Neotectonics of the Barents Sea shelf eastern part: seismicity, faults and impact of the Atlantic-Arctic Rift System

Abstract

distribution with the fault network defined from seismic data, and kinematic characteristics of seismic activity spatial migration are obtained. It is shown that seismic events recorded by the Norwegian NORSAR regional network within the Russian part of the Barents Sea shelf are grouped into linear clusters along shear kinematics faults. The fault network displaces Mesozoic seismic complexes and reaches the bottom surface, displacing quaternary deposits, which clearly indicates the modern age of displacements along which linear clusters of weak seismicity are grouped. The calculation of the total seismic moment in the space-time dimension showed the presence of seismic activity migration along short fragments of faults on the shelf with velocities from 10.5 to 25.7 km/year. There has been a surge in general activity in the shelf area since 2012. A comparison of the temporal evolution of seismic activity on the shelf with fragments of the Atlantic-Arctic Rift system suggests that it is the effect of tectonic deformation waves triggered along the geodynamically active intraplate boundary and propagating to the shelf at a speed of 20–22 km/year. Migration rates with speeds up to 77 km/year are less likely. There is a possibility that the increase in the intensity of seismic activity on the shelf after 2012 is not an emission from the effects of a slow deformation wave, but the result of a direct trigger effect on the shelf from the structures of the Knipovich and Gakkel ridges.