ISSN 1028-334X, Doklady Earth Sciences, 2014, Vol. 458, Part 1, pp. 1073–1076. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2014. Original Russian Text © N.B. Kuznetsov, A.S. Alekseev, E.A. Belousova, T.V. Romanyuk, A.N. Reimers, V.A. Tsel’movich, 2014, published in Doklady Akademii Nauk, 2014, Vol. 458, No. 3, pp. 313–317. 1073 The basement of the Northeastern Periphery of the East European Craton (EEC) is composed of relics of the fold belt called the “Timan orogen” [1] or “Pre- Uralides-Timanides orogen” [2] in publications of the past 20 years. The age interval of crystalline complexes of the orogen is estimated at 510–750 Ma [3]. The tec- tonic nature of the orogen is still disputable: it is inter- preted as either an accretionary structure, which evolved in multiple stages at the active Timan margin of Baltica (ancient carcass of the EEC) in the second half of the Neoproterozoic [1], or a collisional unit formed at the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary as a result of collision between the Bol’shezemel’skaya active margin of Arctida and the Timan passive margin of Baltica [2]. Based on the results of dating for detrital zircons (dZr) from sandstones of the Upper Vendian Tamitsa Subformation, Southeastern White Sea Region (SWSR), we will test these versions of the tec- tonic origin. If the orogen were accretionary, then the products of its destruction, including dZr with the ages falling within the age interval of 510–750 Ma (“Pre-Uralian- Timanian provenance signal,” or PT-signal), would unavoidably appear in the Mezen sedimentary basin (MB) of the Late Vendian (Fig. 1). The absence of the PT-signal in the Upper Vendian rocks of the MB is an argument against the existence of an accretionary oro- gen in the Late Vendian at the Timan margin of Bal- tica. If the orogen were collisional, then the PT-signal could have appeared in the MB only after the collision started. The absence of the PT-signal in Late Vendian rocks of the MB indicates that the collision of Baltica and Arctida had not yet started in the Late Vendian and the Timan margin of Baltica continued to evolve as a passive continental margin. The SWSR structure includes clayey-sandstone strata that encompass the stratigraphic interval from the Upper Vendian to the Lower Cambrian [4]. These strata are quite completely exposed in Onega Penin- sula and on the eastern coast of the White Sea [5–8]; they are also found by drilling downstream along the Onega River (eastern Vetreny Poyas Range) [9] and in the White Sea–Kuloi Plateau, while in south they sink into the Moscow Syneclise. At some levels of the Upper Vendian part of this section, ash tuff interbeds occur; their age is estimated at 555.4 ± 1.7 [5] and 550 ± 4.4 Ma [6] (U/Pb on zircon). These dates, jointly with multiple findings of Ediacaran fossils [4, 7, 8], determine the age and stratigraphic referencing of the considered section. The authors of [10] believe that tuff interbeds in the Upper Vendian could have formed owing to volcanic activity products supplied from the Timan accretion- ary orogen. However, the ash and tuff interbeds in the Redkino horizon of the Upper Vendian, as well as those in the stratigraphic analogs of the horizon, are known in different parts of the EEC [10] and are traced in the boreholes from SWSR to Volhynia, Pod- olia, and Polesye (Ukraine, western Belarus, eastern Testing the Models of Late Vendian Evolution of the Northeastern Periphery of the East European Craton Based on the First U/Pb Dating of Detrital Zircons from Upper Vendian Sandstones of Southeastern White Sea Region N. B. Kuznetsov a, b , A. S. Alekseev c , E. A. Belousova d , T. V. Romanyuk e, f , A. N. Reimers c , and V. A. Tsel’movich g Presented by Academician M.A. Fedonkin April 23, 2013 Received April 26, 2013 DOI: 10.1134/S1028334X14090311 a Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia b People’s Friendship University, Moscow, Russia c Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia d GEMOC Center, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia e Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia f Gubkin State University for Oil and Gas, Moscow, Russia g Borok Geophysical Observatory, Schmidt Joint Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, Yaroslavl oblast, Borok, Russia e-mail: kouznokbor@mail.ru GEOLOGY