The Archaean cratonic block of the Vestfold Hills, Princess Elizabeth Land is one of only three well-documented examples in East Antarctica. It is characterised by tectonically interlayered tonalitic to granitiC orthogneisses (Mossel gneiss) and garnetiferous paragneisses (Chelnok supracrustal assemblage) as well as sub- ordinate units of predominantly mafic granulite (Tryne meta-volcanics). This sequence is cut by a second suite of orthogneisses (Crooked Lake gneiSS), ranging in composition from gabbro-diorite to tonalite and granite, which was emplaced synchronously with the last major phase of deformation. Cutting the gneisses are several suites of Proterozoic tholeiitic dykes, including a high-Mg suite, which range in age from about 2350 Ma to 1300 Ma. Most dykes are unmetamorphosed, but, in the southwestern part of the VestfoldHills, high-pressure garnet-bearing assemblages developed during a late Proterozoic (about 1100 Ma) thermal event. Granulite facies gneisses that crop out southwest of the Vestfold Block, along the coast of Prydz Bay, show the regional effect of this younger metamorphism and form part of an extensive late Proterozoic high-grade terrain, which makes up much of the East Antarctic Shield. Gneisses in the Rauer Group of Islands, within 30 km of the Vestfold Hills, are lithologically similar (predominantly orthogneisses) to those of the Vestfold Block, and contain metamorphosed relics of Vestfold dykes; however, they include only a minor component derived by remetamorphism of Archaean continental crustal rocks. In contrast, gneisses further to the southwest were mainly derived from aluminous sedimentary protoliths, and are quite different in composition to those of the Vestfold Block and Rauer Group. They do not appear to have been intruded by mafic dykes (mafic granulite is very rare) and apparently represent a Proterozoic cover sequence of similar age to metasedimentary sequences in MacRobertson Land. Intrusion of locally fayalite- bearing granitic rocks took place about 500 Ma ago.

A well-preserved Late Triassic palynoflora from the upper Flagstone Bench Formation, Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica, contains taxa that are also widely distributed in coeval Tethyan Laurasian assemblages. The most common and distinctive of these elements in the present assemblage are: Enzonalasporites vigens, E. densus, cf. Ellipsovelatisporites sp., Minutosaccus crenulatus, cf. Rimaesporites aquilonalis, Ovalipollis ovalis, Samaropollenites speciosus, and Duplicisporites scurrilis. The assemblage is assigned to the Australian Minutosaccus crenulatus Zone, and considered to be of Norian age. Gondwanan palynofloras containing these Laurasian elements are assigned to the Onslow Microflora, which is represented by Middle and Late Triassic palynomorph assemblages from Madagascar, western and northern Australia, East Africa, and Peninsular India. Occurrences of the Onslow Microflora appear to be confined to sediments deposited in palaeolatitudes between about 40o-30oS. As well as climatic controls, we suggest that other factors influenced the distribution of the parent floral communities. In particular, availability of migration pathways along Tethyan coastal plains, that were exposed during periods of sealevel regression, was an important factor controlling the rapid dispersal of certain Triassic plants. Marine influence on the present assemblage is evident by the rare spinose acritarchs, and one specimen of a dinocyst of the Shublikodinium-Rhaetogonyaulax plexus; this is the first record of a Triassic dinocyst from Antarctica.

