-weeks fieldwork campaign in the western part of Kotel’nyi Island. It contains photographs of studied outcrops and related explanatory notes, data spreadsheets containing information about location of the field stations, number and type of collected samples and performed structural and paleocurrent measurements and other related data.

The Volume 2, Final Report, provides data on geology of Kotel’niy Island (New Siberia Islands). It consists of 115 pages including 68 illustrations. The main data sources were results of the 2014 field studies that are summarized in the Volume 1, and results of following analytical works. The new results include U-Pb dating of detrital zircons (18 samples), apatite fission-track analysis (11 samples), pollen and spores palynological studies (20 samples), clay mineralogy (38 samples) and Rock-Eval analyses (103 samples). The provided results help to improve understanding of regional geology and tectonic evolution of the Laptev and East Siberian Sea sedimentary basins and their hydrocarbon systems.
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The report is accompanied by an ArGIS database that includes geological map of the studied region, paleogeographic maps, locations of the cross-sections, rock sampling sites and performed measurements.

​Volume 1:
​
​Regional Geology

Volume 2:
Provenance, Paleogeography & Uplift History

Table of Contents	Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ​ 1. INTRODUCTION 2. FIELD WORK LOCATION AND PRELIMINARY RESULTS     2.1. Sub-area 1: Polar Station     2.2. Sub-area 2: Tas-Ary Island     2.3. Sub-area 3: Anzhu Peninsula 3. FIELD DATA PROCESSING 4. CONCLUSION 5. LIST OF REFERENCES ​ATTACHMENTS ​	EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. INTRODUCTION 2. STRATIGRAPHY AND PALEOGEOGRAPHY     2.1. Stratigraphy     2.2. Sediment provenance     2.3. Paleogeography 3. STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY AND TECTONICS     3.1. Sub-area 1: Polar Station     3.2. Sub-area 2: Tas-Ary Island     3.3. Sub-area 3: Anzhu Peninsula 4. LOW-TEMPERATURE THERMOCHRONOLOGY 5. ROCK-EVAL RESULTS 6. CONCLUSIONS 7. LIST OF REFERENCES ​ ATTACHMENTS

Volume 1 Attachments

Volume 2 Attachments

ATTACHMENT 1: List of samples (MS Office Excel Format) ATTACHMENT 2: Structural measurements performed during the field work (​MS Office Excel Format) ​ ​

ATTACHMENT 1. List of samples (PDF) ATTACHMENT 2. Structural measurements (MS Excel spreadsheet) ATTACHMENT 3. Stratigraphic chart of Paleozoic strata (PDF) ATTACHMENT 4. Stratigraphic chart of Mesozoic strata (PDF) ATTACHMENT 5. Stratigraphic chart of Cenozoic strata (PDF) ATTACHMENT 6. Spore and pollen complexes of studied Cenozoic deposits (PDF) ATTACHMENT 7. Results of U-Pb dating of detrital zircons (PDF) ATTACHMENT 8. Age pick results of U-Pb dating of detrital zircons (PDF) ATTACHMENT 9. XRD data on clay mineralogy (PDF) ATTACHMENT 10. Geological cross sections (PDF) ATTACHMENT 11. Apatite fission track data (PDF) ATTACHMENT 12. Rock-Eval results (PDF)

