Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:24:13.035Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A revised geochronology of Thurston Island, West Antarctica, and correlations along the proto-Pacific margin of Gondwana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2016

T.R. Riley ,
M.J. Flowerdew ,
R.J. Pankhurst ,
P.T. Leat ,
I.L. Millar ,
C.M. Fanning  and
M.J. Whitehouse
T.R. Riley*
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK
M.J. Flowerdew
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK Cambridge Arctic Shelf Programme, 181A Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DH, UK
R.J. Pankhurst
Affiliation:
British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK
P.T. Leat
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK Department of Geology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
I.L. Millar
Affiliation:
British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK
C.M. Fanning
Affiliation:
Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
M.J. Whitehouse
Affiliation:
Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, SE-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
*
trr@bas.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The continental margin of Gondwana preserves a record of long-lived magmatism from the Andean Cordillera to Australia. The crustal blocks of West Antarctica form part of this margin, with Palaeozoic–Mesozoic magmatism particularly well preserved in the Antarctic Peninsula and Marie Byrd Land. Magmatic events on the intervening Thurston Island crustal block are poorly defined, which has hindered accurate correlations along the margin. Six samples are dated here using U-Pb geochronology and cover the geological history on Thurston Island. The basement gneisses from Morgan Inlet have a protolith age of 349±2 Ma and correlate closely with the Devonian–Carboniferous magmatism of Marie Byrd Land and New Zealand. Triassic (240–220 Ma) magmatism is identified at two sites on Thurston Island, with Hf isotopes indicating magma extraction from Mesoproterozoic-age lower crust. Several sites on Thurston Island preserve rhyolitic tuffs that have been dated at 182 Ma and are likely to correlate with the successions in the Antarctic Peninsula, particularly given the pre-break-up position of the Thurston Island crustal block. Silicic volcanism was widespread in Patagonia and the Antarctic Peninsula at ~ 183 Ma forming the extensive Chon Aike Province. The most extensive episode of magmatism along the active margin took place during the mid-Cretaceous. This Cordillera ‘flare-up’ event of the Gondwana margin is also developed on Thurston Island with granitoid magmatism dated in the interval 110–100 Ma.

Keywords

graniteHf isotopesMarie Byrd Landvolcaniczircon
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , February 2017 , pp. 47 - 60
Check for updates
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2016 

