Petrographic and geochemical studies of peridotites from the South Sandwich forearc region provide new evidence for the evolution of the South Sandwich arc-basin system and for the nature of ...interactions between arc magma and oceanic lithosphere. Peridotites from the inner trench wall in the north-east corner of the forearc vary from clinopyroxene-bearing harzburgites, through samples transitional between harzburgites and dunites or wehrlites, to dunites.
New airborne geophysical data reveal subglacial imprints of crustal growth of the Antarctic Peninsula by Mesozoic arc magmatism and terrane accretion along the paleo‐Pacific margin of Gondwana. ...Potential field signatures indicate that the Antarctic Peninsula batholith is a composite magmatic arc terrane comprising two distinct arcs, separated by a >1500 km‐long suture zone, similar to the Peninsular Ranges batholith in southern and Baja California. Aeromagnetic, aerogravity and geological data suggest that a mafic Early Cretaceous western arc was juxtaposed against a more felsic eastern arc which, in mid‐Cretaceous times, was intruded by highly magnetic tonalitic/granodioritic plutons of island arc affinity. Suturing of the two arcs against the Gondwana margin caused the mid‐Cretaceous Palmer Land orogenic event. Convergence and suturing may have been driven by two subduction zones or, alternatively, by a decrease in slab dip, leading to an inboard migration of the arc, as in California.
The Ancestral South Sandwich Arc (ASSA) has a short life-span of c. 20m.y. (early Oligocene to middle–late Miocene) before slab retreat and subsequent ‘resurrection’ as the active South Sandwich ...Island Arc (SSIA). The ASSA is, however, significant because it straddled the eastern margin of the Drake Passage Gateway where it formed a potential barrier to deep ocean water and mantle flow from the Pacific to Atlantic. The ASSA may be divided into three parts, from north to south: the Central Scotia Sea (CSS), the Discovery segment, and the Jane segment. Published age data coupled with new geochemical data (major elements, trace elements, Hf–Nd–Sr–Pb isotopes) from the three ASSA segments place constraints on models for the evolution of the arc and hence gateway development. The CSS segment has two known periods of activity. The older, Oligocene, period produced basic–acidic, mostly calc-alkaline rocks, best explained in terms of subduction initiation volcanism of Andean-type (no slab rollback). The younger, middle–late Miocene period produced basic–acidic, high-K calc-alkaline rocks (lavas and pyroclastic rocks with abundant volcanigenic sediments) which, despite being erupted on oceanic crust, have continental arc characteristics best explained in terms of a large, hot subduction flux most typical of a syn- or post-collision arc setting. Early–middle Miocene volcanism in the Discovery and Jane arc segments is geochemically quite different, being typically tholeiitic and compositionally similar to many lavas from the active South Sandwich Island Arc front. There is indirect evidence for Western Pacific-type (slab rollback) subduction initiation in the southern part of the ASSA and for the back-arc basins (the Jane and Scan Basins) to have been active at the time of arc volcanism. Models for the death of the ASSA in the south following a series of ridge–trench collisions are not positively supported by any geochemical evidence of hot subduction, but cessation of subduction by approach of progressively more buoyant oceanic lithosphere is consistent with both geochemistry and geodynamics. In terms of deep ocean water flow the early stages of spreading at the East Scotia Ridge (starting at 17–15Ma) may have been important in breaking up the ASSA barrier while the subsequent establishment of a STEP (Subduction-Transform Edge Propagator) fault east of the South Georgia microcontinent (<11Ma) led to formation of the South Georgia Passage used by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current today. In terms of mantle flow, the subduction zone and arc root likely acted as a barrier to mantle flow in the CSS arc segment such that the ASSA itself became the Pacific–South Atlantic mantle domain boundary. This was not the case in the Discovery and Jane arc segments, however, because the northward flow of the South Atlantic mantle behind the southern part of the ASSA gave an Atlantic provenance to the whole southern ASSA.
•We provide new element and isotope data from the Ancestral South Sandwich Arc(ASSA).•Geochemistry shows that the ASSA had a short (c. 20 m.y.) but complex life cycle.•Death of the arc produced an explosive volcanic event also seen in ash records.•Volcanoes in the Central Scotia Sea formed a potential barrier to deep seawater flow.•This barrier was breached to create the South Georgia Passage by post-collision STEP faulting.
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.
