Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T02:19:59.153Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Geotectonic evolution of the Bransfield Basin, Antarctic Peninsula: insights from analogue models

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2008

M.A. Solari ,
F. Hervé ,
J. Martinod ,
J.P. Le Roux ,
L.E. Ramírez  and
C. Palacios
M.A. Solari*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Universidad de Chile, PO Box 13518, Correo 21, Santiago, Chile
F. Hervé
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Universidad de Chile, PO Box 13518, Correo 21, Santiago, Chile
J. Martinod
Affiliation:
IRD, LMTG, Université Toulouse 3, 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31400, Toulouse, France
J.P. Le Roux
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Universidad de Chile, PO Box 13518, Correo 21, Santiago, Chile
L.E. Ramírez
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Universidad de Chile, PO Box 13518, Correo 21, Santiago, Chile
C. Palacios
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Universidad de Chile, PO Box 13518, Correo 21, Santiago, Chile
*
*msolari@cec.uchile.cl
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Bransfield Strait, located between the South Shetland Islands and the north-western end of the Antarctic Peninsula, is a back-arc basin transitional between rifting and spreading. We compiled a geomorphological structural map of the Bransfield Basin combining published data and the interpretation of bathymetric images. Several analogue experiments reproducing the interaction between the Scotia, Antarctic, and Phoenix plates were carried out. The fault configuration observed in the geomorphological structural map was well reproduced by one of these analogue models. The results suggest the establishment of a transpressional regime to the west of the southern segment of the Shackleton Fracture Zone and a transtensional regime to the south-west of the South Scotia Ridge by at least c. 7 Ma. A probable mechanism for the opening of the Bransfield Basin requires two processes: 1) Significant transtensional effects in the Bransfield Basin caused by the configuration and drift vector of the Scotia Plate after the activity of the West Scotia Ridge ceased at c. 7 Ma. 2) Roll-back of the Phoenix Plate under the South Shetland Islands after cessation of spreading activity of the Phoenix Ridge at 3.3 ± 0.2 Ma, causing the north-westward migration of the South Shetland Trench.

Keywords

back-arc basinBransfield StraitScotia PlateSouth Shetland Islands
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , April 2008 , pp. 185 - 196
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2008

