R. Birute Saldukas J. Thomas Dutro Jr. 1973 <p>Three large land areas were dominant in the Arctic during&nbsp;the Permian: Fennoscandia, central and southern Siberia (Angara), and&nbsp;Canada. Smaller landmasses were in China, the Seward-Chukotskiy&nbsp;region, northern and eastern Siberia, and near Alaska. Coal deposits and&nbsp;strata bearing land plants covered a large area in central Siberia; saline&nbsp;basins containing red beds formed in the Zechstein, Perm, and West&nbsp;Texas basins as the seas withdrew, generally in the later Permian.&nbsp;Eugeosynclinal troughs, apparently limited to the Pacific border&nbsp;regions, were marked by volcanism and deposition of predominantly&nbsp;clastic sediments in many areas. Platform and miogeosynclinal deposits,&nbsp;dominated by carbonate rocks, preceded saline deposition in the basins&nbsp;and persisted on shallow shelves adjacent to the geosynclines. The&nbsp;Arctic Permian marine fauna evolved in middle Permian time because of&nbsp;partial isolation of the Arctic areas from the southern ocean. Endemism,&nbsp;latitudinal temperature controls, and the effect of ocean currents&nbsp;explain in large part the faunal patterns in Permian seas. Post-Permian&nbsp;tectonic movements account for anomalies in the present positions of&nbsp;some rock sequences and fossils. Northeasterly drift and counterclockwise<br />rotation of the northern landmasses are suggested. Right-lateral&nbsp;shear along the southern edge of Asia is supported, followed by<br />northward movement of peninsular India.</p> application/pdf en U.S. Geological Survey Permian paleogeography of the Arctic article