First paleomagnetic data on the Early Paleozoic of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago and their geodynamic interpretation

The Taimyr-Severnaya Zemlya (North Land) folded area is an important unit i n the structure of the Arctic sector. The complex geological structure and different conceptual viewpoints provoke a variety of hypotheses of the tect onic history of the region. The most debatable is the history of the northe rn block, the deformed passive margin of the Kara plate. The paper presents paleomagnetic data on the Early Paleozoic volcanoterrige nous deposits of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago (Oktyabr'skoi Revolyutsii Island). Paleomagnetic directions and positions of paleomagnetic poles hav e been obtained for three successive time spans: Late Cambrian(?) - Early O rdovician, Late Ordovician, and Late Silurian, which differ from the Siberi an poles of the same age and form a regular trend on the geosphere. Based on the obtained paleomagnetic data, a kinematic scenario of the evolu tion of the Kara plate has been developed, and the principal mechanism of i ts attachment to the Siberian paleocontinent is considered.