The article provides an overview of boninitic magmatism occurrences in space and time and shows that the boninite rock series were generated through the entire geological history of the Earth. In modern environments, the genesis of boninites is related to intra‐oceanic subduction initiation. Boninites are typical members of suprasubduc‐ tion zone ophiolite sequences in the Phanerozoic fold belts and also present in the early Precambrian greenstone belts. A comparative study on compositions of the early Precambrian and Phanerozoic boninites indicate their evolu‐ tion through time due to gradual transition from the early thick‐plate tectonics to the modern thin‐plate tectonics. A link between subduction initiation and mantle‐plume impingement at the oceanic lithosphere is discussed.

Paradoxically, the lists of “proxies” of both plate- and plume-related settings are devoid of even a mention of the high-grade metamorphic rocks (granulite, amphibolite and high-temperature eclogite facies). However, the granulite-gneiss belts and areas which contain these rocks, have a regional distribution in both the Precambrian and the Phanerozoic records. The origin and evolution of the granulite-gneiss belts correspond to the activity of plumes expressed in vigorous heating of the continental crust; intraplate magmatism; formation of rift depressions filled with sediments, juvenile lavas, and pyroclastic flow deposits; and metamorphism of lower and middle crustal complexes under conditions of granulite and high-temperature amphibolite facies that spreads over the fill of rift depressions also. Granulite-gneiss complexes of the East European Craton form one of the main components of the large oval intracontinental tectonic terranes of regional or continental rank. Inclusion of the granulite-gneiss complexes from Eastern Europe, North and South America, Africa, India, China and Australia in discussion of the problem indicated in the title to this paper, suggests consideration of a significant change in existing views on the relations between the plate- and plume-tectonic processes in geological history, as well as in supercontinent assembly and decay. The East European and North American cratons are fragments of the long-lived supercontinent Lauroscandia. After its appearance at ~2.8 Ga, the crust of this supercontinent evolved under the influence of the sequence of powerful mantle plumes (superplumes) up to ~0.85 Ga. During this time Lauroscandia was subjected to rifting, partial breakup and the following reconstruction of the continent. The processes of plate-tectonic type (rifting with the transition to spreading and closing of the short-lived ocean with subduction) within Lauroscandia were controlled by the superplumes. Revision of the nature of the granulite-gneiss complexes has led to a fundamental new understanding of: a more important role than envisaged previously for mantle-plume processes in the juvenile additions to the continental crust, especially during the Neoarchaean-Proterozoic; the existence of the supercontinent Lauroscandia from ~2.80 to 0.85 Ga; the leading role of mantle plumes in the interaction of plate- and plume-tectonics in the Neoarchaean-Proterozoic history of Lauroscandia and perhaps of the continental crust as a whole. We propose that the evolution of the geodynamic settings of the Earth’s crust origin can be represented as a spiral sequence: the interaction of mantle-plume processes and embryonic microplate tectonics during the Palaeo-Mezoarchaean (~3.8–2.8 Ga) → plume-tectonics and local plume-driven plate-tectonics (~2.80–0.55 Ga) → Phanerozoic plate tectonics along with a reduced role of mantle plumes.

The Early Cambrian tectonomagmatic activation is manifested in the northeastern passive margin of the Siberian Craton within the area of the Olenek uplift, as well as in the Kharaulakh segment of the Verkhoyansk fold‐ thrust belt that was thrusted onto the craton in the Mesozoic. In the Olenek uplift, igneous rocks occur as basite di‐ atremes, small basalt covers, dolerite dykes and sills intruded into the overlying Upper Vendian carbonate sediments. Stratiform bodies of explosive breccias are present in basal sandstones at the bottom of the Lower Cambrian sediment section. According to the zircon‐based U‐Pb datings [Bowring et al., 1993], the age of explosive basite breccias samples from the Olenek uplift (543.9±0.24 Ma) correlates with the age of potash‐rhyolites (534.6±0.5 Ma) from the basal Lower Cambrian conglomerates in the Kharaulakh uplift section. The geodynamic evolution of the northeastern mar‐ gin of the Siberian craton at the end of the Vendian and the beginning of the Cambrian periods is reflected not only in the magmatism, but also in the thicknesses and facial characteristics of the correlating sediments of the regional pas‐ sive sea basins [Pelechaty et al., 1996]. The northern and eastern margins of the craton were subject to progressive uplifting at the end of the Vendian, which resulted in dewatering and paleokarsting. Uplifting was associated with the formation of siliceous clastic shelf sediments in the southern margin of the basin and the explosive and intrusive basite magmatic activations in the Olenek uplift and rhyolite bimodal‐basite magmatic activation in the Kharaulakh uplift. The observed Vendian‐Cambrian stratigraphic relations and manifestations of the basite magmatism suggest that at the northeastern margin of the craton, the lithosphere was subject to stretching. The assumed rift volcanic‐ sedimentary associations are thin and represent the southern, the most remote part of the shoulder of the rift deve‐ loped (in present‐day coordinates) along the northern margin of the Siberian Craton. The chemical specificity of the Lower Cambrian basites and their mantle sources, the bimodal rhyolite‐basalt magmatism, and the Vendian‐Cambrian sedimentation history provide sufficient arguments to consider the Early Paleozoic rifting and the associated magma‐ tic activation as consequences of the plume–lithosphere interaction in the northeastern Siberian Craton. The paleore‐ constructions [Sears, 2012; Khudoley et al., 2013] suggest that the main rifting events occurred due to the lithosphere breakup through the junction zone of the Siberian and North American cratons which existed in the Early Cambrian. It is also assumed that the breakup was accompanied by the formation of a large igneous province which relics are pre‐ sent in the basin complex of the Canadian Cordillera in North America, as well as in the Olenek and Kharaulakh uplifts. The Early Paleozoic rifting and magmatism may reflect the final phase of the disintegration of the Rodinia superconti‐ nent fragments.

The analysis of the neotectonic structure of the region is usually accompanied by the compilation of neotec‐ tonic maps and schemes. Models of the summit surface serve as the initial material for compiling different‐scale neo‐ tectonic maps and schemes [Ufimtsev, 1984].

The summit surface is one of the main properties of the Earth's recent topography (including the land surface and sea bottom) and represents an ideal surface connecting the maximal heights of the present‐day relief of different geo‐ morphologic levels. The universal development of the summit surface allows in to be used for revealing and studying the neotectonic structural elements both on land and seas.

When compiling the structural – neotectonic map of the Sea of Okhotsk (Fig. 2), we accepted the polygenetic poly‐ chronous “summit” surface of the sea bottom shown by the isobaths relative to the present‐day sea level as the prima‐ ry (“structural”) one. The map is largely based on data from the bathymetric maps and represents, in fast, a static model of neotectonics. The structural‐neotectonic map served as a basis for compiling the scheme of the principal neotectonic structural elements of the studied region (Fig. 3).

For clarifying the formation history of the neotectonic structural elements, we compared their present‐day spatial position relative paleogeographical schemes of the lithophysical complexes (LC), which are united into four regional seismostratigraphic complexes (RSSC) corresponding to the following time intervals: RSSC I to K2–P1‐2; RSSC II to P3–N11; RSSC III to N11‐2; RSSC IV to N13–N2 [Sergeyev, 2006], besides showed general characteristic of the paleo‐ geographical settings that controlled the accumulation of different lithophysical complexes (Fig. 4).

The abyssal hills of the North-Western Pacific plate are characterized on the basis of the continuous seismic profiling and stratigraphic data on the Meso–Cenozoic sedimentary trappean cover, and the relative ages of the hills are estimated. The study revealed the dominating occurrence of asymmetric tectonic and relatively symmetric injection hills of the Late Cenozoic age with no signs of volcanic activity. The tectonic hills are mainly associated with faults in the eastern allochthone, a result of gradual shearing of all layers of the oceanic crust. The injection hills are related to rootless granite protrusions from the lower layer of the crust (probably, granitized, primary sedimentary strata of the epicontinental ocean). Several hills are of combined tectonic and injective origin and have features inherited from the previous peneplanation era. The paper also describes the characteristics of several hills of other genesis.

