Hostname: page-component-76d6cb85b7-92wsb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-07-14T10:58:09.801Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Contrasting geological background based on the geochemistry of the mafic metamorphic rocks in central Dronning Maud Land

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2023

Sotaro Baba Open the ORCID record for Sotaro Baba [Opens in a new window] ,
Masaaki Owada ,
Tomokazu Hokada ,
Tatsuro Adachi  and
Nobuhiko Nakano
Sotaro Baba*
Affiliation:
Department of Science Education, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan
Masaaki Owada
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi, 753-8512 Japan
Tomokazu Hokada
Affiliation:
National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo 190-8518, Japan
Tatsuro Adachi
Affiliation:
Division of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan
Nobuhiko Nakano
Affiliation:
Division of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan
*
Author for correspondence: Sotaro Baba, Email: baba@edu.u-ryukyu.ac.jp
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper reports geochemical characteristics of mafic gneisses and granulites collected from four localities in central Dronning Maud Land to evaluate the tectonic setting of their precursor rocks. Precursor rocks for the mafic gneisses and granulites in central Dronning Maud Land were formed in different geological backgrounds and tectonic settings. The mafic gneisses and granulites in the Schirmacher Hills were derived from basaltic rocks in a back-arc setting. Published U–Pb zircon ages and the geochemical variation of the basement rocks indicate their emplacement between 800 and 650 Ma, close to peak metamorphism. While similar protoliths were recognized in the inland nunataks of Hochlinfjellet, in Filchnerfjella the mafic gneisses/granulites were derived from basaltic rocks formed in marginal continental arcs or island arcs. Highly disturbed trace-element patterns indicate that the metamorphic process influenced the geochemical composition during the prograde metamorphic stage. Our results imply that the outcrops in central Dronning Maud Land with different metamorphic ages contain mafic gneisses/granulites from precursor rocks formed under different tectonic settings.

Keywords

East AntarcticaDronning Maud Landgeochemistrytectonic setting

Information

Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 160 , Issue 5 , May 2023 , pp. 993 - 1009
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Baba, S, Hokada, T, Kaiden, H, Dunkley, DJ, Owada, M and Shiraishi, K (2010) SHRIMP zircon U-Pb dating of sapphirine-bearing granulite and biotite-hornblende gneiss in the Schirmacher Hills, east Antarctica: implications for Neoproterozoic ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism predating the assembly of Gondwana. Journal of Geology 118, 621–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baba, S, Horie, K, Hokada, T, Owada, M, Adachi, T and Shiraishi, K (2015) Multiple collisions in the east African-Antarctica orogen: constraints from timing of metamorphism in the Filchnerfjella and Hochlinfjellet terranes in central Dronning Maud Land. Journal of Geology 123, 55–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baba, S, Owada, M, Grew, ES and Shiraishi, K (2006) Sapphirine granulite from Schirmacher Hills, central Dronning Maud Land. In Antarctic Contributions to Global Earth Science (eds Fütterer, DK, Damaske, D, Kleinschmidt, G, Miller, H and Tessensohn, F), pp. 37–44. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Baba, S, Owada, M and Shiraishi, K (2008) Contrasting metamorphic P-T path between Schirmacher Hills and Mühlig-Hofmannfjella, central Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. In Geodynamic Evolution of East Antarctica: A Key to the East–West Gondwana Connection (eds Satish-Kumar, M, Motoyoshi, Y, Osani, Y, Hiroi, Y and Shiraishi, K), pp. 401–17. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 308.Google Scholar
Beccaluva, L, Bianchini, G, Natali, C and Siena, F (2009) Continental flood basalts and mantle plumes: a case study of the northern Ethiopian Plateau. Journal of Petrology 50, 1377–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bingen, B, Jacobs, J, Viola, G, Henderson, IHC, Skår, Ø, Boyd, R, Thomas, RJ, Solli, A, Key, RM and Daudi, EXF (2009) Geochronology of the Precambrian crust in the Mozambique belt in NE Mozambique, and implications for Gondwana assembly. Precambrian Research 170, 231–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bucher, K and Frost, BR (2006) Fluid transfer in high-grade metamorphic terrains intruded by anorogenic granites: the Thor Range, Antarctica. Journal of Petrology 47, 567–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cabanis, B and Lecolle, M (1989) Le diagramme La/10-Y/15-Nb/8: un outil pour la discrimination des series volcaniques et la mise en evidence des processus de melange et/ou de contamination crustale. Comptes Rendus de l’Academie des Sciences, Serie 2 309, 2023–9.Google Scholar
Churikova, T, Dorendorf, F and Worner, G (2001) Sources and fluids in the mantle wedge below Kamchatka, evidence from across-arc geochemical variation. Journal of Petrology 42, 1567–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desta, MT, Ishiwatari, A, Sumiaki Machi, S, Arai, S, Tamura, A, Ledneva, GV, Sokolov, SD, Moiseev, AV and Bazylev, BA (2015) Petrogenises of Triassic gabbroic and basaltic rocks from Chukotka, NE Russia: eastern end of the ‘arc–type’ Siberian LIP? Journal of Mineralogical and Petrological Sciences 110, 249–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elvevold, S, Engvik, AK, Abu-Alam, TS, Myhre, PI and Corfu, F (2020) Prolonged high-grade metamorphism of supracrustal gneisses from Mühlig-Hofmannfjella, central Dronning Maud Land (East Antarctica). Precambrian Research 339, 105618. doi: 10.1016/j.precamres.2020.105618.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engvik, AK and Elvevold, S (2004) Pan-African extension and near-isothermal exhumation of a granulite facies terrain, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Geological Magazine 141, 649–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzsimons, ICW (2000) Grenville-age basement provinces in East Antarctica: evidence for three separate collisional orogens. Geology 28, 879–82.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grantham, GH, Macey, PH, Horie, K, Kawakami, T, Ishikawa, M, Satish-Kumar, M, Tsuchiya, N, Graser, P and Azevedo, S (2013) Comparison of the metamorphic history of the Monapo Complex, northern Mozambique and Balchenfjella and Austhameren area, Sør Rondane, Antarctica: implications for the Kuunga Orogeny and the amalgamation of N and S. Gondwana. Precambrian Research 234, 85–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grantham, GH, Macey, PH, Ingram, BA, Roberts, MP, Armstrong, RA, Hokada, T, Shiraishi, K, Jackson, C, Bisnath, A and Manhica, V (2008) Terrane correlation between Antarctica, Mozambique and Sri Lanka; comparisons of geochronology, lithology, structure and metamorphism and possible implications for the geology of south Africa and Antarctica. In Geodynamic Evolution of East Antarctica: A Key to the East–West Gondwana Connection (eds Satish-Kumar, M, Motoyoshi, Y, Osani, Y, Hiroi, Y and Shiraishi, K), pp. 85–119. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 308.Google Scholar
