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Abstract

The West Siberian Seaway connected the Tethys to the Arctic Ocean in the Paleogene and played an important role for Eurasian-Arctic biogeography, ocean circulation, and climate. However, the paleogeography and geological mechanisms enabling the seaway are not well constrained, which complicates linking the seaway evolution to paleoenvironmental changes. Here, we investigate the paleogeography of the Peri-Tethys realms for the Cenozoic time (66–0 Ma), including the West Siberian Seaway, and quantify the influence of mantle convection and corresponding dynamic topography. We start by generating continuous digital elevation models for Eurasia, Arabia, and Northern Africa, by digitizing regional paleogeographic maps and additional geological information and incorporate them in a global paleogeography model with nominal million-year resolution. Then we compute time-dependent dynamic topography for the same time interval and find a clear correlation between changes in dynamic topography and the paleogeographic evolution of Central Eurasia and the West Siberian Seaway. Our results suggest that mantle convection played a greater role in Eurasian paleogeography than previously recognized. Mantle flow may have influenced oceanic connections between the Arctic and global ocean providing a link between deep mantle convection, surface evolution, and environmental changes. Our reconstructions also indicate that the Arctic Ocean may have been isolated from the global ocean in the Eocene, even if the West Siberian Seaway was open, as the Peri-Tethys – Tethys connection was limited, and the Greenland-Scotland Ridge was a landbridge.