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Thermochronological data from the Dronning Maud Land Mountains, East Antarctica – a review

Authors:
Hallgeir Sirevaag at University of Bergen
Hallgeir Sirevaag
Joachim Jacobs at University of Bergen
Joachim Jacobs
Anna Katharina Ksienzyk at Norges geologiske undersøkelse
Anna Katharina Ksienzyk
István Dunkl at University of Göttingen
István Dunkl
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Thermochronological data from the Dronning Maud Land
Mountains, East Antarctica – a review
Hallgeir Sirevaag1, Joachim Jacobs1, Anna Ksienzyk1, István Dunkl2
1 Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Allégaten 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway
2 Geoscience Center, University of Göttingen, Goldschmidtstrasse 3, D-37077 Göttingen,
Germany
The paleo-topography of East Antarctica is highly relevant for the development of the East
Antarctic ice-sheet. It is likely that the 1500 km long, coast-parallel Dronning Maud Land
Mountains (Figure 1) have resulted in a significant amount of precipitation prior to the
initiation of the 34 Ma glaciation history of East Antarctica. Due to this, the paleo-topography
should be used as an important input parameter for the glaciation history.
Figure 1 – Satellite image of the Dronning Maud Land Mountains, East Antarctica. Note the
direction of the diminishing thermal influence, observed as progressively older AFT ages
towards east.
The amount of quantitative measurements for the exhumation history of Antarctica is very
limited as 98% of the continent is covered by ice. However, since the onset of
thermochronological studies in the Dronning Maud Land Mountains in 19921, the area has
been a subject of several thermochronological studies (Jacobs, et al. 1,2, Jacobs and Lisker 3,
Meier 4,5 and Emmel, et al. 6,7).
The first thermochronological studies from Heimefrontfjella and Mannefjellknausane
recorded a Jurassic thermal event associated with the Jurassic flood basalts related to the
Karoo mantle plume and the rifting between East Antarctica and East Africa (Jacobs, et al.
1,2). Thermochronological data from Heimefrontfjella and Mannefjellknausane published by
Jacobs and Lisker 3 indicated that the Mesoproterozoic basement and the Permian sandstones
were covered by 2000 meters of Jurassic flood basalt. In the Mühlig-Hofmann Mountains and
the Gjelsvikfjella to the E, no significant Jurassic thermal event have been recordedHowever,
a combined titanite and apatite study by Emmel, et al. 7 did not record any significant Jurassic
thermal event in the Gjelsvikfjella and Mühlig-Hofmann Mountains. This has been used as a
constraint for the lateral extent of the flood basalts. Also, the thermochronological analyses
presented in Jacobs and Lisker 3 indicated that the AFT ages gets progressively older towards
the SE. Based on these analyses, paleo-isotherms dipping towards the SE were suggested.
In addition to the already published data, new, unpublished AHe data from a transect of the
northern part of Jutulstraumen show relatively young ages at the rift flanks (~50 Ma) and
progressively older ages further away from the rift flanks, indicating significant Cenozoic
erosion (Ksienzyk et al., unpublished data). This is the basis for presently ongoing
thermochronological studies.
References
1 Jacobs, J., Hejl, E., Wagner, G. A. & Weber, K. Apatite fission track evidence for contrasting thermal
and uplift histories of metamorphic basement blocks in western Dronning Maud Land. Recent Progress
in Antarctic Earth Science, edited by Y. Yoshida, K. Kaminuma, and K. Shiraishi, 323-330 (1992).
2 Jacobs, J., Ahrendt, H., Kreutzer, H. & Weber, K. K-Ar, 40Ar-39Ar and apatite fission-track evidence
for Neoproterozoic and Mesozoic basement rejuvenation events in the Heimefrontfjella and
Mannefallknausane (East Antarctica). Precambrian Research 75, 251-262 (1995).
3 Jacobs, J. & Lisker, F. Post Permian tectono-thermal evolution of western Dronning Maud Land, East
Antarctica: an apatite fission-track approach. Antarctic Science 11, 451-460,
doi:doi:10.1017/S0954102099000589 (1999).
4 Meier, S. Paleozoic and Mesozoic tectono-thermal history of central Dronning Maud Land, East
Antarctica-evidence from fission-track thermochronology. Berichte zur Polarforschung (Reports on
Polar Research) 337 (1999).
5 Meier, S., Jacobs, J. & Olesch, M. Tectono-thermal Evolution of Central Dronning Maud Land, East
Antarctica, from Mid-Palaeozoic to Cenozoic Times: Zircon and Apatite Fission-Track Data from the
Conradgebirge and Ostliche Petermannkette. Geologisches Jahrbuch Reihe B 96, 423-448 (2004).
6 Emmel, B., Jacobs, J., Crowhurst, P. & Daszinnies, M. Combined apatite fission-track and single grain
apatite (U–Th)/He ages from basement rocks of central Dronning Maud Land (East Antarctica)—
Possible identification of thermally overprinted crustal segments? Earth and Planetary Science Letters
264, 72-88 (2007).
7 Emmel, B., Jacobs, J. & Daszinnies, M. C. Combined titanite and apatite fission-track data from
Gjelsvikfjella, East Antarctica – another piece of a concealed intracontinental Permo-Triassic
Gondwana rift basin? Geological Society, London, Special Publications 324, 317-330,
doi:10.1144/sp324.21 (2009).