Observations of earthquake migration along active fault zones [Richter, 1958; Mogi, 1968] and related theoretical concepts [Elsasser, 1969] have laid the foundation for studying the problem of slow deformation waves in the lithosphere. Despite the fact that this problem has been under study for several decades and discussed in numerous publications, convincing evidence for the existence of deformation waves is still lacking. One of the causes is that comprehensive field studies to register such waves by special tools and equipment, which require sufficient organizational and technical resources, have not been conducted yet.

The authors attempted at finding a solution to this problem by physical simulation of a major shear zone in an elastic-viscous-plastic model of the lithosphere. The experiment setup is shown in Figure 1 (A). The model material and boundary conditions were specified in accordance with the similarity criteria (described in detail in [Sherman, 1984; Sherman et al., 1991; Bornyakov et al., 2014]). The montmorillonite clay-and-water paste was placed evenly on two stamps of the installation and subject to deformation as the active stamp (1) moved relative to the passive stamp (2) at a constant speed. The upper model surface was covered with fine sand in order to get high-contrast photos. Photos of an emerging shear zone were taken every second by a Basler acA2000-50gm digital camera. Figure 1 (B) shows an optical image of a fragment of the shear zone. The photos were processed by the digital image correlation method described in [Sutton et al., 2009]. This method estimates the distribution of components of displacement vectors and strain tensors on the model surface and their evolution over time [Panteleev et al., 2014, 2015].

Strain fields and displacements recorded in the optical images of the model surface were estimated in a rectangular box (220.00×72.17 mm) shown by a dot-and-dash line in Fig. 1, A. To ensure a sufficient level of detail in the analyses of the strain fields in each optical image, the selected area was covered with a uniform mesh (3.43×3.43 mm). In the zoomed-up images, the mesh was 32×32 pixels (a pixel of 0.107×0.107 mm). For each pair of optical images, we calculated cross-correlation functions of the intensity of pixels between pairs of the same size cells (Fig. 2). Directions and magnitudes of displacements of the cells were determined from displaced maximums of cross-correlation functions (

Based on the data on seismically active faults of Central Asia, the authors apply the Gutenberg‐Richter law to study regularities of seismicity in large seismically active fault zones. Cumulative recurrence plots are constructed for earthquakes recorded only in the areas of active dynamic influence of the specified faults. Special attention is paid to changes in slope angles of the recurrence plots at the transition to the area of strong magnitudes. It is noted that the right‐side end of the plot (i.e. distribution tail) becomes steeper or less steep relative to the main distribution for small magnitudes. The degree of non‐linearity and the forms of the recurrence plot tail are used to rank the faults of Central Asia by potential relative seismic hazard. It is shown that the highest seismic hazard is associated with the faults that control earthquakes with magnitudes M≥7.5, which recurrence plots show a trend to decrease the slope angle of the regression line in the area of strong magnitudes. It is highly probable that such earthquakes may reoccur in the fault zones in the next 50–100 years.

This paper presents SAR interferometric data obtained in the study of surface deformations of different origin within the Upper Angara-Muya interbasin link of the northeastern segment of the Baikal rift system, Russia. Differential SAR interferometry using images with small perpendicular baselines was applied in this geodynamical study. The potential of using ENVISAT/ASAR and ALOS/PALSAR data is discussed. New geodynamical data on recent strain patterns were obtained. The endogenous linear-localized and areal deformations were revealed in the influence zone of the active Muyakan fault. The origin of these deformations is discussed. The landslide that negatively affects the Baikal-Amur railway facilities is also studied. The use of SAR data for detailed study and monitoring of the landslide is discussed. It is confirmed that natural hazard in the study area is growing due to the ongoing landsliding.

On 28 June 2014, debris flows brought large volumes of loose material into the Kyngarga river valley. The material was sourced from rock collapse and rock sliding on the valley slopes and delivered mainly to the river by debris flows from the side valleys of the river basin. Our field studies and analysis of the satellite images revealed that the potential debris volume received by the river amounted to about 1×106 m3. The morphometric parameters of the Kyngarga river basin are favorable for the river-channel processes associated with floods, debris flows and waterrock flows.