Geology of Hut Point Peninsula, Ross Island
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significantly below their Curie temperatures (approxi- Wilson, R. L., and N. D. Watkins. 1967. Correlation of mately 550°C.). petrology and natural magnetic polarity in Columbia Plateau basalts. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astro- Previous work (Pucher, 1969; Stacey and Banerjee, nomical Society, 12(4): 405-424. 1974) indicates that the CRM intensity acquired in a low field is significantly less than the TRM intensity. It thus would appear that if a CRM induced at temperatures considerably below the Curie tempera- Geology of Hut Point Peninsula, ture, contributes a significant proportion to the ob- Ross Island served NRM intensity, too low an intensity value will be assigned to the ancient field. Although it is too early to report a firm value for PHILIP R. KYLE the intensity of the ancient field during the imprint- Department of Geology ing of unit 13 and related flows, we think that the Victoria University strength of the ambient field was more likely to Wellington, New Zealand have been about 0.5 oe (based on samples at about 141 meters) than about 0.1 oe (based on samples SAMUEL B. TREVES 122.18 and 126.06 meters). The virtual dipole Department of Geology moment (Smith, 1967b) calculated for an estimated University of Nebraska field intensity of 0.5 oe at the site is 7 X 10 25 gauss Lincoln, Nebraska 68508 cubic centimeters. This is larger than the value of 5.5 X 1025 gauss cubic centimeters (Smith, 1967b) Hut Point Peninsula is about 20 kilometers long calculated on the basis of paleointensity experiments and 2 to 4 kilometers wide. It consists of a series of made on some Japanese andesites and basalts esti- en echelon lines of volcanic cones that extend in a mated to be 1 million years old. south-southwest direction from Mount Erebus, Ross The authors thank the National Science Founda- Island, Antarctica. The cones are composed of basan- tion and Dr. L. D. McGinnis, U.S. coordinator of jte and basanitoid lavas with lesser amounts of the Dry Valley Drilling Project, Northern Illinois hawaiite and phonolite. Most of the volcanic hones University, for making the samples available for study. of Hut Point Peninsula are on the western side of the peninsula where they constitute a well defined lineament. A subparallel, older, and less well defined References lineament occurs to the east and is traceable frm a point just east of Castle Rock to Cape Armitage. Cox, Allen V. 1966. Paleomagnetic research on volcanic The youngest lineament, however, is transverse, rocks of McMurdo Sound. Antarctic Journal of the U.S., 1(4): 136. almost at right angles, to the older trends and passes Forbes, R. B., D. L. Turner, and J . R. Carden. 1974. Age from Black Knob through Twin Crater to Crater of trachyte from Ross Island, Antarctica. Geology, 2(6) Hill. Wellman (1964) describes it as a fault. 297-298. Cole et al. (1971) and Kyle and Treves (1973) Gromme, C. S., T. L. Wright, and D. L. Peck. 1969. Magnet- ic properties and oxidation of iron-titanium oxide minerals briefly describe the geology of Hut Point Penirsula. in Alae and Makaopuhi lava lakes, Hawaii. Journal of This report updates and expands those earlier r4orts Geophysical Research, 74(22) : 5277-5293. and incorporates recent findings (Forbes et al., 974; Jaeger, J. C. 1957. The temperature in the neighborhood of Kyle, 1974; Treves and Au, 1974) and the Msults a cooling intrusive sheet. American Journal of Science, of Dry Valley Drilling Project (DVDP) drilling ir this 255(4): 306-318. Pucher, Rudolf. 1969. Relative stability of chemical and area (Treves and Kyle, 1973; Kyle and Trevs, in thermal remanence in synthetic ferrites. Earth and Plane- press), which greatly enhanced our knowledge cf the tary Science Letters, 6(2): 107-111. subsurface geology of Hut Point Peninsula and our Smith, P. J . 1967a. On the suitability of igneous rocks for understanding of the surface geology re1ationsFips. ancient geomagnetic field intensity determinations. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2(1): 99-105. Paleomagnetic measurements (table 1) were rnade Smith, P. J . 1967b. The intensity of the ancient geomagnetic on 1-inch diameter core samples of surface expoures. field: a review and analysis. Geophysical Journal of the Remanent magnetism was measured with a flugate Royal Astronomical Society, 12(4) : 321-362. spinner magnetometer. The samples were not clened. Stacey, F. D. 1967. The Koenigsberger ratio and the nature Instrumental and field orientation errors may be of thermoremanence in igneous rocks. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2(1): 67-68. ±20° for declination (D), ±10° for inclination I (I), Stacey, F. D., and S. K. Banerjee. 1974. The Physical Prin- and ±20° for magnetic intensity (J). These weas- ciples of Rock Magnetism. New York, Elsevier. 