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
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Post Permian tectono-thermal evolution of western Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica: an apatite fission-track approach
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 1999
  • ANTARCT SCI
New apatite fission-track (AFT) ages from Heimefrontfjella and Mannefallknausane indicate that the Mesoproterozoic basement and Permian sedimentary cover rocks were heated to c. 100°C during the Mesozoic. Heating was due to the burial by up to 2000 m of Jurassic lavas at c. 180 Ma, when the area was affected by the Bouvet/Karoo hot spot. Near the developing coastline, the lava pile was quickly eroded and in part deposited on the continental shelf as pebbly and coarse-grained volcaniclastic sandstones. The AFT data indicate that farther inland the lava pile was not eroded until c. 100 Ma, and the Palaeozoic unconformity between the Mesoproterozoic basement and Permo–Carboniferous sedimentary rocks as a reference plane remained at temperatures of c. 80°C. Formation of an up to 800 m b.s.l. deep graben in from Heimefrontfjella as well as flexural uplift and rapid denudational cooling of the not extended crust from Heimefrontfjella southwards occurred at c. 100 Ma. It is speculated that a period of major plate reorganisation and new rifting at c. 100 Ma is responsible for affecting a much wider continental margin as far inland as Heimefrontfjella and producing a total relief in excess of 3500 m.
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Combined titanite and apatite fission-track data from Gjelsvikfjella, East Antarctica - another piece of a concealed intracontinental Permo-Triassic Gondwana rift basin?
Article
Full-text available
  • Sep 2009
Titanite and apatite fission-track ages from Gjelsvikfjella and the eastern Mühlig-Hofmann Mountains, East Antarctica, range between 516 ± 50 and 323 ± 30 Ma and 366 ± 16 and 186 ± 9 Ma, respectively. The thermochronological data set indicates differential cooling of two tectonic blocks (Hochlinfjellet-Festninga and Risemedet). Inverse modelled time-temperature paths suggest that the Hochlinfjellet-Festninga block cooled at first below 60 °C during the mid-Palaeozoic, whereas the Risemedet block cooled during the earliest Triassic. Differential cooling is most probably related to physical separation along active faults, which is associated with Gondwana-wide intracontinental rifting. This tectonic activity shaped the land- scape in the study area along structures running perpendicular to the continental margin of Dronning Maud Land. A rift locus was possibly located along the Penck-Jutul graben west of the study area. In contrast to other parts of Dronning Maud Land, Jurassic magmatism and initial break-up between East Africa and East Antarctica did not influence the apatite FT data. Modelled apatite fission-track data indicate the onset of final cooling since the Early Cretaceous, suggesting post-Cretaceous unroofing of the palaeosurfaces in eastern Dronning Maud Land.
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KAr, 40Ar39Ar and apatite fission-track evidence for Neoproterozoic and Mesozoic basement rejuvenation events in the Heimefrontfjella and Mannefallknausane (East Antarctica)
Article
  • Dec 1995
  • PRECAMBRIAN RES
KAr, 40Ar39Ar and apatite fission-track data reveal two tectono-thermal events in the Heimefrontfjella post-dating the main crust-forming event at ∼ 1.1 Ga. KAr and 40Ar39Ar mica dates of ∼ 500 Ma indicate a thermal episode which coincides with the Pan-African orogeny, the postulated time of initial Gondwana amalgamation. It is shown that the Pan-African orogeny of Heimefrontfjella possibly forms part of a foreland belt, with its core located somewhere east of Dronning Maud Land. Apatite fission-track dates of ∼ 100 Ma indicate a thermal event at the time of Gondwana fragmentation, when continental flood basalts buried and subsequently heated the basement.
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Combined apatite fission-track and single grain apatite (U–Th)/He ages from basement rocks of central Dronning Maud Land (East Antarctica) — Possible identification of thermally overprinted crustal segments?
Article
  • Dec 2007
  • EARTH PLANET SC LETT
Apatite fission-track (FT) and single grain (U–Th)/He ages from four vertical profiles in central Dronning Maud Land (East Antarctica) range from 312 ± 20 Ma to 135 ± 11 Ma and 304 ± 28 Ma to 104 ± 8 Ma, respectively. The combined age data allows to discriminate between undisturbed cooled (due to exhumation) and thermally overprinted crustal blocks. Profiles at the Zwieselhöhe and the Conradgebirge revealed unusual apatite FT vs. elevation relationships and (U–Th)/He ages older than the corresponding central apatite FT ages, possibly providing evidence for a Jurassic thermal overprint. Most probably Jurassic magmatism and associated advective heating led to total annealing of the apatite fission-tracks but helium only partially diffused. The model developed in this paper suggests that the (U–Th)/He ages from the Zwieselhöhe and Conradgebirge profiles are in part relicts of the pre-Jurassic cooling history.
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Mesozoic tectono-thermal history of central Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica-evidence from fission-track thermochronology
  • Jan 1999
  • S Meier
  • Paleozoic
Meier, S. Paleozoic and Mesozoic tectono-thermal history of central Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica-evidence from fission-track thermochronology. Berichte zur Polarforschung (Reports on Polar Research) 337 (1999).