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

Adams, C.J. 1987. Geochronology of granite terranes in the Ford Ranges, Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 30, 51–72.Google Scholar
Adams, C.J., Campbell, H.J. & Griffin, W.J. 2008. Age and provenance of basement rocks of the Chatham Islands: an outpost of Zealandia. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 51, 245–259.Google Scholar
Bouvier, A., Vervoot, J.D. & Patchett, P.D. 2008. The Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd isotopic composition of CHUR: constraints from unequilibrated chondrites and implications for the bulk composition of terrestrial planets. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 273, 48–57.Google Scholar
Craddock, C. 1972. Geologic map of Antarctica, scale 1:5,000 000. New York, NY: American Geographical Society.Google Scholar
Craddock, C., White, C.M. & Rutford, R.H. 1969. The geology of the Eights Coast. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 4(4), 93–94.Google Scholar
Corfu, F., Hanchar, J.M., Hoskin, P.W.O. & Kinny, P. 2003. Atlas of zircon textures. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, 53, 469–500.Google Scholar
Elliot, D.H., Fanning, C.M. & Laudon, T.S. 2016. The Gondwana plate margin in the Weddell Sea sector: zircon geochronology of Upper Paleozoic (mainly Permian) strata from the Ellsworth Mountains and eastern Ellsworth Land, Antarctica. Gondwana Research, 29, 234–237.Google Scholar
Flowerdew, M.J., Millar, I.L., Vaughan, A.P.M. & Pankhurst, R.J. 2005. Age and tectonic significance of the Lassiter Coast intrusive suite, eastern Ellsworth Land, Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic Science, 17, 443–452.Google Scholar
Flowerdew, M.J., Millar, I.L., Vaughan, A.P.M., Horstwood, M.S.A. & Fanning, C.M. 2006. The source of granitic gneisses and migmatites in the Antarctic Peninsula: a combined U-Pb SHRIMP and laser ablation Hf isotope study of complex zircons. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 151, 751–768.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flowerdew, M.J., Millar, I.L., Curtis, M.L., Vaughan, A.P.M., Horstwood, M.S.A., Whitehouse, M.J. & Fanning, C.M. 2007. Combined U-Pb geochronology and Hf geochemistry of detrital zircons of early Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, Ellsworth-Whitmore Mountains block, Antarctica. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 119, 275–288.Google Scholar
Griffin, W.L., Belousova, E., Shee, S.R., Pearson, N.J. & O’Reilly, S. 2004. Archean crustal evolution in the northern Yilgarn Craton: U-Pb and Hf isotope evidence from detrital zircons. Precambrian Research, 131, 231–282.Google Scholar
Hervé, F., Pankhurst, R.J., Fanning, C.M., Calderón, M. & Yaxley, G.M. 2007. The South Patagonian batholith: 150 My of granite magmatism on a plate margin. Lithos, 97, 373–394.Google Scholar
Hunter, M.A., Riley, T.R., Cantrill, D.J., Flowerdew, M.J. & Millar, I.L. 2006. A new stratigraphy for the Latady Basin, Antarctic Peninsula: part 1, Ellsworth Land Volcanic Group. Geological Magazine, 143, 777–796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kipf, A., Mortimer, N., Werner, R., Gohl, K., van den Boggaard, P., Hauff, F. & Hoernle, K. 2012. Granitoids and dykes of the Pine Island Bay region, West Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 24, 473–484.Google Scholar
Korhonen, F.J., Saito, S., Brown, M., Siddoway, C.S. & Day, J.M.D. 2010. Multiple generations of granite in the Fosdick Mountains, Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica: implications for polyphase intracrustal differentiation in a continental margin setting. Journal of Petrology, 51, 627–670.Google Scholar
Leat, P.T., Scarrow, J.H. & Millar, I.L. 1995. On the Antarctic Peninsula batholith. Geological Magazine, 132, 399–412.Google Scholar
Leat, P.T., Storey, B.C. & Pankhurst, R.J. 1993. Geochemistry of Palaeozoic–Mesozoic Pacific rim orogenic magmatism, Thurston Island area, West Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 5, 281–296.Google Scholar
Lopatin, B.G. & Orlenko, E.M. 1972. Outline of the geology of Marie Byrd Land and the Eights Coast. In Adie, R.J. ed. Antarctic geology and geophysics. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 245–250.Google Scholar
Ludwig, K.R. 1998. On the treatment of concordant uranium-lead ages. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 62, 665–676.Google Scholar
