Authors / CoAuthors
Boger, S.D. | Carson, C.J.
Abstract
The Rayner Complex of East Antarctica is exposed between 45??80?E in the Enderby Land through Princes Elizabeth Land sector of East Antarctica. It is known to correlate with parts of present day India and to have been deformed and metamorphosed at high grades in the earliest Neoproterozoic (990-900 Ma). The age and origin of the protolith rocks of the Rayner Complex however remains largely unknown, as does the tectonic setting in which these rocks formed. New age data collected from the northern Prince Charles Mountains (eastern Rayner Complex), demonstrate that the pre-orogenic rocks from this region consist of: (1) volcanogenic and terrigenous sediments deposited between 1400 Ma and 1020 Ma in a magmatically active basin characterised by limited input from cratonic sources and, (2) probable syn-sedimentary granitoids dated to 1150 Ma. Our data confirm the continuity of the Rayner Complex into Prydz Bay, a region that preserves a remarkably similar geologic history but which is often differentiated from the Rayner Complex on the basis of a higher grade early Cambrian (~520 Ma) overprint. On the basis of our data we further conclude that the Rayner Complex protoliths likely in formed in a back-arc system that existed along the margin of the pre-Gondwana Indian craton. Anticlockwise P-T paths and high-T, low-P metamorphism associated with the inversion of the Rayner back-arc (990-900 Ma) suggest this event resulted from the accretion of a number of independent microplates, rather than continent-continent collision.
Product Type
nonGeographicDataset
eCat Id
73728
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Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
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Keywords
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- External Publication
- ( Theme )
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- Antarctic data
- ( Theme )
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- geochronology
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- AQ
- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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- Earth Sciences
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- Published_Internal
Publication Date
2012-01-01T00:00:00
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geoscientificInformation
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[-75.0, -66.0, 60.0, 70.0]
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