Volume 1 List of illustrations

Volume 2 List of illustrations

FIGURE 2.1. Location map (a) and geological map of Kotel’nyi Island (b). FIGURE 2.2. Main tectonic elements of Kotel'nyi Island. FIGURE 2.3. Geological map of Sub-Area 1. FIGURE 2.4. Stratigraphic column of Sub-Area 1. FIGURE 2.5. Folds and thrusts deforming rocks of the Shlyupochnaya Formation. FIGURE 2.6. An angular unconformity at the top of the Sokolovskaya Formation (Middle Devonian). FIGURE 2.7. Permian succession of alternating black shales and siltstones. FIGURE 2.8. Lower Triassic black shales. FIGURE 2.9. Deformed Lower Triassic rocks. FIGURE 2.10. Dolerite dike intruding Upper Triassic rocks. FIGURE 2.11. Detailed sections of Neogene deposits. FIGURE 2.12. Neogene? – Quaternary incised valley near the Shlupochnaya River mouth. FIGURE 2.13. Slickensides on the surface of a strike-slip fault. FIGURE 2.14. Normal fault. FIGURE 2.15. Geological and location map of Sub-Area 2. FIGURE 2.16. Stratigraphic column of Sub-Area 2 showing position of the collected samples. FIGURE 2.17. Exposures of the Paleozoic rocks in Sub-Area 2. FIGURE 2.18. Structural styles of Sub-Area 2. FIGURE 2.19. Structural styles of Sub-Area 2. FIGURE 2.20. Paleogene-Neogene deposits in Location 1, Tas-Ary Island. FIGURE 2.21. Paleogene-Neogene deposits in Location 2, Tas-Ary Island. FIGURE 2.22. Paleogene-Neogene deposits in Location 3, Durnaya Lagoon. FIGURE 2.23. Examples of faults postdating the main compressional deformations in Sub-Area 2. FIGURE 2.24. Geological and location map of Sub-Area 3. FIGURE 2.25. Stratigraphy of Sub-Area 3 showing location of the collected samples. FIGURE 2.26. Eocene sedimentary succession, general view of outcrop in Location 1, Sub-Area 3. FIGURE 2.27. Eocene sedimentary succession: alternating siltstone and mudstone with coal bed. Location 1, Sub-Area 3. FIGURE 2.28. Eocene succession, general view of outcrop in Location 2, Sub-Area 3. FIGURE 2.29. Eocene deposits, general view of outcrop in Location 2, Sub-Area 3. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​​

