EUROPE/Timanides of Northern Russia 53 Figure Diagramatic profile (SW NE) through the Timan Pechora region in the Devonian, prior to the Uralian Orogeny volcanites and a variety of volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks Further east, in the Uralian thrust sheets, where the Palaeozoic metamorphic grade is higher, mafic island-arc related igneous complexes contain 580 Ma old gabbros, and, within the overlying Palaeozoic eclogite-bearing associations, similar ages characterise the igneous protoliths Thus, in the most easterly exposed hinterland of the Timanide Orogen, the main Neoproterozoic component is derived from oceanic domains Novaya Zemlya Northwards and north-eastwards from the Polar Urals, the Uralide Orogen continues via the Pai Khoi Peninsula, Vaigach Island, and the Kara Strait into Novaya Zemlya (Figure 1) Only the foreland folds and thrusts of the Uralide Orogen are preserved on land in Novaya Zemlya, the hinterland of the orogen being buried beneath the Mesozoic successions of the Kara Shelf As in the Polar Urals, major foreland anticlines and thrusts expose Neoproterozoic complexes beneath Lower Palaeozoic unconformities On southern Novaya Zemlya and Vaigach Island, Lower and Middle Ordovician quartzites and limestones overlie greenschist facies metaturbidites Further north, in the central parts of the archipelago (Figure 1), in the vicinity of the Mitushev Bay and Sulmenev Bay, Vendian (ca 600 Ma old) granites have been found, in the latter case intruded into schists, marbles, quartzites, and amphibolites Whereas in the Mitushev Bay area, Silurian conglomerates rest unconformably on the granites, further north at Sulmenev Bay, both Ordovician and Cambrian strata overlie the unconformity, the oldest strata reaching back into the late Early Cambrian Thus, in these northernmost hinterland areas, the unconformity may have been established in the Vendian The amphibolite facies complex near Sulmenev Bay contains Mesoproterozoic detrital zircons; some authors infer that Precambrian orogeny there may have been older than Timanian (e.g., Grenville-age) and subsequently influenced by Timanian magmatism Barents Shelf The Timanian rock units in the basement below the Pechora Basin strike north-westwards into the southern Barents Shelf and their associated geophysical (potential field) signatures can be followed towards the central parts of the Barents Sea, where they fade beneath the thickening Palaeozoic and Mesozoic successions of the Barents Shelf basins Seismic studies, both near-vertical reflection and wide-angle refraction, have identified a thick wedge of Timanian metasediments along the southern margin of the Barents Sea towards the Kola Peninsula Further out into the Barents Shelf, the identification of Timanian rocks is controversial and mainly based on the interpretation of seismic velocity data Only on Franz Josef Land (Figure 1), is there clear evidence of a Timanide bedrock and even this is limited to a single deep drillhole located on the westernmost island, which penetrated a Lower Carboniferous unconformity to reach low greenschist facies, small folded Vendian meta-turbidites at 2–3 km depth Timanide Tectonic Evolution Evidence of the Timanian Orogeny occurs over a wide area of north-eastern Europe It provides a basis for reconstructing the Neoproterozoic to Early