The northern Norrbotten ore province in Sweden is one of the most mineralized areas in Europe. Iron, gold and/or copper deposits occur as iron oxide-apatite-style mineralization (IOA, Kiruna-type) as well as iron oxide-copper–gold (IOCG) style. Regardless of mineralization style, most deposits appear to be spatially controlled by a set of crustal-scale Palaeoproterozoic shear zones which share similar structural characteristics and deformation histories.

Reappraisal of regional geological and geophysical data, coupled with structural mapping, suggests crustal-scale shear zones form continuous c. N-S-trending zones extending from the Skellefte district in the south into the northern Norrbotten ore province. One example from Norrbotten is a zone that extends SSW from Karesuando in the north towards Svappavaara. While this structure has traditionally been inferred to continue SW towards Arjeplog (i.e. the Karesuando – Arjeplog Deformation Zone; KADZ), we favour its deflection SSE into the Nautanen-Aitik trend, making it a continuous, IOCG-bearing, crustal-scale deformation zone. Similar shear zone geometries can be observed in analogous zones to the west. Most of these crustal scale structures record at least two time-separated deformation events of regional significance. IOA and IOCG deposits form in different tectonic environments, separated in time and overprinting each other.