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Geological Surveys of Marie Byrd Land and the Central Queen Maud Range

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Geological Surveys of Marie Byrd Land and the Central Queen Maud Range This research was supported by National Science Geological surveys of Marie Byrd Land Foundation grant ov-41037X. and the central Queen Maud Range F. ALTON WADE Initial strontium 87/86 ratios and zirconium concentrations, Kirkpatrick basalt, Storm Peak, Queen Alexandra Range. The Museum Texas Tech University 87Sr Zr Lubbock, Texas 79409 Sample Flow Set - (ppm) (81Sr), Marie Byrd Land. Geologic maps of three quad- rangles in Marie Byrd Land have been completed and 27.00 1 I 0.7094 81.0 submitted to the U.S. Geological Survey (usGs) for 27.1 2 II 0.7122 193.2 publication under an arrangement with the National 27.2 2 II 0.7123 196.9 Science Foundation. Base maps used were from the 27.3 2 II 0.7120 197.4 27.4 2 II 0.7112 190.5 1:250,000 Reconnaissance Series, Antarctica, pub- Average flow #2 II 0.7119 194.5 lished by the USGS. The quadrangles are Alexandra 27.51 3 II 0.7112 179.5 Mountains, Guest Peninsula, and Boyd Glacier; a 27.13 4 II 0.7115 177.5 fourth quadrangle, Gutenko Nunataks, is in prepara- 27.56 5 II 0.7113 177.5 27.17 6 III 0.7144 188.1 tion. 27.18 6 III 0.7122 190.9 Detailed studies of the plutons intruded in western Average flow #6 III 0.7133 189.5 Marie Byrd Land in Middle Paleozoic and Cretaceous 27.24 7 III 0.7129 195.8 are in progress. Granodiorites generally characterize 27.25 7 III 0.7120 192.0 the older plutons and granites, and leucogranites the Average flow #7 III 0.7125 193.9 27.64 8 III 0.7105 170.1 younger. Basic plutons and flows associated with either 27.67 9 III 0.7108 150.5 of the two events are relatively few in number and 27.28 10 III 0.7103 121.5 their total volume is relatively small. 27.29 10 III 0.7095 114.4 The oldest known rocks in the area are a thick Average flow #10 III 0.7099 118.0 27.36 11 IV 0.7117 199.9 sequence of metasediments and metavolcanics that 27.41 12 IV 0.7095 219.7 accumulated in a marginal eugeosyncline in the Late Precambrian to Early Paleozoic (Lopatin and Adjusted according to evidence presented by Faure et al. Orlenko, 1972). Subsequent deformations during two (in press). or more orogenies, each followed by a long interval of erosion, have partially obliterated the record of the sequence of events. An attempt, however, is being made to reconstruct the early history of this part of References West Antarctica through a detailed study of speci- Elliot, D. H. 1970. Jurassic tholeiitic basalts of the central mens from many outcrops. To assist in this task, Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. In: Second Co- zonation by means of acritarch assemblages will be lumbia River Basalt Symposium, Proceedings (Gilmour, attempted. Acritarchs and algal remains have been E. H., and D. Stradling, editors): 301-325. Cheney, East- reported in a few specimens from this area (Iltchenko, ern Washington State College Press. Elliot, D. H. 1972. Major oxide chemistry of the Kirkpatrick 1972). basalt, central Transantarctic Mountains. In: Antarctic Queen Maud Range. The basement complex in the Geology and Geophysics (Adie, R. J ., editor): 413-418. Shackleton Glacier area of the Queen Maud Range, Oslo, Universitetsforlaget. Transantarctic Mountains, has been restudied in de- Faure, G., R. L. Hill, L. M. Jones, and D. H. Elliot. 1972. Isotope composition of strontium and silica content of tail. Conclusions have been reached that are some- Mesozoic basalt and dolerite from Antarctica. In: Ant- what different from those previously reported (Wade arctic Geology and Geophysics (Adie, R. J . , editor) et al., 1965). A final report on this study is in prepara- 617-624. Oslo, Universitetsforl age t. tion. A brief summary of the salient conclusions is Faure, G., J . R. Bowman, D. H. Elliot, and L. M. Jones. presented here. In press. Strontium isotope composition and petrogenesis of the Kirkpatrick basalt, Queen Alexandra Range, Ant- Two sequences of metasediments are exposed in the arctica. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology. area. On either side of Ramsey Glacier a sequence of Flanagan, F. J . 1973. 1972 values for international geo- eugeosynclinal fine- to medium-grained arkosic sand- chemical reference samples. Geochemica et Cosmochemica stones and siltstones crop out. The strike of the bed- Acta, 37: 1189-1200. ding planes is roughly north-south and dips are near Prinz, M. 1967. Geochemistry of basaltic rocks: trace ele- ments. In: Basalts: The Poldervaart Treatise on Rocks of vertical. Sills of andesite intrude the sediments. Meta- Basaltic Composition (Hess, H. H., and A. Poldervaart, morphism has produced biotite facies metasediments. editors), I: 271-324. Interscience. Microfabric studies revealed two deformation events. September-October 1974 241 This sequence is provisionally correlated with the McGregor is of the opinion that the Fairweather for- Goldie formation (Grindley et al., 1974; Grindley and mation, which crops out