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

Acosta, J., Herranz, P., Sanz, J.L. & Uchupi, E. 1992. Antarctic continental margin: geologic image of the Bransfield Trough, an incipient ocean basin. In Poag, C.W. & de Graciansky, P.C., eds. Geologic evolution of the Atlantic continental rises. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 49–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, J.B. 1999. Antarctic marine geology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 287 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, P.F. 1982. The Cenozoic subduction history of the Pacific margin of the Antarctic Peninsula: ridge crest-trench interactions. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 139, 787–801.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, P.F. & Dalziel, I.W.D. 1983. Progress in geodynamics in the Scotia Arc region. In Cabré, R., ed. Geodynamics of the eastern Pacific Region, Caribbean and Scotia arcs. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union, Geodynamic Series, vol. 9, 137–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, P.F. 2001. Scotia Sea regional tectonic evolution: implications for mantle flow and palaeocirculation. Earth-Science Reviews, 55, 1–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, P.F., Dalziel, I.W.D. & Storey, B.C. 1991. Tectonic development of the Scotia Arc region. In Tingey, R.J., ed. Antarctic geology. London: Oxford University Press, 215–248.Google Scholar
Barker, D.H.N. & Austin, J.A. 1994. Crustal diapirism in Bransfield Strait, West Antarctica: evidence for distributed extension in marginal-basin formation. Geology, 22, 657–660.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, D.H.N. & Austin, J.A. 1998. Rift propagation, detachment faulting and magmatism in the Bransfield Strait, Antarctic Peninsula. Journal of Geophysical Research, 103, 24 017–24 043.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, D.H.N., Christeson, G.L., Austin, J.A. & Dalziel, I.W.D. 2003. Backarc basin evolution and cordilleran orogenesis: insights from new ocean-bottom seismograph refraction profiling in Bransfield Strait, Antarctica. Geology, 31, 107–110.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birkenmajer, K. 1982. Late Cenozoic phases of the block-faulting on King George Island, South Shetland Island, (West Antarctica). Bulletin de l'Académie Polonaise des Sciences, Série des Sciences de la Terre, 30, 21–32.Google Scholar
Canals, M., Gràcia, E., Prieto, M.J. & Parson, L.M. 1997. The Antarctic Region: geological evolution and processes. In Ricci, C.A., ed. Proceedings of the VII International Symposium on Earth Sciences. Siena: Terra Antarctica Publications, 669–673.Google Scholar
Canals, M., Casamor, J.L., Urgeles, R., Calafat, A.M., Domack, E.W., Baraza, J., Farrán, M. & De Batist, M. 2002. Seafloor evidence of a subglacial sedimentary system off the northern Antarctic Peninsula. Geology, 30, 603–606.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davy, P. & Cobbold, P.R. 1991. Experiments on shortening of 4-layer model of the continental lithosphere. Tectonophysics, 188, 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernández-Ibáñez, F., Pérz-López, R., Martínez-Díaz, J.J., Paredes, C., Giner-Robles, J.L., Caselli, A.T. & Ibáñez, J.M. 2005. Costa Recta beach, Deception Island, West Antarctica: a retreated scarp of a submarine fault? Antarctic Science, 17, 418–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gautier, P., Brun, J.P., Moriceau, R., Soukoutis, D., Martinod, J. & Jolivet, L. 1999. Timing, kinematics, and cause of Aegean extension: a scenario based on a comparison with simple analogue experiments, Tectonophysics, 315, 31–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galindo-Zaldívar, J., Jabaloy, A., Maldonado, A. & De Galdeano, C.S. 1996. Continental fragmentation along the South Scotia Ridge transcurrent plate boundary (NE Antarctic Peninsula). Tectonophysics, 258, 275–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gambôa, L.A.P. & Maldonado, P.R. 1990. Geophysical investigations in the Bransfield Strait and in the Bellinghausen Sea, Antarctica. In St. John, B., ed. Antarctica as an exploration frontier: hydrocarbon potential, geology, and hazards. American Association of Petroleum Geology, Studies in Geology, No. 31, 127–141.Google Scholar
Giner-Robles, J.L., González-Casado, J.M., Gumiel, P., Martín-Velázquez, S. & García-Cuevas, C. 2003. A kinematic model of the Scotia Plate (SW Atlantic Ocean). Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 16, 179–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González-Casado, J.M., López-Martínez, J., Giner-Robles, J., Duran, J.J. & Gumiel, P. 1999. Análisis de la microfracturción en la Isla Decepción, Antártica Occidental. Geogaceta, 26, 27–30.Google Scholar
González-Casado, J.M., Giner-Robles, J.L. & López-Martínez, J. 2000. Bransfield Basin, Antarctic Peninsula: not a normal backarc basin. Geology, 28, 1043–1046.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González-Ferrán, O. 1991. The Bransfield rift and its active volcanism. In Thomson, M.R.A., Crame, J.A. & Thomson, J.W., eds. Geological evolution of Antarctica. New York: Cambridge University Press, 505–509.Google Scholar
Gràcia, E., Canals, M., Farràn, M., Prieto, M.J., Sorribas, J. & Gebra, T. 1996. Morphostructure and evolution of the central and eastern Bransfield Basin (NW Antarctic). Marine Geophysical Research, 18, 429–448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gràcia, E., Canals, M., Farràn, M., Sorribas, J. & Pallas, R. 1997. Central and Eastern Bransfield basins (Antarctica) from high-resolution swath-bathymetry data. Antarctic Science, 9, 168–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardland, W.B., Armstrong, R.L., Cox, A.V., Craig, L.E., Smith, A.G. & Smith, D.G. 1990. A geological time scale 1989. New York: Cambridge University Press, 263 pp.Google Scholar
