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Physiographic provinces of the Arctic Ocean seafloor

Martin Jakobsson^,1, Arthur Grantz^,2, Yngve Kristoffersen^,3 and Ron Macnab^,4

¹ Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping–Joint Hydrographic Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA
² Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-2115, USA
³ Institute of Solid Earth Physics, University of Bergen, Allégt. 41, N-5007 Bergen, Norway
⁴ Geological Survey of Canada, P.O. Box 1006, Dartmouth NS B2Y 4A2, Canada (Retired)

The International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) grid model has been used to define the first-order physiographic provinces of the Arctic Ocean, which in this study is taken to consist of the oceanic deep Arctic Ocean Basin; the broad continental shelves of the Barents, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukchi Seas; the White Sea; and the narrow continental shelves of the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic continental margins of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and northern Greenland. The first step in this classification is an evaluation of seafloor gradients contained in a slope model that was derived from the IBCAO grid. The evaluation of this slope model, which emphasizes certain process-related seafloor features that are reflected in the bathymetric information, is subsequently used along with the bathymetry to classify the first-order physiographic provinces. The areas of the provinces so classified are individually calculated, and their morphologies are subsequently discussed in the context of the geologic evolution of the Arctic Ocean Basin as described in the published literature. In summary, this study provides a physiographic classification of the Arctic Ocean seafloor according to the most up-to-date bathymetric model, addresses the geologic origin of the prominent features, and provides area computations of the defined first-order physiographic provinces and of the most prominent second- order features.

Key Words: Arctic Ocean • physiography • bathymetry • ocean ridges • ocean basins

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