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Provenance of Glacially Transported Material Near Nimrod Glacier, East Antarctica: Evidence of the Ice- Covered East Antarctic Shield

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Provenance of Glacially Transported Material Near Nimrod Glacier, East Antarctica: Evidence of the Ice- Covered East Antarctic Shield PROVENANCE OF GLACIALLY TRANSPORTED MATERIAL NEAR NIMROD GLACIER, EAST ANTARCTICA: EVIDENCE OF THE ICE- COVERED EAST ANTARCTIC SHIELD A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL ·OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Devon Michele Brecke IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE May,2007 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I'd like to thank my advisor, John Goodge, for the opportunity to pursue research in the geological sciences. Thank you for the amazing experience to travel abroad and explore the beautiful Transantarctic Mountains of Antarctica. Your guidance and support will always be appreciated. Thank you to Kathy Licht, Andy Barth, Emerson Palmer, Peter Bradock, Kenn Borek Twin Otter flight support, and McMurdo Station personnel. Without the hard-work and dedication of these individuals and the National Science Foundation this project would not have been possible. I would like to thank my committee members, Jim Miller and Paul Siders, for their interest and enthusiasm regarding this project. Thank you to the National Science Foundation, Geological Society of America, University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) Department of Geological Sciences, and UMD College of Science and Engineering for funding to conduct and present this research. I am grateful for the support of many other individuals including Howard Mooers (UMD), Karl Worth (Macalester College), Jeff Thole (Macalester College), Ellery Frahm (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Electron Microprobe Laboratory), Val Chandler (Minnesota Geologic Survey), and the UMD faculty and staff. Last, I would like to thank my family and friends for their on-going support, especially my parents who have always provided a loving home to return to after each adventure. ABSTRACT Evaluation by glacial-clast petrography, igneous whole-rock geochemistry, metamorphic mineral composition, and magnetic susceptibility of glacially eroded, transported, and deposited material near Nimrod Glacier, East Antarctica provide information on the composition of the ice-covered East Antarctic shield. Precambrian basement of East Antarctica is only documented in the Transantarctic Mountains near the polar plateau of Nimrod Glacier, providing an ideal location to look for adjacent sub-ice Precambrian terrain. Over 100 igneous and metamorphic rock clasts collected from moraines near the head of Nimrod Glacier show both local and transported material. Physical characteristics of local rock fall show angular edges, whereas distantly transported material exhibits rounded edges, glacial striations, or rock types only seen upstream. Most metamorphic rock types collected show intense deformation fabrics, high-grade mineral assemblages, and high-grade P-T conditions, which are similar to the Archean and Paleoproterozic Nimrod Group. Many igneous rocks may originate from either the Nimrod Group or from the syn-tectonic and post-tectonic Cambrian-Ordovician Granite Harbour Intrusive series, and some come from nearby Ferrar dolerite (Jurassic). These samples are compared to Cambrian-Ordovician rocks in southern Victoria Land, which differ in trace element trends. Although many of the clasts can be explained by local derivation, others appear exotic and may represent more distal origins in the shield interior. Future geochronology will help to refine the relative contributions of local and distal sources to test these conclusions. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION: Acknowledgements I Abstract 11 Table of Contents lll Introduction 1 Background 4 Methods 19 Results 26 Petrography 26 Igneous Whole-Rock Geochemistry 33 Metamorphic Mineral Composition 44 Magnetic Susceptibility 59 Discussion 62 Conclusions 67 References 69 Appendix A: Petrographic Sample Descriptions 77 Appendix B: Igneous Whole-Rock Geochemistry XRF Data 107 Appendix C: Metamorphic Mineral Composition Electron Microprobe Data 112 Appendix D: Magnetic Susceptibility Data 117 lll LIST OF FIGURES: Page Figure 1. Map of Antarctica 3 Figure 2. Radarsat image of study area 6 Figure 3. Geologic map of study area 7 Figure 4. Ice thickness map of Antarctica 14 Figure 5. Sub-ice topography near McMurdo Station, East Antarctica 17 Figure 6. Flow chart of rock types collected at primary site locations 27 Figure 7. Pie charts of rock types collected near Nimrod Glacier 30 Figure 8. AFM diagram 34 Figure 9. Geochemical data of moraine samples and Dry Valleys area 36 Figure 10. Geochemical data of moraine samples and Darwin Glacier area 37 Figure 11. Nb Harker diagram 39 Figure 12. Geochemical spider diagram normalized to chondrites 41 Figure 13. Ferrar-type geochemical spider diagram normalized to chondrites 42 Figure 14. Tectonic setting discriminant diagram 43 Figure 15. Backscatter images and element composition maps 46 Figure 16. P-T data for samples AGD, MRH, and MRJ 47 Figure 17. P-T data for samples AGE, AGG, and AGH 48 Figure 18. P-T data for samples MRT and TNE 49 Figure 19. P-T data for samples AGF, TNF, and KTF 50 Figure 20. Summary of P-T data 58 Figure 21. Rock type and magnetic susceptibility flow chart 60 IV LIST OF TABLES: Page Table 1. P-T data of moraine samples 59 Table 2. Mineral composition of biotite 112 Table 3. Mineral composition of garnet 113 Table 4. Mineral composition of garnet continued 114 Table 5. Mineral composition of muscovite 115 Table 6. Mineral composition of staurolite 115 Table 7. Mineral composition of pyroxene 115 Table 8. Mineral composition of amphibole 116 Table 9. An content of plagioclase 116 v INTRODUCTION The vast majority of Antarctica is ice covered, leaving 98 percent of the continental geology unmapped and unknown. Analysis of rock units exposed along the continental margin and geophysical surveys conducted over ice have enabled earth scientists to begin to understand the history of East Antarctica's major Precambrian shield, but such studies cover only a small area of the continent. The limited TAM basement represents the Pacific margin of the Archean to Neoproterozoic East Antarctic shield (Goodge et al., 2001). Sub-ice rock types in East Antarctica can be examined through analysis of glacially-transported rock material. This approach makes accessible a natural and random assortment of rock types once located under the East Antarctic ice sheet (EAIS). This method is more economical and logistically easier than drilling through the ice sheet and it can provide a more complete record of the sub-ice geology. In addition, ice-scoured samples may provide material from a large area of ice cover, rather than just a few specific locations. Glacially transported material can be evaluated in several ways: 1. characterize sediment compositions and accessory mineral suites in glaciomarine sediment (Domack, 1982; Licht et al., 2005) 2. isotopic study of fine-grained glaciomarine materials (Farmer et al., 2003) 3. detrital-mineral geochronology, especially zircon, to determine age and provenance signatures (Goodge et al., 2006) 4. petrologic, geochemical and geochronologic study of rock clasts in glacial moraines (Peucat et al., 2002). This study takes advantage of the rich record provided by glacial moraine deposits. 1 Moraine deposits are useful because they contain material that has been naturally removed from bedrock beneath the interior of the ice sheet, transported, and deposited on the surface. For example, Peucat et al. (2002) collected exotic rock clasts from moraine deposits along the Terre Adelie margin of Wilkes Land in East Antarctica and compared them petrologically, geochemically, and geochronologically to the Mezoproterozoic Gawler Range Volcanics of South Australia. Results from this study showed evidence of similar rock types and ages in both areas, providing a more conclusive connection between the two continents prior to rifting. Their study demonstrates the effectiveness of using glacially-transported rock material in order to provide better constraints on subglacial Antarctic geology. This study focuses on moraine samples collected from the Nimrod Glacier region (Figure 1). Here the adjacent well-mapped basement outcrops represent the only known exposure of Archean rocks in the Transantarctic Mountains (TAM). Description of petrography, whole-rock igneous geochemistry, metamorphic mineral compositions, and magnetic susceptibility data from over 100 large rock clasts provides a foundation with which to compare moraine samples to mapped rock units. 2 O" D CJ n Maud Land 0 Weddell Sea /\/\ 80°$ EAST /\ ANTARCTICA Pensacola /\ /\ Gamburtsev /\ Subglacial Mountains Mountains , /\ South 90' W - -+---+-- ---+----+---!- 90' E /\ 85'5 80'5 75°$ 70°5 WEST ANTARCTICA Aurora Subglacial Amundsen Sea Basin \ 'l Wilkes Land .. , f!.ictoria \. Land \ KEY /\ ? I\ t TAM Study D Area 180' Figure l : Map of Antarctica illustrating geographic and subglacial areas of interest. 3 BACKGROUND Study area and site locations Study Area The TAM mark the paleo-Pacific boundary of East Antarctica. The TAM are held up by basement rocks of the early Paleozoic Ross orogen, including Neoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks, a succession of lower Paleozoic sedimentary units, and Cambro- Ordovician intrusions of a calc-alkaline batholith (Stump, 1995; Goodge et al., 2002). Locally, in the upper Nimrod Glacier area, older crystalline basement rocks are exposed that record an Archean and Paleoproterozoic history of the adjacent East Antarctic cratonic shield (Borg et al., 1990; Goodge and Fanning, 1999; Goodge et al., 2001). All of the basement units are overlain by a Devonian to Jurassic cover sequence (Beacon Supergroup),
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