FIGURE 1.1. Location map and geological map of Kotel’nyi Island. FIGURE 1.2. Main tectonic elements of Kotel'nyi Island. FIGURE 1.3. Geological and location map of Sub-Area 1. FIGURE 1.4. Stratigraphic column of Sub-Area 1. FIGURE 1.5. Geological and location map of Sub-Area 2. FIGURE 1.6. Stratigraphic column of Sub-Area 2 showing position of the collected samples. FIGURE 1.7. Geological and location map of Sub-Area 3. FIGURE 1.8. Stratigraphy of Sub-Area 3 showing position of the collected samples. FIGURE 2.1. Chronostratigraphic chart of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of the New Siberian Islands. FIGURE 2.2. Selected photographs of Lochkovian sedimentary rocks of Sub-Area 1 (Pshenitsin Fm.). FIGURE 2.3. Selected photographs of Pragian-Lower Emsian sedimentary rocks of Sub-Area 1 (Basykh-Kargin Fm.). FIGURE 2.4. Selected photographs of Upper Emsian sedimentary rocks of Sub-Area 1 (Shlupochnaya Fm.). FIGURE 2.5. Selected photographs of Eifelian-Givetian sedimentary rocks of Sub-Area 1 (Sokolov Fm.). FIGURE 2.6. Selected photographs of Frasnian sedimentary rocks of Sub-area 1 (Nerpalakh Fm.). FIGURE 2.7. Selected photographs of Frasnian sedimentary rocks of Sub-Area 2 (Nerpalakh Fm.). FIGURE 2.8. Selected photographs of Famennian – Lower Tournaisian sedimentary rocks of Sub-Area 2 (Chekur Fm.). FIGURE 2.9. Selected photographs of Tournaisian – Serpukhovian strata of Sub-Area 2 (Tas-Ary Fm.). FIGURE 2.10. Selected photographs of Permian strata of Sub-Area 1. FIGURE 2.11. Selected photographs of Permian strata of Sub-Area 2. FIGURE 2.12. Chronostratigraphic chart of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks of New Siberian Islands. FIGURE 2.13. Stratigraphic columns of Triassic sections of Kotel’nyi I. FIGURE 2.14. Selected photographs of Triassic strata of Sub-Area 1. FIGURE 2.15. Generalized stratigraphic columns of Cretaceous sediments. FIGURE 2.16. Chronostratigraphic chart of Cenozoic sediments of the New Siberian Islands. FIGURE 2.17. Combined stratigraphic columns of Paleogene – Neogene sediments of Faddeev and Kotel’nyi island). FIGURE 2.18. Detailed stratigraphic columns of Lower Eocene sediments near Reshentnikov River. FIGURE 2.19. Selected photographs of Lower Eocene sediments near Reshentnikov River. FIGURE 2.20. Photograph of heavily weathered Visean limestones and marls, western part of Tas-Ary Island. FIGURE 2.21. Stratigraphic columns and photographs of Upper Oligocene sediments in the south-western part of Tas-Ary Island. FIGURE 2.22. Stratigraphic columns and photographs of Upper Oligocene sediments of the northeastern Tas-Ary Island. FIGURE 2.23. Stratigraphic columns and photographs of Pleistocene sediments of northeastern Durnaya Lagoon. FIGURE 2.24. Stratigraphic columns and photographs of Pliocene-Pleistocene sediments near mouth of Shlupochnaya River. FIGURE 2.25. Relative age probability distribution plots for detrital zircon grains from Middle-Late Paleozoic strata. FIGURE 2.26. Relative age probability distribution plots for detrital zircon grains from Lower Eocene sediments of Reshetnikov River area (Sub-area 1). FIGURE 2.27. Relative age probability distribution plots for detrital zircon grains from Pliocene sediments near Shlupochnaya River (Sub-Area 1) FIGURE 2.28. Relative age probability distribution plots for detrital zircon grains from Oligocene-Pleistocene sediments of Tas-Ary Island and Durnaya Lagoon (Sub-Area 2). FIGURE 2.29. Relative age probability distribution plots for detrital zircon grains from Pliocene sediments near Shlupochnaya River (Sub-Area 1). FIGURE 2.30. Cumulative probability diagrams of detrital zircon grain ages from all collected samples. FIGURE 2.31. Schematic paleogeographic map for Late Devonian time. FIGURE 2.32. Cumulative probability diagram of detrital zircon grain ages from Permian sedimentary rocks of Northern Siberia, New Siberian Islands, Novaya Zemlya, Wrangel Island, Alexander Terrane, Farrewel Terrane, and Arctic Alaska. FIGURE 2.33. The proposed Artic plate-tectonic reconstruction for Middle Permian. FIGURE 2.34. Summarized relative age probability distribution plots for detrital zircon grains from: 1 – Permian-Carboniferous strata of northern part of Verkhoyansk Fold Belt, 2 – Cenozoic samples (this study), 3 – close-up view of distribution plots for Mesozoic dated grains. FIGURE 2.35. (a), occurrence of Mesozoic magmatic and volcanic rocks in NE Asia; (b) isotopic ages of granitic batholiths. FIGURE 2.36. Ordovician-Silurian paleogeography of Kotel’nyi Island. FIGURE 2.37. Devonian-Permian paleogeography of Kotel’nyi Island. FIGURE 2.38. Mesozoic-Cenozoic paleogeography of Kotel’nyi Island. FIGURE 3.1. Geological map and main structural elements of the Kotel'nyi Block. Shown in the lower left corner is a tectonic zonation sketch map. FIGURE 3.2. Geological map of the Sub-Area 1 with bedding diagrams. FIGURE 3.3. An angular unconformity (yellow line) at the top of Sokolov Formation (Middle Devonian) overlain by: (a) Frasnian Nerpalakh Fm. (b) Carboniferous-Permian succession. FIGURE 3.4. Tight to isoclinal overturned to NNE F1 fold in the Lower Devonian carbonates of Shlupochnaya Fm. FIGURE 3.5. Deformed Lower Triassic rocks. FIGURE 3.6. Dolerite dike intruding Upper Triassic rocks. FIGURE 3.7. Folds and thrusts in the Shlupochnaya Formation. FIGURE 3.8. Geological map of Sub-Area 1 with faults & striae data diagrams. FIGURE 3.9. Photograph of slickensides on the surface of a strike-slip fault. FIGURE 3.10. Photograph of an outcrop with normal fault bedding offset. FIGURE 3.11. Geological map of Sub-Area 2 with bedding cleavage, intersection lineation diagrams. FIGURE 3.12. Photographs of meso-structural deformation styles of Sub-Area 2. FIGURE 3.13. Photographs of meso-structural deformation styles of Sub-Area 2. FIGURE 3.14. Geological map of Sub-Area 2 with faults & striae data diagrams. FIGURE 3.15. Photographs illustrating examples of faults postdating the main compressional deformations in Sub-Area 2. FIGURE 3.16. Photograph of outcrop of Eocene sedimentary succession in Location 1, Sub-Area 3. FIGURE 3.17. Photograph of Eocene sedimentary succession in Location 1, Sub-Area 3. FIGURE 3.18. Generalized geological map of the Kotel’nyi Block with AFT data (HeFTy plots). FIGURE 3.19. Summary plot of the AFT thermochronologic data. FIGURE 3.20. Tectono-stratigraphic chart illustrating evolution of the Kotel’nyi Block. FIGURE 4.1. The Hydrogen Index (HI) vs. Tmax diagram for the RockEval data from the studied samples. FIGURE 4.2. Source rock potential and quality of the Devonian-Triassic marine shales in the study area illustrated by HI vs. Tmax and S2 vs. TOC diagram.