Abstract Orientated carbonate (calcite twinning strains; n = 78 with 2414 twin measurements) and quartzites (finite strains; n = 15) were collected around Gondwana to study the deformational history associated with the amalgamation of the supercontinent. The Buzios orogen (545–500 Ma), within interior Gondwana, records the high-grade collisional orogen between the São Francisco Craton (Brazil) and the Congo–Angola Craton (Angola and Namibia), and twinning strains in calc-silicates record a SE–NW shortening fabric parallel to the thrust transport. Along Gondwana's southern margin, the Saldanian–Ross–Delamerian orogen (590–480 Ma) is marked by a regional unconformity that cuts into deformed Neoproterozoic–Ordovician sedimentary rocks and associated intrusions. Cambrian carbonate is preserved in the central part of the southern Gondwana margin, namely in the Kango Inlier of the Cape Fold Belt and the Ellsworth, Pensacola and Transantarctic mountains. Paleozoic carbonate is not preserved in the Ventana Mountains in Argentina, in the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas or in Tasmania. Twinning strains in these Cambrian carbonate strata and synorogenic veins record a complex, overprinted deformation history with no stable foreland strain reference. The Kurgiakh orogen (490 Ma) along Gondwana's northern margin is also defined by a regional Ordovician unconformity throughout the Himalaya; these rocks record a mix of layer-parallel and layer-normal twinning strains with a likely Himalayan (40 Ma) strain overprint and no autochthonous foreland strain site. Conversely, the Gondwanide orogen (250 Ma) along Gondwana's southern margin has three foreland (autochthonous) sites for comparison with 59 allochthonous thrust-belt strain analyses. From west to east, these include: finite strains from Devonian quartzite preserve a layer-parallel shortening (LPS) strain rotated clockwise in the Ventana Mountains of Argentina; frontal (calcite twins) and internal (quartzite strains) samples in the Cape Fold Belt preserve a LPS fabric that is rotated clockwise from the autochthonous north–south horizontal shortening in the foreland strain site; Falkland Devonian quartzite shows the same clockwise rotation of the LPS fabric; and Permian limestone and veins in Tasmania record a thrust transport-parallel LPS fabric. Early amalgamation of Gondwana (Ordovician) is preserved by local layer-parallel and layer-normal strain without evidence of far-field deformation, whereas the Gondwanide orogen (Permian) is dominated by layer-parallel shortening, locally rotated by dextral shear along the margin, that propagated across the supercontinent.

Abstract Preserved rocks in the Jurassic Ferrar Large Igneous Province consist mainly of intrusions, and extrusive rocks, the topic of this chapter, comprise the remaining small component. They crop out in a limited number of areas in the Transantarctic Mountains and southeastern Australia. They consist of thick sequences of lavas and sporadic occurrences of volcaniclastic rocks. The latter occur mainly beneath the lavas and represent the initial eruptive activity, but also are present within the lava sequence. The majority are basaltic phreatomagmatic deposits and in at least two locations form immense phreatocauldrons filled with structureless tuff breccias and lapilli tuffs with thicknesses of as much as 400 m. Stratified sequences of tuff breccias, lapilli tuffs and tuffs are up to 200 m thick. Thin tuff beds are sparsely distributed in the lava sequences. Lava successions are mainly 400–500 m thick, and comprise individual lavas ranging from 1 to 230 m thick, although most are in the range of 10–100 m. Well-defined colonnade and entablature are seldom displayed. Lava sequences were confined topographically and locally ponded. Water played a prominent role in eruptive activity, as exhibited by phreatomagmatism, hyaloclastites, pillow lava and quenching of lavas. Vents for lavas have yet to be identified.

Abstract The Lower Jurassic Ferrar Large Igneous Province consists predominantly of intrusive rocks, which crop out over a distance of 3500 km. In comparison, extrusive rocks are more restricted geographically. Geochemically, the province is divided into the Mount Fazio Chemical Type, forming more than 99% of the exposed province, and the Scarab Peak Chemical Type, which in the Ross Sea sector is restricted to the uppermost lava. The former exhibits a range of compositions (SiO 2 = 52–59%; MgO = 9.2–2.6%; Zr = 60–175 ppm; Sr i = 0.7081–0.7138; ε Nd = −6.0 to −3.8), whereas the latter has a restricted composition (SiO 2 = c. 58%; MgO = c. 2.3%; Zr = c. 230 ppm; Sr i = 0.7090–0.7097; ε Nd = −4.4 to −4.1). Both chemical types are characterized by enriched initial isotope compositions of neodymium and strontium, low abundances of high field strength elements, and crust-like trace element patterns. The most basic rocks, olivine-bearing dolerites, indicate that these geochemical characteristics were inherited from a mantle source modified by subduction processes, possibly the incorporation of sediment. In one model, magmas were derived from a linear source having multiple sites of generation each of which evolved to yield, in sum, the province-wide coherent geochemistry. The preferred interpretation is that the remarkably coherent geochemistry and short duration of emplacement demonstrate derivation from a single source inferred to have been located in the proto-Weddell Sea region. The spatial variation in geochemical characteristics of the lavas suggests distinct magma batches erupted at the surface, whereas no clear geographical pattern is evident for intrusive rocks.

