A view from the top of the world

This follows on from 3D maps in current affairs that showed a stunning feature bisecting the Arctic, on a proxy topography for the earth's crust. This is only seen on a Polar Stereogrphic projection looking straight down the North Pole, mapped here for features N of 50° N lat.

This was seen when mapping ArcticDEM - High-resolution Elevation Models of the Arctic (Esri Living Atlas) and Seabed Sediment Thickness (clipped to N of 50°N, Esri Living Atlas).  From the poster & overlay at the bottom:

Hi-res. DEM and sediment thickness are a proxy for depth-to-basement. Approximating a level seafloor in a closed ocean with no continental shelf or abyssal plain, they form a continuous above- and below-sea-level proxy continent surface topography minus ice and sediments. The marked N-S lineament across North Pole likely reflects a crustal mega structure from the southern Baltic Sea to along the Alaska-Yukon border .

click to enlarge, original

Anecdote: the Lomonosov Ridge, looking above like the hand of a clock centred at the North Pole and indicating 08:30, is the basis for Russia to claim the North Pole as that ridge extends to it from Russia (Perplexity).

This visual has an actual underpining in the bedrock geology:

• the tectonic plate boundaries (Esri Education Services) running roughly left to right in this Alaska polar sterographic projection reflect the mid-oceanic ridges. Notice the sudden bend toward the vertical on this projection, forming a chicane immediately above the North Pole..
• the subsea geology shows also marked breaks & offsets in the bedrock geology compiled by the Geological Survey of Canada (Arctic Circumpolar GSC EN 1:5M Offshore Bedrock_Geology from Geological Map of the Arctic, 1:5 000 000). This break lines up with the chicane above.

click to enlarge, original

Poster & overlay: