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Granites of Edward VII Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land: anorogenic magmatism related to Antarctic-New Zealand rifting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

S. D. Weaver ,
C. J. Adams ,
R. J. Pankhurst  and
I. L. Gibson
S. D. Weaver
Affiliation:
S. D. Weaver, Department of Geology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
C. J. Adams
Affiliation:
C. J. Adams, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Physical Sciences, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
R. J. Pankhurst
Affiliation:
R. J. Pankhurst, British Antarctic Survey, c/o Natural Environment Research Council, Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, U.K.
I. L. Gibson
Affiliation:
I. L. Gibson, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada
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Abstract

Syenogranites and monzogranites of Edward VII Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land, represent magmatism associated with continental rifting and the separation of New Zealand from W Antarctica in the mid-Cretaceous. These coarse-grained, leucocratic, subsolvus biotite granites occur as five small plutons cutting Lower Palaeozoic metasediments. Petrographic features include the predominance of microcline perthite over albite, bipyramidal smoky quartz, red-brown biotite and accessory ilmenite, zircon, apatite, monazite and fluorite. Enclaves are absent and miarolitic cavites are rare.

The granites are a weakly peraluminous, potassic, and highly fractionated suite with high concentrations of Rb, Nb, Y, HREE and F in the most evolved compositions. REE patterns vary from LREE-enriched (CeN/YbN = 8·4), to flat REE patterns (CeN/YbN = 1·1) with large negative Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu* = 0·02). Initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios are 0·7116-0·7206 and initial εNd values are −5·5 to −7·7. Generalised fractionation trends for the suite are explicable in terms of the modal mineralogy. Monazite crystallisation exerted a predominant control on LREE concentrations.

The geochemistry of the Edward VII Peninsula granites suggests an infracrustal I-type source, and regionally available Devonian-Carboniferous I-type granodiorites and tonalites satisfy the isotopic constraints. The granites classify as A-type (preferred term A-subtype) and Within-Plate Granites on standard diagrams, but the least fractionated rocks clearly indicate the I-type, Volcanic Arc Granite geochemical signatures of their inferred crustal sources.

Keywords

A-subtypeCretaceousfractionation trendsgranodiorite-tonalite sourceisotopesI-typemonzogranitepetrogenesissyenogranite
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 83 , Issue 1-2: Second Hutton Symposium: The Origin of Granites and Related Rocks , 1992 , pp. 281 - 290
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1992

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