Ludwig, K.R. 2003. User manual for isoplot 3.00: a geochronological toolkit for Microsoft Excel. Berkeley Geochronology Centre Special Publications, No. 4, 1–70.Google Scholar
McFadden, R.R., Siddoway, C.S., Teyssier, C. & Fanning, C.M. 2010. Cretaceous oblique extensional deformation and magma accumulation in the Fosdick Mountains migmatite-cored gneiss dome, West Antarctica. Tectonics, 29, 10.1029/2009TC002492.Google Scholar
Millar, I.L. & Pankhurst, R.J. 1987. Rb-Sr geochronology of the region between the Antarctic Peninsula and the Transantarctic Mountains: Haag Nunataks and Mesozoic Granitoids. Geophysical Monograph Series, 40, 151–160.Google Scholar
Millar, I.L., Pankhurst, R.J. & Fanning, C.M. 2002. Basement chronology and the Antarctic Peninsula: recurrent magmatism and anatexis in the Palaeozoic Gondwana Margin. Journal of the Geological Society, 159, 145–158.Google Scholar
Millar, I.L., Willan, R.C.R., Wareham, C.D. & Boyce, A.J. 2001. The role of crustal and mantle sources in the genesis of granitoids of the Antarctic Peninsula and adjacent crustal blocks. Journal of the Geological Society, 158, 855–867.Google Scholar
Mukasa, S.B. & Dalziel, I.W.D. 2000. Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica; evolution of Gondwana’s Pacific Margin constrained by zircon U-Pb geochronology and feldspar common-Pb isotopic compositions. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 112, 611–627.Google Scholar
Paces, J.B. & Miller, J.D. 1993. Precise U-Pb ages of Duluth Complex and related mafic intrusions, northeastern Minnesota: Geochronological insights to physical, petrogenetic, paleomagnetic, and tectonomagmatic process associated with the 1.1 Ga Midcontinent Rift System. Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth, 98, 13 997–14 013.Google Scholar
Pankhurst, R.J. & Rowley, P.D. 1991. Rb-Sr study of Cretaceous plutons from southern Antarctic Peninsula and eastern Ellsworth Land, Antarctica. In Thomson, M.R.A, Crame, J.A. & Thomson, J.W., eds. Geological evolution of Antarctica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 387–394.Google Scholar
Pankhurst, R.J., Millar, I.L., Grunow, A.M. & Storey, B.C. 1993. The pre-Cenozoic magmatic history of the Thurston Island crustal block, West Antarctica. Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth, 98, 11 835–11 849.Google Scholar
Pankhurst, R.J., Rapela, C.W., Fanning, C.M. & Márquez, M. 2006. Gondwanide continental collision and the origin of Patagonia. Earth Science Reviews, 76, 235–257.Google Scholar
Pankhurst, R.J., Riley, T.R., Fanning, C.M. & Kelley, S.P. 2000. Episodic silicic volcanism in Patagonia and the Antarctic Peninsula: chronology of magmatism associated with break-up of Gondwana. Journal of Petrology, 41, 605–625.Google Scholar
Pankhurst, R.J., Rapela, C.W., Loske, W.P., Marquez, M. & Fanning, C.M. 2003. Chronological study of the pre-Permian basement rocks of southern Patagonia. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 16, 27–44.Google Scholar
Pankhurst, R.J., Leat, P.T., Sruoga, P., Rapela, C.W., Márquez, M., Storey, B.C. & Riley, T.R. 1998. The Chon Aike province of Patagonia and related rocks in Antarctica: a silicic large igneous province. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 81, 113–136.Google Scholar
Paterson, S.R. & Ducea, M.N. 2015. Arc magmatic tempos: gathering the evidence. Elements, 11(2), 91–98. Erratum: Elements, 11(6), 380.Google Scholar
Riley, T.R. & Knight, K.B. 2001. Age of pre-break-up Gondwana magmatism: a review. Antarctic Science, 13, 99–110.Google Scholar
Riley, T.R., Flowerdew, M.J. & Whitehouse, M.J. 2012. U-Pb ion-microprobe zircon geochronology from the basement inliers of eastern Graham Land, Antarctic Peninsula. Journal of the Geological Society, 169, 381–393.Google Scholar
Riley, T.R., Curtis, M.L., Flowerdew, M.J. & Whitehouse, M.J. 2016. Evolution of the Antarctic Peninsula lithosphere: evidence from Mesozoic mafic rocks. Lithos, 244, 59–73.Google Scholar
Riley, T.R., Leat, P.T., Pankhurst, R.J. & Harris, C. 2001. Origins of large volume rhyolitic volcanism in the Antarctic Peninsula and Patagonia by crustal melting. Journal of Petrology, 42, 1043–1065.Google Scholar
Rowley, P.D. 1990. Jones Mountains. In LeMasurier, W.E. & Thomson, J.W., eds. Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and southern oceans. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union, 286–288.Google Scholar
Scherer, E., Münker, C. & Mezger, K. 2001. Calibration of the lutetium-hafnium clock. Science, 293, 683–687.Google Scholar