Hatzfeld, D., Martinod, J., Bastet, G. & Gautier, P. 1997. An analog model for the Aegean to describe the contribution of gravitational potential energy. Journal of Geophysical Research, 102, 649–659.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herron, E.M. & Tucholke, B. 1976. Sea floor magnetic patterns and basement structure in the southeastern Pacific. In Hollister, C.D. & Craddock, C., eds. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, 35, 263–278.Google Scholar
Jeffers, J.D., Anderson, J.B. & Lawver, L.A. 1991. Evolution of the Bransfield Basin, Antarctic Peninsula. In Thomson, M.R.A., Crame, J.A. & Thomson, J.W., eds. Geological evolution of Antarctica. New York: Cambridge University Press, 481–485.Google Scholar
Keller, R.A. & Fisk, M.R. 1992. Quaternary marginal basin volcanism in the Bransfield Strait as a modern analogue of the southern Chilean ophiolites. In Parson, L.M., Murton, B.J. & Browning, P., eds. Ophiolites and their modern oceanic analogues. Geological Society Special Publication, No. 60, 155–169.Google Scholar
Keller, R.A., Fisk, M.A., White, W.M. & Birkenmajer, K. 1992. Isotopic and trace element constraints on mixing and melting models of marginal basin volcanism, Bransfield Strait, Antarctica. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 111, 287–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keller, R.A., Fisk, M.A. & White, W.M. 1991. Geochemistry of Quarternary volcanism in the Bransfield Strait and South Shetland Islands: preliminary results. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 26(5), 132–133.Google Scholar
Klepeis, K.A. & Lawver, L.A. 1996. Tectonics of the Antarctic-Scotia plate boundary near Elephant and Clarence islands, West Antarctica. Journal of Geophysical Research, 101, 20 211–20 231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larter, R.D. & Barker, P.F. 1991. Effects of the ridge crest-trench interaction on Antarctic-Phoenix spreading: forces on a young subduction plate. Journal of Geophysical Research, 96, 19583–19 607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawver, L.A., Keller, R.A., Fisk, M.R. & Strelin, J.A. 1995. Bransfield Strait, Antarctic Peninsula: active extension behind a dead arc. In Taylor, B., ed. Backarc basins: tectonics and magmatism. New York: Plenum, 315–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawver, L.A., Sloan, B.J., Barker, D.H.N., Ghidella, M., Von Herzen, R.P., Keller, R.A., Klinkhammer, G.P. & Chin, C.S. 1996. Structure of the Bransfield Strait marginal basin, Antarctic Peninsula, based on multi-beam bathymetry: evidence for active extension. GSA Today, 6, 1–6.Google Scholar
Livermore, R., Balanya, J.C., Maldonado, A., Martínez, J.M., Rodríguez-Fernández, J., Sanz de Galdeano, C., Galindo, J., Jabaloy, A., Barnolas, A., Somoza, L., Hernández-Molina, J., Suriñach, E. & Viseras, C. 2000. Autopsy on a dead spreading center: the Phoenix Ridge, Drake Passage, Antarctica. Geology, 28, 607–610.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maldonado, A., Aldaya, F., Balanya, J.C., Galindo-Zaldívar, J., Jabaloy, A., Larter, R.D., Rodríguez-Fernández, J., Rossanov, M. & Sanz de Galdeano, C. 1994. Cenozoic continental margin growth patterns in the north Antarctic Peninsula. Terra Antarctica, 1, 311–314.Google Scholar
Martinod, J., Hatzfeld, D., Brun, J.P., Davy, P. & Gautier, P. 2000. Continental collision, gravity spreading, and kinematics of Aegea and Anatolia. Tectonics, 19, 290–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muñoz-Martín, A., Catalán, M., Martín-Dávila, J. & Carbó, A. 2005. Crustal structure of Deception Island area (Bransfield Strait, Antarctica) from gravity and magnetic modelling. Antarctic Science, 17, 213–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelayo, A.M. & Wiens, D.A. 1989. Seismotectonic and relative plate motion in the Scotia Sea Region. Journal of Geophysical Research, 94, 7293–7320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petersen, S., Herzig, P.M., Schwarz-Schampera, U., Hannington, M.D. & Jonasson, I.R. 2004. Hydrothermal precipitates associated with bimodal volcanism in the Central Bransfield Strait, Antarctic. Mineralium Deposita, 39, 358–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prieto, M.J., Canals, M., Ercilla, G. & De Batist, M. 1998. Structure and geodynamic evolution of the Central Bransfield Basin (NW Antarctica) from seismic reflection data. Marine Geology, 149, 17–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rey, J., Somoza, L. & Martínez-Frías, J. 1995. Tectonic volcanic and hydrothermal event sequence on Deception Island (Antarctica). Geo-Marine Letters, 15, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santanach, R., Pallàs, F., Sàbat, F. & Muñoz, J.A. 1992. La fracturación en la Isla Livingston, Islas Shetland del Sur. In López-Martínez, J., ed. Geología de la Antártida Occidental. Simposios T-III. Salamanca: III Congreso Geológico de España y VIII Congreso Latinoamericano de Geología, 141–151.Google Scholar
Sell, I., Poupeau, G., González-Casado, J.M. & López-Martínez, J. 2004. A fission-track thermochronological study of King George and Livingston Islands, South Shetland Islands (West Antarctica). Antarctic Science, 16, 191–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, B., Goodliffe, A.M. & Martínez, F. 1999. How continents break up: insight from Papua New Guinea. Journal of Geophysical Research, 104, 7497–7512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teyssier, C., Tikoff, B. & Markley, M. 1995. Oblique plate motion and continental tectonics. Geology, 23, 447–450.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vanneste, L.E., Larter, R.D. & Smythe, D.K. 2002. Slice of intra-oceanic arc: insights from the first multichannel seismic reflection profile across the South Sandwich island arc. Geology, 30, 819–822.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wellner, J.S., Lowe, A.L., Shipp, S.S. & Anderson, J.B. 2001. Distribution of the glacial geomorphic features on the Antartic continental shelf and correlation with substrate: implications for ice behavior. Journal of Glaciology, 47, 397–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar