Paleomagnetic Studies of the Northern Antarctic Peninsula Jurassic
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Paleomagnetic studies of the vide necessary information on the ages of magnetization of the sampled units. northern Antarctic Peninsula Certain conclusions may be drawn on the basis of available information (Watts, Bramall, and Watts 1981). The Early Ter- tiary Ezcurra Inlet Group lavas are especially good recorders DOYLE R. WAUS of the paleomagnetic field. The poles derived from these rocks are very similar to Early Tertiary poles predicted for the east Department of Earth Sciences antarctic craton by rotation of well-documented poles from the University, Leeds global data set. This confirms an earlier conclusion (Watts United Kingdom 1981) that either the Antarctic Peninsula has not moved with and respect to the east antarctic craton since the Early Tertiary, or Earth Sciences and Resources Institute that any movement has been a rotation about a pole of spread- University of South Carolina Columbia, South Carolina 29208 ing located approximately at the present geographical pole. Those hypotheses that require a large-scale translation of the Antarctic Peninsula with respect to East Antarctica during the Tertiary may be rejected on the basis of these data. Laboratory studies of oriented core samples collected from the northern Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands When the age determinations are completed, the northern Antarctic Peninsula polar wander track from the period 120 to during the 1977-78 and 1979-80 field seasons were completed recently at the paleomagnetic laboratory at the University of 40 million years ago will be documented. These data, com- Leeds. The purpose of the investigation is to determine the bined with recent results from the Ellsworth Mountains (Watts direction of the paleomagnetic field with respect to the pen- and Bramall 1981, in press), will reveal aspects of the move- insula for the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. These data are poten- ments of the microcontinents that comprise West Antarctica. This work was supported by National Science Foundation tially useful for determining the motion of this region with DPP DPP 79-21102. respect to other parts of Gondwanaland and testing various grants 77-23427 and hypotheses concerning the interaction of the Antarctic, Pacific, and Indian plates. Measurements of magnetic remanence were made using a References Digico complete results spinner magnetometer and the pro- totype United Kingdom cryogenic magnetometer. Demagne- Watts, D. R. 1981. Potassium-argon and paleomagnetic results from tization experiments were carried out with a tumbler alternat- King George Island, South Shetland Islands. In C. Craddock (Ed.), ing field device and thermal demagnetization apparatus. Antarctic geoscience. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. A large body of data is now available as characteristic mag- Watts, D. R., and Bramall, A. M. 1981. Palaeomagnetic evidence from netizations have been identified in the Tertiary Ezcurra Inlet the Ellsworth Mountains support microplate nature of western Ant- Group lavas, the Point Hennequin Group lavas, the possibly arctica. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 64(4), Mesozoic intrusive rocks from the Danger Islands, Wideopen 271. Watts, D. R., and Bramall, A. M. In press. Upper Cambrian palaeo- Islands, Etna Island, and the igneous rocks from Hope Bay, magnetism of the Ellsworth Mountains: Evidence for a displaced Byers Peninsula, Greenwich Island, and Snow Island. A partial terrain in western Antarctica. Nature. synthesis of these results was read before the Geological Soci- Watts, D. R., Bramall, A. M., and Watts, G. C. 1981. Cainozoic and ety of London in October 1981. The final interpretation awaits Mesozoic(?) palaeomagnetic results from the northern Antarctic the completion of a potassium-argon (K-Ar) age determination Peninsula. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, program now in progress at the Ohio State University to pro- 64(4), 271. Jurassic-Cretaceous palynology of mian). Apart from recycled specimens, they are the first Tithonian-Barremian palynomorphs reported from Antarctica. Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island, Forty-eight samples collected during the February 1980 Antarctica expedition (P./v Hero cruise 80-2; Elliot and Askin 1980) to Byers Peninsula were examined for palynomorphs. Outcrops of fine- grained sedimentary rocks suitable for palynological study were scarce, and in many cases the sediments were too baked ROSEMARY A. ASKIN by adjacent igneous rocks for preservation of palynomorphs. Ten main localities were sampled, of which localities 2, 4, 6, Department of Geology Colorado School of Mines 9, and 10 (figure) include productive samples. Samples from Golden, Colorado 80401 the other localities are barren of palynomorphs or contain skeletal grains too poorly preserved to identify. The productive samples contain often abundant but poorly Samples from 5 of 10 localities on Byers Peninsula, Livings- preserved spores and pollen (land-plant-derived microfossils) ton Island (figure), contain stratigraphically useful palyno- and dinoflagellates (marine phytoplankton). Among the morph species. The assemblages range in age from possible spores occurring in most samples and identifiable to species uppermost Jurassic (Tithonian) to Lower Cretaceous (Barre- level are the long-ranging species Cyathidites australis Couper, 1981 REVIEW 11.