EUROPE/Timanides of Northern Russia 49 Carbonatites; Kimberlite; Komatiite Shields Tectonics: Mountain Building and Orogeny Further Reading Bogdanova SV (1986) Zemnaya Kora Russkoy Plity v Ran nem Dokembrii [The Earth’s Crust of the Russian Plat form in the Early Precambrian] Transactions of the Geological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, vol 408 Moscow: Nauka [In Russian.] Bogdanova S, Gorbatschev R, Stephenson RA, and Guterch A (eds.) (2001) EUROBRIDGE: Palaeoproterozoic accre tion of Fennoscandia and Sarmatia Tectonophysics 339: 237 Gaa´l G and Gorbatschev R (1987) An outline of the Pre cambrian evolution of the Baltic Shield Precambrian Research 35: 15 52 Gee DG and Zeyen HJ (eds.) (1996) EUROPROBE 1996, Lithosphere Dynamics: Origin and Evolution of Con tinents Published by the EUROPROBE Secretariate, Uppsala University, p 138 Glebovitsky VA (1997) Early Precambrian of Russia London: Taylor and Francis Books Ltd Gorbatschev R and Bogdanova S (1993) Frontiers in the Baltic Shield Precambrian Research 64: 21 Gower CF, Rivers T, and Ryan B (eds.) (1990) Mid Proterozoic Laurentia Baltica Special Paper 38 St Johns: Geological Association of Canada Khain VE (1985) Geology of the USSR First Part: Old Cratons and Paleozoic Fold Belts Berlin: Gebruă der Borntraeger Koistinen T, Stephens MB, Bogachev V, et al (2001) Geo logical Map of the Fennoscandian Shield, Scale : 000 000 Moscow: Geological Surveys of Finland, Norway, and Sweden and North West Department of Natural Resources of Russia Leonov YG and Khain VE (eds.) (1996) International Tec tonic Map of Europe and Adjacent Areas, 3rd edn, Scale : 000 000, sheets Paris: IUGS/UNESCO Nironen M (1997) The Svecofennian Orogen Precambrian Research 86: 21 44 Peive AV, Khain VE, Muratov MV, and Delany F (eds.) (1979) International Tectonic Map of Europe and Adja cent Areas, Scale : 500 000, 20 sheets Moscow: IUGS/ UNESCO Stephenson RA, Wilson M, De Boorder H, and Starostenko VI (eds.) (1996) EUROPROBE: intraplate tectonics and basin geodynamics of the East European Platform Tec tonophysics 268: 309 Thybo H, Pharaoh T, and Guterch A (eds.) (2002) Geophys ical investigations on the Trans European Suture Zone II Tectonophysics 360: 314 Windley BF (1995) The Evolving Continents, 3rd edn Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd Ziegler P (1990) Geological Atlas of Western and Central Europe Bath: Shell International Petroleum Mij BV and Geological Society Publishing House Timanides of Northern Russia D G Gee, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden ß 2005, Elsevier Ltd All Rights Reserved Introduction Much of eastern and northern Europe, from the Ural Mountains to the high Arctic of Novaya Zemlya and westwards into the eastern Barents Sea and Pechora Basin (Figure 1), has a bedrock that is dominated by Palaeozoic and Mesozoic successions, which unconformably overlie deformed and metamorphosed Neoproterozoic rocks The Late Neoproterozoic (Vendian) orogeny of the latter is referred to as Timanian, based on type areas in the Timan Range Because it is largely covered by Phanerozoic successions and, towards the east in the Ural Mountains, much influenced by Late Palaeozoic to Early Mesozoic orogeny, the Timanide Orogen is less well known than many of the other old exhumed European mountain belts Nevertheless, it dominates a large part of the Earth’s crust in northeastern Europe, comprising the basement to thick hydrocarbon-bearing successions in the overlying Phanerozoic cover The concept of a Timanide mountain belt and related orogeny goes back at least a hundred years ago, based on type areas in the Timan Range Other names that are widespread in the literature, for example, Baikalian, Cadomian and Assyntian, derived from contemporaneous orogenies in other parts of Eurasia, are less appropriate (and may even be misleading) for this East European Orogen The sedimentary rocks involved in the Timanide Orogen, exposed in the Timan Range and further south, in the western foreland of the Ural Mountains, were deposited along the eastern margin (present day coordinates) of the East European Craton (EEC) (see Europe: East European Craton) in the Neoproterozoic (1000–545 Ma); in some areas, sedimentation started in the Mesoproterozoic (1600–1000 Ma) The underlying EEC, dominating the European bedrock from Poland to the Uralian foreland and forming the ancient core of northern Europe, is composed of Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic crystalline complexes, mostly of