Huang, S, Regelous, M, Thordarson, T and Frey, FA (2005) Petrogenesis of lavas from Detroit Seamount: geochemical differences between Emperor Chain and Hawaiian volcanoes. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 6, Q01L06. doi: 10.1029/2004GC000756.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ito, J and Shiraki, K (1999) Picrite basalts from the Pliocene Ueguskudake Formation in Kume-jima, Ryukyu Island. Journal of the Geological Society of Japan 105, 810–13.Google Scholar
Jacobs, J, Bauer, W and Fanning, CM (2003) Late Neoproterozoic/Early Palaeozoic events in central Dronning Maud Land and significance for the southern extension of the East African Orogen into East Antarctica. Precambrian Research 126, 27–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, J, Elburg, M, Läufer, A, Kleinhanns, IC, Henjes-Kunst, F, Estrada, S, Ruppel, A, Damaske, D, Montero, P and Bea, F (2015) Two distinct Late Mesoproterozoic/Early Neoproterozoic basement provinces in central/eastern Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica: the missing link, 15–21E. Precambrian Research 265, 249–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, J, Mikhalsky, E, Henjes-Kunst, F, Läufer, A, Thomas, RJ, Elburg, MA, Wang, CC, Estrada, S and Skublov, S (2020) Neoproterozoic geodynamic evolution of easternmost Kalahari: constraints from U-Pb-Hf-O zircon, Sm-Nd isotope and geochemical data from the Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica. Precambrian Research 342, 105553. doi: 10.1016/j.precamres.2019.105553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, J, Opås, B, Elburg, MA, Läufer, A, Estrada, S, Ksienzyk, AK, Damaske, D and Hofmann, M (2017) Cryptic sub-ice geology revealed by a U-Pb zircon study of glacial till in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. Precambrian Research 294, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, J and Thomas, RJ (2004) Himalayan-type indenter-escape tectonics model for the southern part of the late Neoproterozoic–early Paleozoic East African-Antarctic orogen. Geology 32, 721–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kempton, PD, Downes, H and Embey-Isztin, A (1997) Mafic granulite xenoliths in Neogene alkali basalts from the western Pannonian Basin: insights into the lower crust of a collapsed orogen. Journal of Petrology 38, 941–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kempton, PD and Harmon, RS (1992) Oxygen isotope evidence for large-scale hybridization of the lower crust during magmatic underplating. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 56, 971–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meert, J (2003) A synopsis of events related to the assembly of eastern Gondwana. Tectonophysics 362, 1–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meschede, M (1986) A method of discriminating between different types of mid-ocean ridge basalts and continental tholeiites with the Nb–Zr–Y diagram. Chemical Geology 56, 207–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ohta, Y (1993) Nature Environment Map, Gjelsvikfjella and Western Mühlig-Hofmannfjella, Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, Scale 1:100,000. Temakart 24. Norsk Polarinstitutt.Google Scholar
Owada, M, Baba, S, Läufer, A, Elvebold, S, Shiraishi, K and Jacobs, J (2003) Geology of eastern Mühlig-Hofmannfjella and Filchnerfjella in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica: a preliminary report on a Japan–Norway–Germany joint geological investigation. Polar Geosciences 16, 108–36.Google Scholar
Owada, M, Baba, S, Osanai, Y and Kagami, H (2008) Geochemistry of post-kinematic mafic dykes from central to eastern Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica: evidence for a Pan-African suture in Dronning Maud Land. In Geodynamic Evolution of East Antarctica: A Key to the East–West Gondwana Connection (eds Satish-Kumar, M, Motoyoshi, Y, Osani, Y, Hiroi, Y and Shiraishi, K), pp. 235–52. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 308.Google Scholar
Paulsson, O and Austrheim, H (2003) A geochronological and geochemical study of rocks from Gjelsvikfjella, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica—implications for Mesoproterozoic correlations and assembly of Gondwana. Precambrian Research 125, 113–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearce, JA (2008) Geochemical fingerprinting of oceanic basalts with applications to ophiolite classification and the search for Archaean oceanic crust. Lithos 100, 14–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rameshwar Rao, D, Rashid, SA and Panthulu, GVC (2000) Origin of Mg-metatholeiites of the Schirmacher region, East Antarctica: constraints from trace elements and Nd-Sr isotopic systematics. Gondwana Research 3, 91–104.Google Scholar
Rameshwar Rao, D, Sharma, R and Gururajan, NS (1997) Mafic granulites of Schirmacher region, East Antarctica: fluid inclusion and geothermobarometric studies focusing on the Proterozoic evolution of crust. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 88, 1–17.Google Scholar
Ravikant, V, Bühn, B and Pimentel, M (2018) Zircon U-Pb age constraints for Tonian-early Cryogenian deposition of metasedimentary rocks from the Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica: implications for correlations across the Mozambique Ocean. Polar Science 18, 39–47.Google Scholar
Ruppel, A, Jacobs, J, Eagles, G, Läufer, A and Jokat, W (2018) New geophysical data from a key region in East Antarctica: estimates for the spatial extent of the Tonian Oceanic Arc Super Terrane (TOAST). Gondwana Research 59, 97–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saunders, AD and Tarney, J (1979) The geochemistry of basalts from a back-arc spreading centre in the East Scotia Sea. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 43, 555–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sengupta, S (1993) Tectonothermal history recorded in mafic dykes and enclaves of gneissic basement in the Schirmacher Hills, East Antarctica. Precambrian Research 63, 273–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shinjo, R and Miyamoto, M (2007) Analytical accuracy and precision of major and trace elements for bulk rocks using a l:5 dilution glass bead by XRF. Reports of the Faculty of Science of Ryukyu University 84, 5–13 (in Japanese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Shiraishi, K, Dunkley, DJ, Hokada, T, Fanning, CM, Kagami, H and Hamamoto, T (2008) Geochronological constraints on the Late Proterozoic to Cambrian crustal evolution of eastern Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica: a synthesis of SHRIMP U-Pb age and Nd model age data. In Geodynamic Evolution of East Antarctica: A Key to the East–West Gondwana Connection (eds Satish-Kumar, M, Motoyoshi, Y, Osani, Y, Hiroi, Y and Shiraishi, K), pp. 21–67. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 308.Google Scholar
Shuto, K, Nakajima, S, Ohki, J, Uematsu, M, Watanabe, N and Yamamoto, K (1995) High field strength element depletions in the lithospheric mantle beneath the Northeast Japan arc. Memoir of the Geological Society of Japan 44, 241–62 (in Japanese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Stern, RJ (1994) Arc assembly and continental collision in the Neoproterozoic East Africa Orogen: implications for the consolidation of Gondwana. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 22, 319–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suda, Y, Kawano, Y, Yaxley, G, Korenaga, H and Hiroi, Y (2008) Magmatic evolution and tectonic setting of metabasites from Lützow-Holm Complex, East Antarctica. In Geodynamic Evolution of East Antarctica: A Key to the East–West Gondwana Connection (eds Satish-Kumar, M, Motoyoshi, Y, Osani, Y, Hiroi, Y and Shiraishi, K), pp. 211–33. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 308.Google Scholar
Sun, S-S and McDonough, WF (1989) Chemical and isotopic systematics of oceanic basalts: implications for mantle composition and processes. In Magmatism in the Ocean Basins (eds Saunders, AD and Norry, MJ), pp. 313–45. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 42.Google Scholar
Thompson, RN, Morrison, MA, Dickin, AP and Hendry, GL (1983) Continental flood basalts… Arachnids rule OK? In Continental Basalts and Mantle Xenoliths (eds Hawkesworth, CJ and Norry, MJ), pp. 158–85. Nantwich: Shiva.Google Scholar
Togashi, S, Tanak, T, Yoshida, T, Ishikawa, K, Fujinawa, A and Kurasawa, H (1992) Trace elements and Nd-Sr isotopes of arc tholeiites from frontal arc of Northeast Japan. Geochemical Journal 26, 261–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, S, Beier, C, Niu, Y and Cook, C (2011) U–Th–Ra dis-equilibria and the extent of off-axis volcanism across the East Pacific Rise at 9°30′N, 10°30′N, and 11°20′N. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 12, Q0AC12. doi: 10.1029/2010GC003403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodhead, JD (1996) Extreme HIMU in an oceanic setting: the geochemistry of Mangaia Island (Polynesia), and temporal evolution of the Cook-Austral hotspot. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 72, 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Baba et al. supplementary material

Table S1

Download Baba et al. supplementary material(File)
File 81.8 KB