Crustal structure of the Lomonosov Ridge and the Fram and Makarov Basins near the North Pole

Reversed refraction surveys were conducted along and across the Lomonosov Ridge as part of the 1979 Lomonosov Ridge Experiment. Interpretation of the strike profiles indicates a 5-km-thick upper crustal layer with a velocity of 4.7 km/s overlying a 15- to 20-km-thick layer of 6.6 km/s material. An upper mantle velocity of 8.3 km/s is indicated by a few pn arrivals. High-amplitude reflection events recorded from this boundary can be successfully modeled by a transition zone of rapidly changing velocity over a depth interval of 5 km. Ray trace modeling of the dip profiles suggests a root structure extending to about 28-km depth flanked by crust thinning to a depth near 13 km beneath the Makarov Basin and a more gradual thinning to near 16 km beneath the Fram Basin. The similarity between the crust of the Lomonosov Ridge and that beneath the Barents and Kara seas supports the suggestion that the ridge is a slice rifted from the Baltic Shelf.