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SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

The Timanian Orogeny in Northern Svalbard

Awarded: NOK 0.50 mill.

Project Number:

337227

Project Period:

2022 - 2024

Funding received from:

Partner countries:

The TONeS project aims at gathering world-leading experts affiliated to both national (UiO), international (McGill U., AGH, UWr, UU, NHM), and local research institutes in Svalbard (Polish Polar Station and NPI), and industry (Lundin Energy Norway) to accelerate the research momentum on the Timanian Orogeny in Svalbard. Svalbard is located at the corner of the Eurasian Plate with the North American plate and the Timanian Orogeny occurred during a period for which tectonic movements in Arctic regions are highly debated. The research team will gather structural data, and samples of fault rocks and magmatic intrusions for petrological and geochronological analyses (up to 200 000 nok covered by the ArcTec project; already secured) through a field expedition to Kongsfjorden (Blomstrandhalvøya and Brøggerhalvøya), Biskayarhalvøya, Liefdefjorden, and Ny Friesland. Fieldwork to northern Spitsbergen will be coordinated with the Natango and with the Ny-Ålesund research station. The project will provide significant improvements on plate tectonic reconstructions (paleogeography) in Arctic regions and will stimulate further collaborations on the geology of Svalbard. Communication of the project activities will be performed at international conferences (e.g., EGU General Assembly and International Conference on Arctic Margins), and the project outcomes will be disseminated exclusively via Open Access media, including DataverseNO (Open Access dataset repository; at least three datasets) and Diamond/Gold Open Access Journals (at least four peer-reviewed articles). The TONeS network will also involve a graduate student from UiO. The TONeS project will be further used to initiate an international collaboration (including but not limited to partners of the TONeS network) on a larger project to be submitted to the ERC Starting Grant in 2024. The project will focus on a Pan-Arctic correlation of the Timanian Orogeny in Canada, Greenland and Svalbard.

Funding scheme:

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum