Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T08:28:49.020Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Post 3.9 Ma fault activity within the West Antarctic rift system: onshore evidence from Gandalf Ridge, Mount Morning eruptive centre, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2010

Adam P. Martin  and
Alan F. Cooper
Adam P. Martin*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
Alan F. Cooper
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
*
adammartin2000@yahoo.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A hawaiite dyke dated at 3.88 ± 0.05 Ma from the Mount Morning eruptive centre intrudes a diamictite deposit at Gandalf Ridge in the southern Ross Sea. The dyke has been dextrally offset up to 6 m horizontally by faults interpreted as the onshore continuation of the West Antarctic rift system (WARS) fault array. Felsic dykes emplaced during the Miocene are also present at Gandalf Ridge. The offset of the Miocene dykes is equivalent to the offset on the hawaiite dyke, suggesting that at this locality movement on faults within WARS has been restricted to a period more recent than c. 3.88 Ma. Over this period the minimum average rate of movement on these faults within WARS is 0.0015 mm yr-1.

Keywords

continental riftingdiamictiteErebus volcanic provincefault movementslip ratetectonics
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 22 , Issue 5 , October 2010 , pp. 513 - 521
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bannister, S., Yu, J., Leitner, B.Kennett, B.L.N. 2003. Variations in crustal structure across the transition from West to East Antarctica, southern Victoria Land. Geophysical Journal International, 155, 870–884.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, P.J. 1981. History of the Ross Sea region during the deposition of the Beacon Supergroup 400–180 million years ago. Journal of the Royal Society New Zealand, 11, 447–458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Behrendt, J.C. 1999. Crustal and lithospheric structure of the West Antarctic Rift System from geophysical investigations - a review. Global and Planetary Change, 23, 25–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Behrendt, J.C.Cooper, A. 1991. Evidence of rapid Cenozoic uplift of the shoulder escarpment of the Cenozoic West Antarctic Rift System and a speculation on possible climate forcing. Geology, 19, 315–319.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Behrendt, J.C., Saltus, R., Damaske, D., McCafferty, A., Finn, C.A., Blankenship, D.Belt, R.E. 1996. Patterns of late Cenozoic volcanic and tectonic activity in the West Antarctic Rift System revealed by aeromagnetic surveys. Tectonics, 15, 660–676.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borg, S.G.DePaolo, D.J. 1991. A Tectonic model of the Antarctic Gondwana margin with implications for south-eastern Australia: isotopic and geochemical evidence. Tectonophysics, 196, 339–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, Y.A.Craw, D. 2002. Neoproterozoic structural slices in the Ross Orogen, Skelton Glacier area, south Victoria Land, Antarctica. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 45, 133–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cross, W., Iddings, J.P., Pirsson, L.V.Washington, H.S. 1902. Quantitative classification of igneous rocks. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 286 pp.Google Scholar
Damaske, D., Behrendt, J.C., McCafferty, A., Saltus, R.Meyer, U. 1994. Transfer faults in the western Ross Sea: new evidence from the McMurdo Sound/Ross Ice Shelf aeromagnetic survey (Ganovex VI). Antarctic Science, 6, 359–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davey, F.J.Brancolini, G. 1995. The Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic structural setting of the Ross Sea region. Antarctic Research Series, 68, 167–182.Google Scholar
Davey, F.J.De Santis, L. 2006. A multi-phase rifting model for the Victoria Land Basin, western Ross Sea. In Futterer, D.K., Damaske, D., Kleinschmidt, G., Miller, H. & Tessensohn, F., eds. Antarctica: contributions to global earth sciences. New York: Springer, 303–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Della Vedova, B., Pellis, G., Trey, H., Zhang, J., Cooper, A.K.Makris, J.& the ACRUP Working Group. 1997. Crustal structure of the Transantarctic Mountains, western Ross Sea. In Ricci, C.A., ed. The Antarctic region: geological evolution and processes. Siena: Terra Antartica Publications, 609–618.Google Scholar
