TY - JOUR
T1 - Asymmetric extension associated with uplift and subsidence in the Transantarctic Mountains and Ross Embayment
AU - Fitzgerald, Paul G.
AU - Sandiford, Michael
AU - Barrett, Peter J.
AU - Gleadow, Andrew J.W.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank K A Hegarty, RI Walcott, TS Stern, F J Davey, J A Gamble, P J J Kamp and B.P Wernicke for their comments on various drafts of this paper P G Fitzgerald was supported by a Melbourne University Post-Graduate Scholarship and M Sandfford by a C S I R O Post-Doctorate Fellowsl'up Antarctic fieldwork has been part of the New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme supported by the Antarctic Division, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and the University Grants Committee This project was also supported by the Australian Research Grants Scheme and is part of the Melbourne University Programme in Antarctic Studies
PY - 1986/12
Y1 - 1986/12
N2 - Apatite fission track data combined with regional geological observations indicate that the uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains has been coeval with thinning and subsidence of the crust beneath the Ross Embayment. In the Dry Valleys region of south Victoria Land, the mountains have been uplifted about 5 km since the early Cenozoic at an average rate of about 100 m/Ma. During uplift, the crust remained at constant thickness or was slightly thickened by magmatic underplating. In contrast, the crust beneath the Ross Embayment has been extended and consequently thinned beginning in the Late Cretaceous but mainly during Cenozoic times. We suggest here that the uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains and the subsidence of the Ross Embayment are a result of passive rifting governed by a fundamental structural asymmetry defined by a shallow crustal penetrative detachment zone that dips westward beneath the Transantarctic Mountain Front. The localization and asymmetry of this detachment and its unusually deep level expression are attributed to a profound crustal anisotropy inherited from an early Palaeozoic collision along the present site of the mountain range.
AB - Apatite fission track data combined with regional geological observations indicate that the uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains has been coeval with thinning and subsidence of the crust beneath the Ross Embayment. In the Dry Valleys region of south Victoria Land, the mountains have been uplifted about 5 km since the early Cenozoic at an average rate of about 100 m/Ma. During uplift, the crust remained at constant thickness or was slightly thickened by magmatic underplating. In contrast, the crust beneath the Ross Embayment has been extended and consequently thinned beginning in the Late Cretaceous but mainly during Cenozoic times. We suggest here that the uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains and the subsidence of the Ross Embayment are a result of passive rifting governed by a fundamental structural asymmetry defined by a shallow crustal penetrative detachment zone that dips westward beneath the Transantarctic Mountain Front. The localization and asymmetry of this detachment and its unusually deep level expression are attributed to a profound crustal anisotropy inherited from an early Palaeozoic collision along the present site of the mountain range.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0022842112&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0022842112&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/0012-821X(86)90101-9
DO - 10.1016/0012-821X(86)90101-9
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0022842112
SN - 0012-821X
VL - 81
SP - 67
EP - 78
JO - Earth and Planetary Science Letters
JF - Earth and Planetary Science Letters
IS - 1
ER -