The Brattstrand Paragneiss, a highly deformed Neoproterozoic granulite-facies metasedimentary sequence, is cut by three generations of ~500 Ma pegmatite. The earliest recognizable pegmatite generation, synchronous with D2-3, forms irregular pods and veins up to a meter thick, which are either roughly concordant or crosscut S2 and S3 fabrics and are locally folded. Pegmatites of the second generation, D4, form planar, discordant veins up to 20-30 cm thick, whereas the youngest generation, post-D4, form discordant veins and pods. The D2-3 and D4 pegmatites are abyssal class (BBe subclass) characterized by tourmaline + quartz intergrowths and boralsilite (Al16B6Si2O37); the borosilicates prismatine, grandidierite, werdingite and dumortierite are locally present. In contrast, post-D4 pegmatites host tourmaline (no symplectite), beryl and primary muscovite and are assigned to the beryl subclass of the rare-element class. Spatial correlations between B-bearing pegmatites and B-rich units in the host Brattstrand Paragneiss are strongest for the D2-3 pegmatites and weakest for the post-D4 pegmatites, suggesting that D2-3 pegmatites may be closer to their source. Initial 87Sr/86Sr (at 500 Ma) is high and variable (0.7479-0.7870), while -Nd500 tends to be least evolved in the D2-3 pegmatites (-8.1 to -10.7) and most evolved in the post-D4 pegmatites (-11.8 to -13.0). Initial 206Pb/204Pb and 207Pb/204Pb and 208Pb/204Pb ratios, measured in acid-leached alkali feldspar separates with low U/Pb and Th/Pb ratios, vary considerably (17.71-19.97, 15.67-15.91, 38.63-42.84), forming broadly linear arrays well above global Pb growth curves. The D2-3 pegmatites contain the most radiogenic Pb while the post-D4 pegmatites have the least radiogenic Pb; data for D4 pegmatites overlap with both groups. Broad positive correlations for Pb and Nd isotope ratios could reflect source rock compositions controlled two components. Component 1 (206Pb/204Pb-20, 208Pb/204-43, Nd -8) most likely represents old upper crust with high U/Pb and very high Th/Pb. Component 2 (206Pb/204Pb -18, 208Pb/204Pb~38.5, -Nd500 -12 to -14) has a distinctive high-207Pb/206Pb signature which evolved through dramatic lowering of U/Pb in crustal protoliths during the Neoproterozoic granulite-facies metamorphism. Component 1, represented in the locally-derived D2-3 pegmatites, could reside within the Brattstrand Paragneiss, which contains detrital zircons up to 2.1 Ga old and has a wide range of U/Pb and Th/Pb ratios. The Pb isotope signature of component 2, represented in the 'far-from-source' post-D4 pegmatites, resembles feldspar Pb isotope ratios in Cambrian granites intrusive into the Brattstrand Paragneiss. However, given their much higher 87Sr/86Sr, the post-D4 pegmatite melts are unlikely to be direct magmatic differentiates of the granites, although they may have broadly similar crustal sources. Correlation of structural timing with isotopic signatures, with a general sense of deeper sources in the younger pegmatite generations, may reflect cooling of the crust after Cambrian metamorphism.

Upper Permian silicified gymnospenn woods from the Bainmedart Coal Measures (Amery Group) near Beaver Lake, East Antarctica, are described as two new species, Australoxylon bainii and A. mondii, on the basis of morphometric and qualitative characters - including ray anatomy, tracheid shape, and cross-field pit structure. Australoxylon mondii has two forms, one of which is characterised by a distinctive ray architecture comprising semidetached rows of ray cells with intervening gaps bridged by sporadic joins. Wood of Vertebraria could not be distinguished from Australoxylon mondii on microanatomical characters, which suggests that these two organ taxa may represent different parts of the same glossopterid plant. Many characters used traditionally in wood taxonomy could not be applied owing to substantial variation or preservational differences both within and between specimens. Three types of presumed biogenic cavities occur in the woods. Coprolite-containing cavities distributed in seasonal bands represent rare evidence for Permian wood-boring arthropods. Other, irregularly distributed cavities and appositions were probably fonned by pathogenic fungi. Growth-ring analysis indicates a markedly seasonal climate with low to moderate interseasonal variation in wood production. Significant intraseasonal influences on growth are also evidenced by numerous false rings.

Magnetic observatories capable of providing long-period results in absolute measures have been operated in Australia and its territories on and off since 1840. As the first such observatory (that at Gottingen, built by Gauss) was erected only eight years earlier, a long tradition has been established in the observational aspects of the science. In 1979 six observatories are operating: one in Papua New Guinea (recently transferred to that countrys Geological Survey), three in Australia, one in the sub-Antarctic, and one in Antarctica. The number and disposition of continental observatories is inadequate. The factors which should be considered in planning any future network are outlined.

Granitic rocks in different terranes and of different ages in the Prince Charles Mountains (PCM) show systematic compositional differences. Archaean granitic basement rocks of the southern PCM have compositions unlike those of typical Archaean tonalite- tronhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) terranes and consist mainly of within-plate types, which probably post-date crust formation and early metamorphic events. Unusually HFSE-rich (Zr, Nb, and Y) hornblende-biotite granite gneiss with A-type (anorogenic) affinities was probably derived by fractionation of mafic magma, but other granites represent intracrustal melts. Orthopyroxene-bearing tonalitic to granitic orthogneiss of the c. 1000 Ma high-grade terrane in the northern PCM and adjacent areas includes a large proportion of Y-depleted, Sr-undepleted volcanic arc granitoids, probably derived by melting of a plagioclase-poor mafic source (e.g. amphibolite or eclogite) in a Palaeo- or Mesoproterozoic Andean-type plate margin. Tonalite-granodiorite and mafic to felsic metavolcanic rocks at Fisher Massif also formed in an active continental margin, with an associated island arc, about 1300 million years ago. Most c. 1000 Ma granitoids also have volcanic arc characteristics, but there are significant syn-collision and within-plate types, indicating a polygenetic origin in a high-grade terrane formed at a convergent plate margin. Syn to late-metamorphic orthopyroxene granitoids (charnockites) include HFSE-rich quartz monzonitic varieties, which probably formed by fractionation of mantle-derived magma, and more siliceous granites, which represent high-temperature, predominantly intracrustal melts of dry granulite-facies orthogneiss. These granites are mainly Y-depleted, implying high-pressure melting with residual garnet in crust thickened by continental collision (between Archaean cratons in India and Antarctica) and heated by magmatic underplating. Major Cambrian plutons have A-type features, consistent with melting of dry granulite-facies rocks caused by mafic underplating. Emplacement near the present Lambert Glacier graben suggests an association with internal fracturing that preceded eventual break-up of Gondwana.

Continued research In late Palaeozoic palynological biostratigraphy In Australia since about 1970 permits the delineation of a series of informally defined palynostratigraphic units In both Western and eastern Australia. The units include both informal assemblage zones and taxon-range-zones. In the older, pre-glacial (and periglacial) part of the Carboniferous, two palynofloras, designated the Granulatisporite. frustulentus and the Secarisporites Microfloras are recognised. The Granulatisporites frustulentus Microflora is subdivided Into the Grandispora spiculifera Assemblage, of Tournaisian age, and the Anapiculatisporites largus Assemblage, which spans the early to late Visean Interval. The succeeding Secarisporites Microflora, the contents of which are incompletely described, is subdivided into three: the Grandispora maculosa, Anabaculites yberti, and Potonieisporites Assemblages. The Secarisporites Microflora characterises strata ranging in age from late Visean to perhaps Missourian. The preglacial palynofloras are best known from the Canning and Bonaparte Gulf Basins in Western Australia, but are known in eastern Australia from scattered localities in the Drummond Basin and the New England Block. For the later Carboniferous and Permian, palynostratigraphic schemes have developed independently in Western and eastern Australia. In Western Australia, the Canning Basin interval commencing with the glacials of the Grant Formation at the base, and extending to the top of the Liveringa Formation, has provided the stratigraphic standard for the definition of eight informal palynological assemblages, designated Units I to VIII. These span a time Interval approximately equivalent to the Missourian to late Guadalupian. In eastern Australia, the palynostratigraphic schemes currently in use represent modifications of the palynological Stages synthesised by Evans (1969). Subdivisions within these stages are based in most cases on the first appearances of individual form-species; two subdivisions have been described within both Stages 2 and 3, three within Stage 4, and four within Stage 5. Correlation of these new units with the assemblage units described from Western Australia is tentative at present. The subdivisions of Evans scheme have been identified within, inter alia, the Bowen, Cooper, Galilee, Sydney, and Tasmania Basins. Recent studies in Antarctica have compared palynological assemblages from the central Transantarctic Mountains and south Victoria Land with eastern Australian palynofloras: Stages 2, 4, and 5 have been identified from these areas. Assemblages from the Prince Charles Mountains have been referred to Stage 5.

