Abstract The paper considers the history of the spreading of the Eurasian basin. The sharp deceleration of the spreading rate in the Eocene about 46 million years ago, which is fixed by the distribution of linear magnetic anomalies, is noted. That jump in velocity is clarified from the perspective of the geodynamic model but shouldnt be explained by the northern motion of Greenland. The geodynamic processes of the Pacific subduction zone generate an upper mantle convective cell with return flow dragging the Arctic continental lithosphere in the direction of the Pacific subduction zone. The geodynamic mechanism is confirmed by seismic tomographic mantle sections of the northeastern margin of Asia and the numerical model of the upper mantle convection of the active continental margin. It is the activity of the upper mantle convective return cell, which is determined by the runoff volume and, ultimately, the speed and direction of the Kula plate and Pacific plate subduction vectors in the subduction zone, affects tectonics and kinematics of the plates of the Eurasian basin. In the Middle CretaceousMiddle Eocene and for about 73 Ma the return cell has been active, since the Kula and Pacific plates move north and submerged orthogonally beneath the Central Arctic. After the Middle Eocene geodynamic reorganization about 47.5 million years ago, oceanic plates in the Pacific Ocean begin to move to the northwest. As a result, the transport of the oceanic Pacific Ocean lithospheric substance to the arctic convective return cell has practically ceased. After the restructuring, the spreading of the Eurasian basin slowed down about 46 million years ago to an ultra-slow regime. The main tectonic and geodynamic consequences of applying the proposed geodynamic model for the Arctic in the Late CretaceousCenozoic are considered.
Influence of the upper-mantle convective cell and related Pacific plate subduction on Arctic tectonics in the late Cretaceous–Cenozoic