24
It is interesting to see that Russia and Greenland (Kingdom of Denmark) include
the North Pole in their submissions, and it is presently not known what Canada may
do in its future partial submission.
2
To mark Russia’s claim of the North Pole, the
Russian submersible MIR-1 planted, in 2007, a flag on the seafloor at that location at
a depth of 4261 m. In 2013, Greenpeace activists also lowered a flag in the vicinity.
However, both actions have no impact on the inclusion or not of the North Pole in the
continental shelf of any Arctic coastal state. At present, we have no idea whether any
of the Arctic States would receive positive recommendations from the Commission to
include the North Pole in its continental shelf, nor what the political impact of such
an inclusion would be. As shown in Fig. 1, the central part of the Arctic Ocean, including the North Pole is located beyond 350 M (indicated by the thin black line) from the
baselines of all States. Under Article 76 of the Convention, for the continental shelf of
a coastal State to extend beyond 350 M, the application of the other constraint, namely
a distance of 100 M beyond the 2500 m isobath, would need to be accepted by the
Commission where this constraint is located further seaward than 350 M.
Past practice by the Commission shows that when the outer edge of the continental
shelf extends beyond 350 M, the Commission has required both morphological and
geological continuity from the coast to the outer edge of the continental margin. To
demonstrate such geological continuity requires significant knowledge of the seafloor
and sub bottom. Furthermore, the Commission has been reluctant to recommend the
use of the 2500 m isobath plus 100 M as the applicable constraint given the difficulty
in defining that isobath unambiguously. However, the supporting the data and information provided by some coastal States has persuaded the CLCS to accept it in several
cases. In the Arctic Ocean several ridges extend sufficiently far from the landmasses
of the coastal States as to be potential candidates for natural prolongation beyond
350 M, namely the Lomonosov, Alpha and Mendeleev Ridges. The relevant States
would presumably argue that these features are not only morphologically connected,
but share common geological origins with the respective landmasses. In the following
section we will briefly discuss the main geological characteristics of the Arctic Ocean.
4 Geology of the Arctic Ocean
Recent studies and large scale data compilations permit a general view of the geology and geophysics of the Arctic. A recent special publication entitled Circum
Arctic Evolution (Lane and Stephenson 2016 and references therein) provides an
excellent summary, and we restrict ourselves here to a brief description. Figure 2
shows the bathymetry of the Arctic Ocean Basin. The map shows that the Arctic
Ocean is comprised of two basins, the Amerasia Basin and the Eurasia Basin, separated by the Lomonosov Ridge, a ridge underlain by continental crust that extends
from the Siberian shelf across the ocean to the shelves of Canada and Greenland
(Kingdom of Denmark). The Eurasia Basin is the younger of the two basins and
2 In its submission of 23 May 2019, Canada includes the North Pole.
W. R. Roest and R. T. Haworth
It is interesting to see that Russia and Greenland (Kingdom of Denmark) include
the North Pole in their submissions, and it is presently not known what Canada may
do in its future partial submission.
2
To mark Russia’s claim of the North Pole, the
Russian submersible MIR-1 planted, in 2007, a flag on the seafloor at that location at
a depth of 4261 m. In 2013, Greenpeace activists also lowered a flag in the vicinity.
However, both actions have no impact on the inclusion or not of the North Pole in the
continental shelf of any Arctic coastal state. At present, we have no idea whether any
of the Arctic States would receive positive recommendations from the Commission to
include the North Pole in its continental shelf, nor what the political impact of such
an inclusion would be. As shown in Fig. 1, the central part of the Arctic Ocean, including the North Pole is located beyond 350 M (indicated by the thin black line) from the
baselines of all States. Under Article 76 of the Convention, for the continental shelf of
a coastal State to extend beyond 350 M, the application of the other constraint, namely
a distance of 100 M beyond the 2500 m isobath, would need to be accepted by the
Commission where this constraint is located further seaward than 350 M.
Past practice by the Commission shows that when the outer edge of the continental
shelf extends beyond 350 M, the Commission has required both morphological and
geological continuity from the coast to the outer edge of the continental margin. To
demonstrate such geological continuity requires significant knowledge of the seafloor
and sub bottom. Furthermore, the Commission has been reluctant to recommend the
use of the 2500 m isobath plus 100 M as the applicable constraint given the difficulty
in defining that isobath unambiguously. However, the supporting the data and information provided by some coastal States has persuaded the CLCS to accept it in several
cases. In the Arctic Ocean several ridges extend sufficiently far from the landmasses
of the coastal States as to be potential candidates for natural prolongation beyond
350 M, namely the Lomonosov, Alpha and Mendeleev Ridges. The relevant States
would presumably argue that these features are not only morphologically connected,
but share common geological origins with the respective landmasses. In the following
section we will briefly discuss the main geological characteristics of the Arctic Ocean.
4 Geology of the Arctic Ocean
Recent studies and large scale data compilations permit a general view of the geology and geophysics of the Arctic. A recent special publication entitled Circum
Arctic Evolution (Lane and Stephenson 2016 and references therein) provides an
excellent summary, and we restrict ourselves here to a brief description. Figure 2
shows the bathymetry of the Arctic Ocean Basin. The map shows that the Arctic
Ocean is comprised of two basins, the Amerasia Basin and the Eurasia Basin, separated by the Lomonosov Ridge, a ridge underlain by continental crust that extends
from the Siberian shelf across the ocean to the shelves of Canada and Greenland
(Kingdom of Denmark). The Eurasia Basin is the younger of the two basins and
2 In its submission of 23 May 2019, Canada includes the North Pole.
W. R. Roest and R. T. Haworth