The East Scotia Ridge is an active back-arc spreading centre located to the west of the South Sandwich island arc in the South Atlantic Ocean, consisting of nine main segments, E1 (north) to E9 ...(south). Major and trace element and Sr–Nd–Pb isotope compositions are presented, together with water contents, for lavas sampled along the active ridge axis. Magmatism along the East Scotia Ridge is chemically heterogeneous, but there is a common mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB)-type source component for all the magmas. An almost unmodified MORB-source mantle appears to underlie the central part of the back-arc. Subduction components are found at the northern and southern ends of the ridge, and there is a marked sediment melt input of up to 2% in segment E4. Enriched (plume) mantle is present beneath segment E2 at the northern end of the ridge, suggesting that plume mantle is flowing westward around the edges of the subducting slab. The southern part of segment E8 is unique in that its magma source is similar to sub-arc depleted mantle.
Electron microprobe analyses are presented for phenocrysts and matrix glass in peralkaline, silica-oversaturated trachytes from the Menengai volcano, Kenya Rift Valley. The dominant phenocryst ...assemblage is alkali feldspar–hedenbergite–fayalite–titanomagnetite–apatite. Aenigmatite, amphibole and quartz occur rarely in more peralkaline rocks. QUILF calculations indicate that the trachytic magmas crystallised at temperatures of 854–870°C, at relatively low oxidation states (ΔFMQ −1.6 to −1.7) and silica activity (aSiO2 (Qtz) of 0.60–0.66). The new analyses are used, along with published data, to outline the distribution of the main phases in the compositional spectrum of peralkaline quartz trachytes and rhyolites. There is uncertainty about the nature, or even existence, of a low-temperature zone in the alkali feldspar primary phase region, the equivalent of the thermal valley in the haplogranite system. Quartz phenocrysts may appear early or late in the crystallisation sequence, even in rocks of similar bulk composition, its appearance perhaps being a function of the F content of the melts. Whereas hedenbergite and fayalite show fairly systematic compositional trends with increasing host rock peralkalinity, amphibole compositions are variable, for reasons not yet understood. Aenigmatite crystallisation is at least partly controlled by oxygen fugacity and silica activity. With rare exceptions, ilmenite and titanomagnetite are incompatible phases but the factors controlling their relative stabilities are not clear. It appears that peralkaline trachyte–rhyolite sequences evolve along many crystallisation paths, the paths perhaps being strongly influenced by pH2O, pF2, melt F/Cl ratios and perhaps total pressure.
► Phenocryst and glass compositions in trachytes, Menengai volcano. ► Mineral–melt relationships in peralkaline silicic rocks. ► P–T–X controls on mineral stability with increasing peralkalinity. ► Nature of low-temperature zone in alkali feldspar primary phase region.
The intra-oceanic South Sandwich subduction system is distinctive in having a narrow slab with slab edges at its northern and southern ends. We present new geochemical data to investigate magma ...genesis beneath the parts of the arc and back-arc segments that lie close to the two slab edges: Kemp and Nelson seamounts at the southern edge of the South Sandwich arc, and segments E1 and E2 in the south, plus segments E9 and E10 in the north, of the East Scotia Sea. In the arc, Kemp and Nelson seamounts exhibit enhanced subduction fluxes compared to the remainder of the arc. The southernmost (Nelson) has the isotope (low Nd and high Sr isotope ratios) and elemental (ultra-high Th and Ba and high Hf/Nd ratios) characteristics of a sediment melt, or supercritical aqueous fluid, component. The more northerly (Kemp) has the same characteristics as the remainder of the arc (high Nd and slightly raised Sr isotope ratios, high Nd/Hf ratios, high Ba/Th ratios), indicative of a fluid component derived mainly from subducted crust, but has a greater mass fraction of that component than the rest of the arc. In the back-arc basin, the slab-edge segments are generally fed by more fertile mantle (E-MORB in all but E1) than the segments in the centre of the basin (N-MORB). At the edges, segments furthest from the trench (E2, E9) have small subduction components while those nearer to the trench (E1, E10) have larger subduction components and slightly more depleted mantle. We argue that several processes were important at the slab edges: roll-back of the slab, forcing sideways flow of relatively enriched mantle into the mantle wedge; convergence of the arc with the back-arc spreading centre, imparting a greater subduction component into the back-arc lavas; and anomalous heating of the subducting slab, increasing subduction fluxes and the contribution of sediment melts to the subduction component.
