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Zircon U-Pb dating of Mesozoic volcanic and tectonic events in north-west Palmer Land and south-west Graham Land, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2009

P.T. Leat ,
M.J. Flowerdew ,
T.R. Riley ,
M.J. Whitehouse ,
J.H. Scarrow  and
I.L. Millar
P.T. Leat*
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
T.R. Riley
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK
M.J. Whitehouse
Affiliation:
Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, S-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
J.H. Scarrow
Affiliation:
Department of Mineralogy and Petrology, University of Granada, Campus Fuente Nueva Granada 18002, Spain
I.L. Millar
Affiliation:
NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK
*
*[email protected]
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Abstract

New whole rock Rb-Sr and zircon U-Pb geochronological data and Sm-Nd isotopic data are presented from the central magmatic arc domain of the Antarctic Peninsula in the area of north-west Palmer Land and south-west Graham Land, Rb-Sr isochrons indicate an age of 169 ± 6 Ma for basement orthogneisses and 132 ± 9 to 71 ± 9 Ma for plutons. A U-Pb age of 183 ± 2.1 Ma, with no detectable inheritance, on zircons from an orthogneiss from Cape Berteaux provides the first reliable age for the orthogneisses, which are interpreted as metamorphosed silicic volcanic rocks, and Sm-Nd data indicate derivation in a mature volcanic arc. The age indicates they may be correlatives of the Jurassic ‘Chon Aike’ volcanism of the eastern Antarctic Peninsula. A U-Pb zircon age of 107 ± 1.7 Ma on a terrestrial volcanic sequence overlying an uncomformity strongly suggests a mid-Cretaceous age for the extensive volcanic cover of north-west Palmer Land that was previously thought to be Jurassic. The unconformity is interpreted to have been a result of compressional uplift related to the Palmer Land event. This is the first date for the event in the western part of the central magmatic arc terrane of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Keywords

Antarctic Peninsulageochronologymagmatic arcorthogneissPalmer Land eventterrane accretion
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 21 , Issue 6 , December 2009 , pp. 633 - 641
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2009

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