High-grade metamorphic and felsic igneous rocks from the northern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica, have been characterised geochemically and dated from SHRIMP zircon geochronological data. Around 980 Ma ago, voluminous magmas representing a combination of mantle-derived and intracrustal melts, including orthopyroxene-quartz monzonite (charnockite) on Loewe Massif and granitic and syenitic intrusions on Mount Collins, were emplaced during a regional high-grade tectonothermal event. Garnet leucogneiss sheets on Mount McCarthy, the products of local partial melting, were also emplaced at about this time. The geology of Fisher Massif is exceptional in that a ca 1280-Ma metavolcanic sequence and coeval granodiorite have been metamorphosed only up to the lower amphibolite facies, and intruded by a ca 1020-Ma biotite granite. None of the analysed sarnples shows in its isotopic systematics the effects of 500-Ma events, prominent elsewhere in East Antarctica. Rare inherited components 1850-1900 Ma old were found in some samples. A paragneiss on Mount Meredith yielded 2500- 2800-Ma and 1800-2100-Ma detrital zircon populations.

Early Archaean ( >3 b.y. old) metapelites from the Napier Complex of East Antarctica are enriched in MgO and depleted in K2O and Rb compared with late Archaean and Proterozoic metapelites, probably reflecting a higher proportion of mafic to ultramafic material and sodic (tonalitic to granodioritic) felsic igneous rocks in the source. A number of the more magnesian are strongly depleted in Cr, Ni, Cu, and V, and may have been formed by metamorphism of sediments derived from hydrothermally altered mafic or ultramafic igneous rocks. There is evidence for metamorphic depletion of Rb relative to K in these high-temperature granulite facies metapelites, many of which have high K/Rb ratios, and for depletion of U relative to Th in granulite-facies metapelites compared with those of amphibolite facies. The unique occurrence, on a regional scale, of assemblages containing sapphirine + quartz, and osumilite in metapelites of the Napier Complex may be due to their unusual chemical compositions, as well as to exceptionally high temperatures of metamorphism (900-950°C). Such assemblages are found only in the more magnesian rocks (mostly with mg > 0.6) in the Napier Complex, whereas younger metapelites are, with few exceptions, relatively iron-rich. Nevertheless, regional high-grade metamorphism with geothermal gradients sufficiently steep to allow formation of these rare assemblages is likely to have been confined to the Archaean.

This study presents the first analysis of benthic megafauna and habitats on the Sabrina Coast shelf, East Antarctica, encompassing an area that has been proposed as a Marine Protected Area. Analysis of seabed images indicates that this shelf is comprised of a relatively abundant benthic fauna compared to other parts of the Antarctic shelf, and is dominated by brittle stars, polychaete tubeworms and a range of other sessile and mobile taxa. The distribution of taxa across this shelf is strongly related ( = 0.592) to variations in water depth, latitude, substrate type and the occurrence of phytodetritus. Areas with a high percent cover by phytodetritus are associated with muddy/sandy sediments, with relatively high abundances of mobile holothurians and amphipods, while harder substrates have high abundances of brachiopods, various forms of hard bryozoans, polychaete tubeworms, a range of massive and encrusting sponges and sea whips. Brittle stars, irregular urchins and anemones occur throughout. Variations in substrate type largely reflect the scattered distribution of dropstones, which creates habitat heterogeneity at fine-scales. Several taxa are found only on areas of hard substrate, with most of these taxa showing a broad distribution across the study area, indicating that the density of dropstones is sufficient for most sessile invertebrates to disperse across the region. A few taxa (the hexactinellid sponge Anoxycalyx joubini and branching hydrocorals) show a more restricted distribution. The distribution of hydrocorals may be influenced by their limited dispersal capability, while A. joubini is most likely restricted by water depth. The occurrence of dropstones is associated with significant increases in taxa diversity, abundance and percent biological cover, enhancing the overall diversity and biomass of this ecosystem.