Terre du Nord
Severnaya Zemlya and the northern part of the Taimyr Peninsula formed an independent microcontinent during the Paleozoic, the Kara Terrane or North Kara Terrane. It consists of a Neoproterozoic basement, consisting of metamorphosed sedimentary rocks intruded by granites, which is covered by Upper Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. The North Kara Terrane collided with Siberia around the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary. This collision, which is related to the Caledonian orogeny, is called the Severnaya Zemlya episode.