195p. urements, however, are satisfactory for determining Treves, S. B., and P. R. Kyle. 1973. Geology of DVDP 1 normal and reversed polarity. and 2, Hut Point Peninsula, Ross Island, Antarctica. In: Dry Valley Drilling Project Bulletin 2. DeKalb, Northern The younger olivine-augite basanitoid lavas, the Illinois University. 11-82. hawaiite flows from Half Moon Crater, and the 232 ANTARCTIC JOURNAL basanitoid flow of Crater Hill are normally polarized. Table 1. Paleomagnetic measurements of Hut Point The Observation Hill phonolite is reversely polarized Peninsula volcanic rocks. (Cox, 1966) and, hence, is older than 0.69 million years. (Cox, 1969). Location N J I D K R 95 Polar- ity The volcanic sequence at Hut Point Peninsula is inferred from geologic mapping, potassium-argon North dates, paleomagnetism, and geomorphic evidence. side, Twin The surface flows have been divided into five Crater 6 6.5 -23 322 870 5.994 2.3 N (?) informal sequences. The earlier, preliminary eruptive sequence (Kyle and Treves, 1973) still is the basis South end, of our stratigraphy, but it has been modified to reflect Second Crater 8 4.0 -80 208 537 7.987 2.4 N new analytical data. Potassium-argon determinations (table 2) indicate that the volcanic activity that built South end, Hut Point Peninsula occurred over a period ranging Half Moon from 0.4 to more than 1.2 million years ago. Crater 1 10.2 -78 61 - - - N The Twin Crater sequence lavas consist of olivine- augite basalt. The flows show little erosional effects Observation Hill, near and are normally polarized. The Black Knob lavas nuclear (figure) of this sequence are 0.43 million years old power and probably are the youngest volcanic rocks of the plant 9 2.7 84 319 89 8.910 5.5 R peninsula (Wellman, 1964). The paleomagnetic data and the age determinations indicate that the rocks Flows, 250 of this sequence were erupted between 0.43 and 0.69 meters north of million years ago. Scott Base 9 8.7 -88 196 1836 8.996 1.2 N The Half Moon Crater sequence consists of hawai- ite. A flow from Half Moon Crater gives a potassium- X 10 emu/cc argon date of 1.0 ± 0.2 million years (table 2) and N: number of samples; J: intensity of magnetization; D and I: shows normal magnetic polarity (table 1). It is mean declination and mean inclination of remanent magne- tism, respectively; K: precision constant; R: resultant vector; suggested here that Half Moon Crater volcanism 95: semi-vertical angle of 95 percent confidence cone; N: occurred during the Jararnillo Event (Cox, 1969), normal; R: reversed a period of normal polarity that occurred 0.90 to 0.95 million years ago. The Castle Rock sequence consists of olivine-augite, sequence, they may have been erupted during the basanitoid hyaloclastite. A potassium-argon date of Gilsa Event, a period of normal magnetic polarity 1.12 ± 0.4 million years was determined on an 1.61 to 1.79 million years ago (Cox, 1969). olivine-augite basanitoid dike that cuts the hyalo- The hyaloclastite of Castle Rock consists of olivine- clastite of Castle Rock. This age determination is augite basanitoid that, petrographically, resembles the not completely satisfactory (table 2). The hyalo- rocks of the Crater Hill sequence. If they reflect the cl2stite of this sequence is considered to be submarine same general period of igneous activity, the hyalo- or subglacial. clastite probably is an earlier phase of the Crater Hill sequence. The Observation Hill sequence consists of kaer- sutite phonolite and older, benmoreite-mugearite The hyaloclastite of Castle Rock is a sub- lavas. The latter have little surface expression but are marine or subglacial deposit. The turret shape of abundant in the subsurface, as the cores of DVDP holes 2 and 3 show (Kyle and Treves, in press). Table 2. Whole rock potassium-argon age determinations of Hut Point Peninsula volcanic rocks. Forles et al. (1974) indicate that the phonolite of Observation Hill is 1.18 ± 0.03 million years old Sample Location Age Reference (table 2), a date that is consistent with the reversed (million years) polarity (Cox, 1966). The Crater Hill sequence consists of olivine-augite 22892 Black Knob 0.43 ±0.1 R. L.Armstrong 22900 Southwest of Black basanitoid. These lavas show a moderate amount of Knob 0.58±0.06 R.L. Armstrong erosion and are overlain by phonolite lavas of the 22878 Half Moon Crater 1.0 +0.2 R. L. Armstrong Observation Hill sequence at The Gap and at Cape 22879 Dike, Castle Rock 1 . I ±0.4 This paper Armitage. Crater Hill lavas are normally polarized Observation Hill 1.18±0.03 Forbes et al., 1974 near Scott Base. Since they are older than the Victoria University number. reversely polarized lavas of the Observation Hill Written communication. September-October 1974 233 Castle Rock resembles table mountains of Iceland Kyle, P.