The Drake Passage is an oceanic gateway of about 850 km width located between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula that connects the southeastern Pacific Ocean with the southwestern Atlantic ...Ocean. It is an important gateway for mantle flow, oceanographic water masses, and migrations of biota. This sector developed within the framework of the geodynamic evolution of the Scotia Arc, including continental fragmentation processes and oceanic crust creation, since the oblique divergence of the South American plate to the north and the Antarctic plate to the south started in the Eocene. As a consequence of its complex tectonic evolution and subsequent submarine processes, as sedimentary infill and erosion mainly controlled by bottom currents and active tectonics, this region shows a varied physiography. We present a detailed map of the bathymetry and geological setting of the Drake Passage that is mainly founded on a new compilation of precise multibeam bathymetric data obtained on 120 cruises between 1992 and 2015, resulting in a new Digital Bathymetric Model with 200 × 200 m cell spacing. The map covers an area of 1,465,000 km
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between parallels 52°S and 63°S and meridians 70°W and 50°W at scale 1:1,600,000 allowing the identification of the main seafloor features. In addition, the map includes useful geological information related to magnetism, seismicity and tectonics. This work constitutes an international cooperative effort and is part of the International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean project, under the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research umbrella.
Gondwana breakup changed the global continental configuration, leading to opening of major oceanic gateways, shifts in the climate system and significant impacts on the biosphere, hydrosphere and ...cryosphere. Although of global importance, the earliest stages of the supercontinental fragmentation are poorly understood. Reconstructing the processes driving Gondwana breakup within the ice-covered Weddell Sea Rift System (WSRS) has proven particularly challenging. Paleomagnetic data and tectonic reconstructions of the WSRS region indicate that major Jurassic translation and rotation of microcontinental blocks were a key precursor to Gondwana breakup by seafloor spreading. However, geophysical interpretations have provided little support for major motion of crustal blocks during Jurassic extension in the WSRS. Here we present new compilations of airborne magnetic and airborne gravity data, together with digital enhancements and 2D models, enabling us to re-evaluate the crustal architecture of the WSRS and its tectonic and kinematic evolution. Two provinces are identified within the WSRS, a northern E/W trending province and a southern N/S trending province. A simple extensional or transtensional model including ~500km of crustal extension and Jurassic magmatism accounts for the observed geophysical patterns. Magmatism is linked with rifting between South Africa and East Antarctica in the north, and associated with back-arc extension in the south. Our tectonic model implies ~30° of Jurassic block rotation and juxtaposes the magnetically similar Haag Block and Shackleton Range, despite differences in both Precambrian and Pan African-age surface geology. Although geophysically favoured our new model cannot easily be reconciled with geological and paleomagnetic interpretations that require ~1500km of motion and 90° anticlockwise rotation of the Haag-Ellsworth Whitmore block from a pre-rift position adjacent to the Maud Belt. However, our model provides a simpler view of the WSRS as a broad Jurassic extensional/transtensional province within a distributed plate boundary between East and West Antarctica.
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•Two distinct aeromagnetic provinces identified within the Weddell Sea Rift System•Approximately 500km continental extension suggested by 2D potential field models•Alternative simple model for tectonic evolution of Weddell Sea Rift System proposed
New multibeam bathymetric data from the southeastern Weddell Sea show significant differences in surface morphology of the outer continental shelf and slope between two adjacent cross-shelf troughs. ...These are the Filchner Trough and a smaller trough to the east which we refer to as the ‘Halley Trough’. Multibeam bathymetric data, acoustic sub-bottom profiler and seismic data show major differences in the incidence and morphologies of submarine gullies, channel systems, submarine slides and iceberg scours, and in sediment deposition. These large-scale differences suggest significant variation in slope and sedimentary processes and in the environmental setting between the two troughs, leading to much greater deposition at the mouth of the Filchner Trough. Bedforms, including a terminal moraine and scalloped embayments on the outer shelf of the Halley Trough, provide insight into the relative timing and extent of past ice-sheet grounding and point to grounded ice near to the shelf edge during the Late Quaternary.
The new data reveal two large-scale submarine slides on the upper slope of the eastern Crary Fan, a trough mouth fan offshore from the Filchner Trough. Both slides head at the shelf edge (~500m water depth), with the largest slide measuring 20km wide and with an incision depth of 60m. Multibeam and seismic data show elongate slabs on the seafloor surface of the mid-slope. The lack of a discernible sedimentary cover suggests that they were generated after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). This is unusual because post-LGM submarine slides are very rare on the Antarctic continental margin, and to our knowledge, no other post-LGM slides have been documented on an Antarctic trough mouth fan. Because the slides occur on a part of the continental slope where the deposition of glacial debris was greatest, we speculate that weaker, unconsolidated sedimentary layers within the subsurface are important for slide initiation here.
•Geomorphology shows different slope processes at two cross-shelf trough mouths.•Two large and relatively young submarine slides occur on the Antarctic margin.•Outer shelf morphology suggests ice extent near shelf edge during Late Quaternary.
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