near the mouth of Livingston McDougall, 1969: Oliver, 1972). Glacier, is principally composed of metavolcanics that The second sequence has been termed the Taylor resemble those of the Wyatt formation (Minshew, formation (Wade et al., 1965). It is well exposed on 1967). The Wyatt, Fairweather, and Taylor forma- both sides of Shackleton Glacier. At Taylor Nunatak tions probably are correlative. The thick sequence the type section is composed of a sequence of marbles, of slates, phyllites, schists, and marbles that conform- ash fall and ash flow tuffs, metaconglomerates, ably underlie the metavolcanics of the Shackleton rhyolites, and metabasalts. The sequence has a mini- Glacier area and that were included in the Taylor mum thickness of 2,500 meters. On the west side of formation has not been observed elsewhere. A new the glacier at Mount Greenlee the metavolcanic se- formation, the Greenlee formation, is proposed: it is quence alone has a minimum thickness of 2,500 restricted to only the prevolcanic geosynclinal se- meters. There the metavolcanics overlie a thick se- quence of metasediments. A suggested regional corre- quence of metasediments that includes slates, phyllites, lation of Precambrian and Cambrian formations is schists, and marbles. Degree of metamorphism varies presented in the table. During the Ross Orogeny with amphibloite facies representing the highest de- leucogranites, granites, granodiorites, quartz diorites, gree. The beds of the Taylor formation have been and alaskites were intruded into the greatly deformed deformed into major folds, the axes of which trend pile of geosynclinal sediments. They appear to be the roughly east-west. result of complete granitization, granodioritization, The Taylor formation originally was correlated and metasomatism of a portion of the sedimentary with the Cambrian Shackleton limestone and Henson pile. They represent portions of the very extensive marble (Wade et al., 1965). In the light of this most Queen Maud batholith. recent investigation, it appears that the Taylor forma- The valuable assistance in these studies of Mr. Carl tion should be correlated provisionally with the Pre- A. Cathey and Ms. Dona R. Long, research assistants, cambrian Wyatt formation (Minshew, 1967). The Antarctic Research Center, is gratefully ackriowl - Wyatt formation crops out in the Wisconsin Range edged. This work was supported by National Science and in the Scott Glacier areas and is composed of Foundation grant GV-22901A. felsic metavolcanics not unlike those of the Taylor formation. In support of this proposal is the fact that overlying the Taylor formation near Mount Cole is a References thick section of massive, coarsely crystalline, pure Grindley, G. W., I. M. McDougall. 1969. Age and correla- white marble that fits the description of a portion of tion of the Nimrod group and other Precambrian rock the Henson marble (McGregor, 1965). No contact units in the central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 12: is exposed and a snow-covered interval of at least 200 391-411. meters separates the outcrops of the two formations. Grindley, G. W., V. R. McGregor, and R. I. Walcott. 1964. Outline of the geology of the Nimrod-Beardmore-Axel Heiberg glaciers region, Ross Dependency. In: Antarctic Regional correlations of Precambrian and Cambrian forma. Geology. Amsterdam, North-Holland. 206-218. tions in the Queen Maud Range and adjacent areas, Trans. Iltchenko, L. N. 1972. Late Precambrian acritarchs of Ant- antarctic Mountains. arctica. In: Antarctic Geology and Geophysics (Adie, R. J . , editor). Oslo, Universitetsforlaget. 599-602. Shackelton Lopatin, B. G., and E. M. Orlenko. 1972. Outline of the Wisconsin Range Duncan Shackelton Glacier, geology of Marie Byrd Land and the Eights Coast. In: Scott Glacier Mountains Glacier Nimrod Antarctic Geology and Geophysics (Adie, R. J. , editor). (Minshew, 1967) (McGregor, (this paper) Glacier Oslo, Universitetsforlaget. 245-250. 1965) (Grindley McGregor, V. R. 1965. Geology of the area between the et al., 1965) Axel Heiberg and Shackleton Glaciers, Queen Maud Range, Antarctic; part I, basement complex, structure, CAMBRIAN and glacial geology. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 8: 314-343. Leverett Henson Henson Shackelton Minshew, V. H., Jr. 1967. Geology of the Scott Glacier land formation marble marble formation Wisconsin Range areas, central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. Ph.D. dissertation, The Ohio State University. PRECAMBRIAN Oliver, R. L. 1972. Geology of an area near the mouth of Wyatt Fairweather Taylor Beardmore Glacier, Ross Dependency. In: Antarctic formation formation formation Geology and Geophysics (Adie, R. J . , editor). Oslo, Greenlee Universitetsforlaget. 379-386. formation Wade, F. A., V. L. Yeats, J . R. Everett, E. W. Greenlee, Lagorce Duncan Goldie Goldie K. E. LaPrade, and J . C. Shenk. 1965. The geology of the formation formation formation formation central Queen Maud Range, Transantarctic Mountains, Amphibolites Nimrod group Antarctica.
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