A combined structural and geochronological study was carried out to identify the tectonic evolution of the northern Verkhoyansk Fold-and-Thrust Belt, formed on the east margin of the Siberian Craton during late Mesozoic collision. Fault and fold geometries and kinematics were used for palaeostress reconstruction along the Danil and Neleger rivers cross-cutting the central and western parts of the Kharaulakh segment of the northern Verkhoyansk. Three different stress fields (thrust, normal and strike-slip faulting) were identified after separation from heterogeneous fault-slip data. Thrust and normal faulting stress fields were found in both areas, whereas a strike-slip faulting stress field was only found in Neoproterozoic rocks of the Neleger River area. U–Pb laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) dating of calcite slickenside samples reveals the following succession of major deformation events across the northern Verkhoyansk: (i) The oldest tectonic event corresponding to the strike-slip faulting stress field with NE–SW-trending compression axis is Early Permian (Cisuralian, 284 ± 7 Ma) and likely represents a far-field response to the late Palaeozoic collision of the Kara terrane with the northern margin of the Siberian Craton. (ii) A slickenfibrous calcite age of 125 ± 4 Ma is attributed to the Early Cretaceous compression event, when the fold-and-thrust structure was formed. (iii) U–Pb slickenfibre calcite ages of 76–60 Ma estimate the age of a Late Cretaceous – Palaeocene compression event, when thrusts were reactivated. Slickensides related to both (ii) and (iii) compressional tectonic events formed by similar stress fields with W–E-trending compression axes. (iv) From the Palaeocene onwards, extensional tectonics with approximately W–E extension predominated.

provide an ever clearer picture of sediment source regions, plate tectonic setting, and help guide the paleogeographic framework of modern Arctic regions in the late Paleozoic (e.g., Colpron & Nelson, 2009;Domeier & Torsvik, 2014). Samples from Andrée Land Group strata in the Dickson Land on the island of Spitsbergen, Svalbard (Figures 1b and 2a), located between the NE and NW Basement Provinces, were collected, and provenance analysis of detrital zircon U-Pb ages was performed to further constrain Paleozoic paleogeographic models of modern Arctic terranes.The Svalbard Archipelago, located to the northwest of the Barents Shelf, represents a series of strike-slip faulted terranes, which are presumably pieces of neighboring landmasses and orogenic belts, that were isolated and

The article presents the results of recent archaeological and geomorphological research conducted on Middle to Late Neolithic site Serteya II in the Serteysky microregion of the Dnepr-Dvina region (NW Russia). The interaction of archaeological and multidisciplinary palaeoenvironmental research allowed for the reconstruction of the natural environment transformations and the natural conditions of the activity of the ancient communities in the lower Serteyka River valley, the left-bank tributary of the Western Dvina River. The terrain relief of the area was formed after the recession of the Weichselian (Valdai) Ice Sheet. The present day Serteyka River valley occupies a subglacial channel that was earlier occupied by a few lake basins of almost two generations. The water basins of the first generation existed within glacial crevasses and between blocks of dead ice, and second generation lakes developed after the melting of dead ice in the Late Valdai. Throughout the entire Holocene, the Serteyka River drained several lake basins as a result of headward river erosion. The Neolithic Serteya II site occupied the surface of a kame terrace and biogenic plain within the palaeolake basin. The pile-dwelling settlement functioned there in a period when palaeolakes existed and were affected by transgression and regression of the water table. The main phase of pile-dwelling development is dated to ca. 4200-3800 cal BP and existed for almost 140 years. It was part of a wider settlement structure in the period of domination of a hunter-gatherer economy and the beginning of agriculture.Zarys treści. Artykuł przedstawia wyniki ostatnich badań archeologicznych i geomorfologicznych środkowo-i późnoneolitycznego stanowisku Serteya II, zlokalizowanego w międzyrzeczu Dniepru i Dźwiny, w obrębie mikroregionu Sertejskiego (NW Rosja). Połączenie wyników badań archeologicznych i multidyscyplinarnych analiz paleośrodowiskowych pozwoliło na odtworzenie środowiska naturalnego i warunków przyrodniczych działalności dawnych społeczności w dolinie dolnej Sertejki, lewego dopływu Dźwiny. Rzeźba terenu została uformowana po ustąpieniu zlodowacenia wisły (wałdajskiego). Współczesna dolina wykorzystuje rynnę subglacjalną, w której wcześniej funkcjonowało kilka basenów jeziornych dwóch generacji. Zbiorniki pierwszej generacji rozwinęły się w szczelinach lodowych i w obniżeniach pomiędzy martwymi bryłami lądolodu. Jeziora drugiej generacji powstały po wytopieniu brył martwego lodu w późnym vistulianie. W trakcie holocenu rzeka Sertejka, w wyniku erozji wstecznej, zdrenowała kolejne jeziora. Osada neolityczna Serteya II zajmowała powierzchnię