Doubre, C.Peltzer, G. 2007. Fluid-controlled faulting process in the Asal Rift, Djibouti, from 8 yr of radar interferometry observations. Geology, 35, 69–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliot, D.H. 1992. Jurassic magmatism and tectonism associated with Gondwana breakup: an Antarctic perspective. In Storey, B.C., Alabaster, T. & Pankhurst, R.J., eds. Magmatism and the causes of continental breakup. Geological Society of London Special Publication, No. 68, 165–184.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, P.G. 1992. The Transantarctic Mountains of southern Victoria Land: the application of apatite fission track analysis to a rift shoulder uplift. Tectonics, 11, 634–662.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flint, R.F., Sanders, J.E.Rodgers, J. 1960. Diamictite, a substitute term for symmictite. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 71, 1809–1810.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, R.J., Luyendyk, B.P.Sorlien, C.C. 2001. Cenozoic tectonics of the Cape Roberts Rift Basin and Transantarctic Mountain front, south-western Ross Sea, Antarctica. Tectonics, 20, 325–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heimann, A., Flemming, T.H., Elliot, D.H.Foland, K.A. 1994. A short interval of Jurassic continental flood basalt volcanism in Antarctica as demonstrated by 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 121, 19–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, S. 1996. Late Quaternary faulting and neotectonics, south Victoria Land, Antarctica. Journal of the Geological Society, 153, 645–652.Google Scholar
Kyle, P.R. 1990. McMurdo Volcanic Group - western Ross Embayment: introduction. Antarctic Research Series, 48, 18–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kyle, P.R.Cole, J.W. 1974. Structural control of volcanism in the McMurdo Volcanic Group, Antarctica. Bulletin of Volcanology, 38, 16–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kyle, P.R.Muncy, H.L. 1978. Volcanic geology of the lower slopes of Mount Morning. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 13 (4), 34–36.Google Scholar
Kyle, P.R.Muncy, H.L. 1989. Geology and geochronology of McMurdo Volcanic Group rocks in the vicinity of Lake Morning, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 1, 345–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeMasurier, W.E. 2008. Neogene extension and basin deepening in the West Antarctic rift inferred from comparisons with the East African rift and other analogs. Geology, 36, 247–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeMasurier, W.E.Thomson, J.W. 1990. Volcanoes of the Antarctic plate & Southern Oceans. Antarctic Research Series, 48, 1–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luyendyk, B.P. 1995. Hypothesis for Cretaceous rifting of East Gondwana caused by subducted slab capture. Geology, 23, 373–376.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, A.P. 2009. Mount Morning, Antarctica: geochemistry, geochronology, petrology, volcanology, and oxygen fugacity of the rifted Antarctic lithosphere. PhD thesis, University of Otago, 413 pp. [Unpublished.]Google Scholar
Martin, A.P., Cooper, A.F.Dunlap, W.J. 2010. Geochronology of Mount Morning, Antarctica: two-phase evolution of a long-lived trachyte-basanite-phonolite eruptive center. Bulletin of Volcanology, 72, 357–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, R.D., Gohl, K., Cande, S.C., Goncharov, A.Golynsky, A.V. 2007. Eocene to Miocene geometry of the West Antarctic Rift System. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 54, 1033–1045.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muncy, H.L. 1979. Geologic history and petrogenesis of alkaline volcanic rocks, Mount Morning, Antarctica. MSc thesis, Ohio State University, 112 pp. [Unpublished.]Google Scholar
Negusini, M., Mancini, F., Gandolfi, S.Capra, A. 2005. Terra Nova Bay GPS permanent station (Antarctica): data quality and first attempt in the evaluation of regional displacement. Journal of Geodynamics, 39, 81–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paulsen, T.Wilson, T.J. 2007. Elongate summit calderas as Neogene palaeostress indicators in Antarctica. In Cooper, A.K.et al., eds. Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World – Online Proceedings of the 10th ISAES, USGS Open-File Report 2007-1047, Short Research Paper 072 10.3133/of2007-1047.srp072.Google Scholar
Pini, G.A. 1999. Tectonosomes and olistostromes in the Argille Scagliose of the northern Apennines, Italy. Geological Society of America Special Paper, 335.Google Scholar
Reading, A.M. 2002. Antarctic seismicity and neotectonics. Royal Society of New Zealand Bulletin, 35, 479–484.Google Scholar
Robertson, A. & Ocean Drilling Program Leg 160 Scientific Party. 1996. Mud volcanism on the Mediterranean Ridge: initial results of Ocean Drilling Program Leg 160. Geology, 24, 239–242.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rossetti, F., Storti, F., Busetti, M., Lisker, F., Di Vincenzo, G., Laufer, A., Rocchi, S.Salvini, F. 2006. Eocene initiation of Ross Sea dextral faulting and implications for East Antarctic neotectonics. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 163, 119–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salvini, F., Brancolini, G., Martina, B., Storti, F., Mazzarini, F.Coren, F. 1997. Cenozoic geodynamics of the Ross Sea region, Antarctica: crustal extension, intraplate strike-slip faulting, and tectonic inheritance. Journal of Geophysical Research, 102, 24 669–24 696.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siddoway, C.S., Baldwin, S.L., Fitzgerald, P.G., Fanning, C.M.Luyendyk, B.P. 2004. Ross Sea mylonites and the timing of intracontinental extension within the West Antarctic Rift System. Geology, 32, 57–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stock, J.M.Cande, S.C. 2002. Tectonic history of Antarctic seafloor in the Australia-New Zealand-South Pacific sector: implications for Antarctic continental tectonics. In Gamble, J.A., Skinner, D.N.B. & Henrys, S., eds. Antarctica at the Close of a Millennium. Royal Society of New Zealand Bulletin, 35, 251–259.Google Scholar
Storti, F., Balestrieri, M.L., Balsamo, F.Rossetti, F. 2008. Structural and thermochronological constraints to the evolution of the West Antarctic Rift System in central Victoria Land. Tectonics, 27, 4010.1029/2006TC002066.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stump, E. 1992. The Ross Orogen of the Transantarctic Mountains in light of the Laurentia-Gondwana split. GSA Today, 2, 25–31.Google Scholar
Stump, E. 1995. The Ross Orogen of the Transantarctic Mountains. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 284 pp.Google Scholar
Tessensohn, F.Wörner, G. 1991. The Ross Sea Rift System, Antarctica: structure, evolution and analogues. In Thomson, M.R.A., Crame, J.A. & Thomson, J.W., eds. Geological evolution of Antarctica. New York: Cambridge University Press, 273–278.Google Scholar
Van de Meer, R. 1996. Grading in mud volcanic breccia from the Mediterranean Ridge. Marine Geology, 132, 165–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Velasco, M.S., Bennett, R.A., Johnson, R.A.Hreinsdóttir, S. 2009. Subsurface fault geometries and crustal extension in the eastern Basin and Range Province, western U.S. Tectonophysics, 10.1016/j.tecto.2009.1005.1010.Google Scholar
Walcott, R.I. 1998. Modes of oblique compression: late Cenozoic tectonics of the South Island of New Zealand. Reviews of Geophysics, 36, 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, G., Damaske, D., Moller, H.-D., Tinto, K.Jordan, T. 2007. The geological evolution of southern McMurdo Sound: new evidence from a high-resolution aeromagnetic survey. Geophysical Journal International, 170, 93–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, T.J. 1992. Mesozoic and Cenozoic kinematic evolution of the Transantarctic Mountains. In Yoshida, Y., Kaminuma, K. & Shirashi, K., eds. Recent progress in Antarctic earth science. Tokyo: Terra Scientific Publishing Company, 796 pp.Google Scholar
Wilson, T.J. 1995. Cenozoic transtension along the Transantarctic Mountains-West Antarctic Rift boundary, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Tectonics, 14, 531–545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, T.J. 1999. Cenozoic structural segmentation of the Transantarctic Mountains rift flank in southern Victoria Land. Global and Planetary Change, 23, 105–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woolfe, K.J.Barrett, P.J. 1995. Constraining the Devonian to Triassic tectonic evolution of the Ross Sea sector. Terra Antartica, 2, 7–21.Google Scholar