Scott, J.M., Cooper, A.F., Palin, J.M., Tulloch, A.J., Kula, J., Jongens, R., Spell, T.L. & Pearson, N.J. 2009. Tracking the influence of a continental margin on growth of a magmatic arc, Fiordland, New Zealand, using thermobarometry, thermochronology, and zircon U-Pb and Hf isotopes. Tectonics, 28, 10.1029/2009TC002489.Google Scholar
Siddoway, C.S., Sass, L.C. III & Esser, R.P. 2005. Kinematic history of the Marie Byrd Land terrane, West Antarctica: direct evidence from Cretaceous mafic dykes. In Vaughan, A.P.M, Leat, P.T. & Pankhurst, R.J., eds. Terrane processes at the margins of Gondwana. Special Publication of the Geological Society of London, No. 246, 417–438.Google Scholar
Stacey, J.S. & Kramers, J.D. 1975. Approximation of terrestrial lead isotope evolution by a 2-stage model. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 26, 207–221.Google Scholar
Storey, B.C., Dalziel, I.W.D., Garrett, S.W., Grunow, A.M., Pankhurst, R.J. & Vennum, W.R. 1988. West Antarctica in Gondwanaland: crustal blocks, reconstruction and breakup processes. Tectonophysics, 155, 381–390.Google Scholar
Storey, B.C., Pankhurst, R.J., Millar, I.L., Dalziel, I.W.D. & Grunow, A.M. 1991. A new look at the geology of Thurston Island. In Thomson, M.R.A, Crame, J.A. & Thomson, J.W., eds. Geological evolution of Antarctica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 399–403.Google Scholar
Thirlwall, M.F. & Walder, A.J. 1995. In situ hafnium isotope ratio analysis of zircon by inductively coupled plasma multiple collector mass spectrometry. Chemical Geology, 122, 241–247.Google Scholar
Vaughan, A.P.M. & Millar, I.L. 1996. Early Cretaceous magmatism during extensional deformation within the Antarctic Peninsula magmatic arc. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 9, 121–129.Google Scholar
Vaughan, A.P.M., Leat, P.T., Dean, A.A. & Millar, I.L. 2012. Crustal thickening along the West Antarctic Gondwana margin during mid-Cretaceous deformation of the Triassic intra-oceanic Dyer Arc. Lithos, 142, 130–147.Google Scholar
Veevers, J.J. 2012. Reconstructions before rifting and drifting reveal the geological connections between Antarctica and its conjugates in Gondwanaland. Earth-Science Reviews, 111, 249–318.Google Scholar
Waight, T.E., Weaver, S.D. & Muir, R.J. 1998. Mid-Cretaceous granitic magmatism during the transition from subduction to extension in southern New Zealand: a chemical and tectonic synthesis. Lithos, 45, 469–482.Google Scholar
White, C.M. & Craddock, C. 1987. Compositions of igneous rocks in the Thurston Island area, Antarctica: evidence for a late Paleozoic–middle Mesozoic andinotype continental margin. Journal of Geology, 95, 699–709.Google Scholar
Whitehouse, M.J. & Kamber, B.S. 2005. Assigning dates to thin gneissic veins in high-grade metamorphic terranes: a cautionary tale from Akilia, southwest Greenland. Journal of Petrology, 46, 291–318.Google Scholar
Wiedenbeck, M., Alle, P., Corfu, F., Griffin, W.L., Meirer, M., Oberli, F., Vonquadt, A., Roddick, J.C. & Spiegel, W. 1995. Three natural zircon standards for U-Th-Pb, Lu-Hf, trace element and REE analyses. Geostandards Newsletter, 19, 1–23.Google Scholar
Williams, I.S. 1998. U-Th-Pb geochronology by ion microprobe. In McKibben, M.A. & Shanks, W.C., eds. Applications of microanalytical techniques to understanding mineralizing processes. Reviews in Economic Geology, 7, 1–35.Google Scholar
Wysoczanski, R.J., Gibson, G.M. & Ireland, T.R. 1997. Detrital zircon age patterns and provenance in late Paleozoic-early Mesozoic New Zealand terranes and development of the Paleo-Pacific Gondwana margin. Geology, 25, 939–942.Google Scholar
Yakymchuk, C., Siddoway, C.S., Fanning, C.M., McFadden, R., Korhonen, F.J. & Brown, M. 2013. Anatectic reworking and differentiation of continental crust along the active margin of Gondwana: a zircon Hf-O perspective from West Antarctica. In Harley, S.L., Fitzsimmons, I.C.W. & Zhao, Y., eds. Antarctica and supercontinent evolution. Special Publication of the Geological Society of London, No. 383, 10.1144/SP383.7.Google Scholar
Yakymchuk, C., Brown, C.R., Brown, M., Siddoway, C.S., Fanning, C.M. & Korhonen, F.J. 2015. Paleozoic evolution of western Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 127, 1464–1484.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Riley supplementary material

Figure S1

Download Riley supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 273.3 KB