<p>The formation of the Verkhoyansk fold-and-thrust belt (FTB) is traditionally interpreted as a result of Late Mesozoic subduction and consequent closure of the Oimyakon Ocean, followed by the collision of the Kolyma-Omolon microcontinent with the Siberian Craton. In particular, the northern Verkhoyansk FTB reflects the complex tectonic history and interaction of the Arctic and Verkhoyansk orogens. Although previous studies documented several Cretaceous deformation events, the details of the northern Verkhoyansk evolution are still poorly understood.</p><p>A combined structural and geochronological study was carried out to identify the tectonic evolution of the northern Verkhoyansk FTB. Fault and fold geometries and kinematics were used for paleostress reconstruction in the central and western parts of the northern Verkhoyansk FTB. The multiple inverse method was used to separate individual stress fields from heterogeneous fault-slip data and three different stress fields (thrust, normal and strike-slip faulting) were identified. Thrust and normal faulting stress fields were found throughout the study area, whereas a strike-slip faulting stress field was only found in Neoproterozoic rocks in the westernmost part of the northern Verkhoyansk FTB. Furthermore, U-Pb LA-ICP-MS dating of calcite fibers on slickensides was performed to obtain a first-order time constraint on fault activity.</p><p>The study reveals the following succession of major deformation events across the northern Verkhoyansk: i) The oldest tectonic event corresponding to the strike-slip faulting stress field with NE-SW-trending compression axis is Early Permian (284±7 Ma) and likely represents a far-field response to the Late Palaeozoic collision of the Kara terrane with the northern margin of the Siberian Craton. ii) A slickenfibrous calcite age of 125±4 Ma is attributed to the most intense Early Cretaceous compression event, when the modern fold and thrust structure developed. Dykes in the eastern part of the northern Verkhoyansk FTB cutting N-S trending folds with 90-85 Ma U-Pb zircon ages mark the end of this event. iii) U-Pb slickenfiber calcite ages of 76-60 Ma estimate the age of a Late Cretaceous–Palaeocene compression event, when thrusts were reactivated. Slickensides related to both (ii) and (iii) compressional tectonic events formed by similar stress fields with W-E trending compression axes. iv) From Palaeocene onwards, extensional tectonics with approximately W-E extension predominated. Within the northern Verkhoyansk FTB, extension settings are supported by the formation of a set of grabens and a clearly recognizable normal faulting stress field.</p>

<p>The accumulative fan was formed at the mouth of a well-developed system of erosive cuts in the lower Serteyka River valley in western Russia. The length of the fan reaches 70 m, and its thickness is up to 2 m. The erosive cuts (gullies) were formed on the steep and short slopes of the tunnel valley (transformed later into the river valley) and dissect the surface of the glaciofluvial plain for a length of ca. 110 meters. The absolute chronology of the development of that relief form was determined based on <sup>14</sup>C and <sup>210</sup>Pb data set. It was started at the earliest in the second half of the 17<sup>th</sup> century, and finished before the mid-19<sup>th</sup> c. AD. These processes can be correlated therefore with palaeoenvironmental changes during the pessary of the Little Ice Age (LIA), as well as with human impact during the agrarian and industrial revolution in Eastern Europe. Studied accumulative fan is formed of deluvium with the insertion of the proluvium and an agricultural diamikton which is developed in ceiling part. The research based on the results of analysis of depth diversity of textural features (mean grain-size diameter, sorting index, skewness and kurtosis), geochemical features (chemostratigraphy determined on the basis of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy – XRF) of the fan’s sediments and palaeoecological features (palynology analysis, subfossil Chironomidae and Cladocera analysis, plant macrofossil analysis) of biogenic deposits from under the fan.</p>