New K-Ar age determinations on basalt samples from three drillholes and outcrops on Franz Josef Land suggest that flood volcanism throughout the archipelago fits in a very narrow age interval 116 5Ma. For 95% of the samples we studied, age scatter is within analytical uncertainty. New data on basaltic bulk-rock, trace element, and REE compositions point to mantle plume affinity for the Early Cretaceous magmatism on Franz Josef Land, which preceded the onset of seafloor spreading in the Canada Basin.
Franz Josef Land, flood volcanism, K-Ar dating.
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