Abstract The Jurassic igneous rocks of Dronning Maud Land represent Karoo flood basalt magmatism in Antarctica. Fifty years of research has documented systematic differences between magmas associated with the Karoo rift-zone (Vestfjella and Ahlmannryggen) and the rift-shoulder (Sembberget, Kirwanveggen) settings. The 189–182 Ma rift-zone tholeiites were chemically diverse and mainly formed compound-braided flow fields which record several magnetic polarity reversals. In contrast, the c. 181 Ma rift-shoulder tholeiites were chemically uniform and formed thick tabular sheet lavas within a single normal polarity period. The volcanic architecture records a long initial phase of slow eruptions from shield volcanoes in the initial rift and a brief phase of voluminous fissure eruptions flooding the rift shoulder. All of the major magma types in the rift-zone and rift-shoulder settings belong to a Nb-depleted category of Karoo flood basalts and were mainly derived from depleted convective upper mantle by magmatic differentiation. Pyroxenite-rich mantle components may have been significant sources for the most enriched magma types. Geochemical fingerprints of recycled crustal material imply that the Nb-depleted Karoo tholeiites may have been derived from mildly subduction-modified parts of the same overall upper-mantle reservoir which has been associated with the Ferrar tholeiites.

Abstract Two small monogenetic volcanoes are exposed at Mount Early and Sheridan Bluff, in the upper reaches of Scott Glacier. In addition, the presence of abundant fresh volcanic detritus in moraines at two other localities suggests further associated volcanism, now obscured by the modern Antarctic ice sheet. One of those occurrences has been attributed to a small subglacial volcano only c. 200 km from South Pole, making it the southernmost volcano in the world. All of the volcanic outcrops in the Scott Glacier region are grouped in a newly defined Upper Scott Glacier Volcanic Field, which is part of the McMurdo Volcanic Group (Western Ross Supergroup). The volcanism is early Miocene in age ( c. 25–16 Ma), and the combination of tholeiitic and alkaline mafic compositions differs from the more voluminous alkaline volcanism in the West Antarctic Rift System. The Mount Early volcano was erupted subglacially, when the contemporary ice was considerably thicker than present. By contrast, lithologies associated with the southernmost volcano, currently covered by 1.5 km of modern ice, indicate that it was erupted when any associated ice was either much thinner or absent. The eruptive setting for Sheridan Bluff is uncertain and is still being investigated.

Abstract This study discusses the petrological and geochemical features of two monogenetic Miocene volcanoes, Mount Early and Sheridan Bluff, which are the above-ice expressions of Earth's southernmost volcanic field located at c. 87° S on the East Antarctic Craton. Their geochemistry is compared to basalts from the West Antarctic Rift System to test affiliation and resolve mantle sources and cause of melting beneath East Antarctica. Basaltic lavas and dykes are olivine-phyric and comprise alkaline (hawaiite and mugearite) and subalkaline (tholeiite) types. Trace element abundances and ratios (e.g. La/Yb, Nb/Y, Zr/Y) of alkaline compositions resemble basalts from the West Antarctic rift and ocean islands (OIB), while tholeiites are relatively depleted and approach the concentrations levels of enriched mid-ocean ridge basalt (E-MORB). The magmas evolved by fractional crystallization with contamination by crust; however, neither process can adequately explain the contemporaneous eruption of hawaiite and tholeiite at Sheridan Bluff. Our preferred scenario is that primary magmas of each type were produced by different degrees of partial melting from a compositionally similar mantle source. The nearly simultaneous generation of lower degrees of melting to produce alkaline types and higher degrees of melting forming tholeiite was most likely to have been facilitated by the detachment and dehydration of metasomatized mantle lithosphere.