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Early Palaeozoic intracratonic shears and post-tectonic cooling in the Rauer Group, Prydz Bay, East Antarctica constrained by 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Christopher J.L. Wilson ,
Cameron Quinn ,
Laixi Tong  and
David Phillips
Christopher J.L. Wilson*
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
Cameron Quinn
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
Laixi Tong
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
David Phillips
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

The Rauer Group, in Prydz Bay, contains reworked Archaean-Proterozoic crust in high-strain zones that formed during a pervasive high-temperature ductile deformation event related to intracratonic mechanisms. The effects of this event extend southwards from Prydz Bay into the southern Prince Charles Mountains. The associated structural evolution involved development of ductile and brittle structures that formed during an approximately north–south directed transpressional deformation event that is confined to high-grade (>800°C) shear zones in the Rauer Group. Minerals from the Rauer Group, yield 40Ar/39Ar cooling ages ranging from 560 to 460 Ma. Thermal histories derived from hornblende, biotite and feldspar suggest that the onset of rapid cooling began sometime prior to 510 Ma with cooling rates of c. 42 to 33°C myr-1 from c. 510 Ma to c. 500 Ma. Whereas, 40Ar/39Ar data obtained from plagioclase and K–feldspar suggest a slower cooling from c. 500 Ma to c. 460 Ma with cooling rates from 5 to 2°C myr-1. These results demonstrate that the early Palaeozoic cooling history and comparable palaeostress regimes are regionally extensive, which has important implications for the tectonothermal and stress-field variability across Gondwana. The elevated thermal conditions would induce lithospheric weakening and promote the early Palaeozoic intraplate orogeny observed in eastern Antarctica with the development of a large intracratonic shear system.

Keywords

Ar/Ar datingEarly PalaeozoicEast Antarcticaintracratonic shear zonesmetamorphismRauer Group
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , September 2007 , pp. 339 - 353
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2007

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