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Detrital-zircon geochronology of the metasedimentary rocks of north-western Graham Land

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

David L. Barbeau Jr ,
Justin T. Davis ,
Kendra E. Murray ,
Victor Valencia ,
George E. Gehrels ,
Khandaker M. Zahid  and
David J. Gombosi
David L. Barbeau Jr*
Affiliation:
Tectonics & Sedimentation Laboratory, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
Justin T. Davis
Affiliation:
Tectonics & Sedimentation Laboratory, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
Kendra E. Murray
Affiliation:
Arizona LaserChron Center, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Victor Valencia
Affiliation:
Arizona LaserChron Center, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
George E. Gehrels
Affiliation:
Arizona LaserChron Center, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Khandaker M. Zahid
Affiliation:
Tectonics & Sedimentation Laboratory, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
David J. Gombosi
Affiliation:
Tectonics & Sedimentation Laboratory, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
*
*[email protected]
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Abstract

Metasedimentary rocks constitute an important but comparatively poorly understood part of the Antarctic Peninsula. Herein we report single-grain U-Pb detrital-zircon ages from samples of the Trinity Peninsula and Botany Bay Groups of north-western Graham Land. All studied samples are dominated by a large and narrowly defined population of late Palaeozoic zircons. Significant early–middle Palaeozoic and minor Neoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic sub-populations constitute the majority of pre-Carboniferous grains. These detrital-zircon age populations are consistent with sediment derivation entirely from western Gondwana sources. Despite the clear Gondwana signatures, our data suggest that the Trinity Peninsula Group province was either a parautochthonous peri-Gondwanan terrane later accreted to the Antarctic Peninsula, or a significant topographic barrier precluded voluminous sediment contributions from the interior of Gondwana. Statistical comparisons with similar metasedimentary complexes of southern South America, the South Shetland Islands and eastern New Zealand indicate a diversity of sediment provenance not previously recognized, but may provide a means to better determine the pre-break-up configuration of western Gondwana. Although insufficient to definitively restore Antarctic Peninsula components adjacent to South American complexes, some Trinity Peninsula Group samples exhibit robust affinities to the Miers Bluff Formation in the South Shetland Islands and the Duque de York and Main Range Metamorphic Complexes of the Patagonian Andes.

Keywords

Botany Bay GroupGondwanaMount Flora Formationsediment provenanceTrinity Peninsula Group
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , February 2010 , pp. 65 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2009

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