Mid-Cretaceous Tuor-Yuryakh Section of Kotelnyi Island, New Siberian Islands: How Does the Probable Basement of Sedimentary Cover of the Laptev Sea Look on Land?

The model of geological structure of sedimentary cover of the Laptev Sea accepted by most geologists suggests that the lower seismic complex of the cover begins by the Aptian–Albian sedimentary rocks. They can be studied in natural outcrops of Kotelnyi Island. The section of the Tuor-Yuryakh Trough, which exposes the lower part of the Cretaceous complex, is described in the paper. It is composed of continental coaliferous rocks ~100 m thick. The marking beds divide it into five members, which are traced along the western wall of the trough at the distance up to 3 km. The spore–pollen complexes and plant megafossils indicate that almost the entire visible section of the mid-Cretaceous is Albian. Only its lower part no more than 14 m thick can probably belong to the Aptian. Marine facies with Albian foraminifers were found 15 m above the bottom of the Cretaceous complex. The section of the Cretaceous rocks is underlain by the Lower Jurassic marine clays and siltstones. The foraminifer assemblages of this part of the section are typical of the upper Sinemurian–Pliensbachian and fossil bivalves indicate late Sinemurian age of the host rocks. The hiatus ~70 Ma duration has no expression in the section and this boundary can de facto be substantiated only by microfossils. This vague contact between the Lower Jurassic and mid-Cretaceous rocks does not correspond to geophysical characteristics of the bottom of the lower seismic complex of the cover of the eastern part of the Laptev Sea. The latter is described as the most evident seismic horizon of the section of the cover, suggesting unconformable occurrence of the lower seismic complex on a peneplenized surface of lithified and dislocated rocks. This is mostly similar to the bottom of the Eocene sediments, which were observed on Belkovsky and Kotelnyi islands. The paper discusses possible application of our land results for interpretation of the shelf seismic sections of the Laptev Sea. It is concluded that local reasons are responsible for a vague boundary between the Lower Jurassic and mid-Cretaceous sequences in the section studied. Our observations support ideas on possible Aptian–Albian age of the rocks of the basement of the lower seismic complex; however, it is proposed to use also the previously popular idea on the Eocene age of the lower seismic complex of sedimentary cover of the eastern part of the Laptev Sea as one of the possible working scenarios.