Journal
ACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA-ENGLISH EDITION
Volume 84, Issue 2, Pages 306-320Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-6724.2010.00142.x
Keywords
apatite fission-track thermochronology; exhumation; normal faulting; Cenozoic; Larsemann hills; East Antarctica
Categories
Funding
- National Tenth Five-Year Project for Antarctic Sciences [2001DIA50040]
- Basic Research Foundation of the Institute of Geomechanics, CAGS [DZIXJK200703]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Does Cenozoic exhumation occur in the Larsemann Hills, East Antarctica? In the present paper, we conducted an apatite fission-track thermochronologic study across the Larsemann Hills of East Antarctica. Our work reveals a Cenozoic exhumation event at 49.8 +/- 12 Ma, which we interpret to be a result of exhumation caused by crustal extension. Within the uncertainty of our age determination, the timing of extension in East Antarctica determined by our study is coeval with the onset time of rifting in West Antarctica at c.55 Ma. The apatite fission-track cooling ages vary systematically in space, indicating a coherent block rotation of the Larsemann Hills region from c.50 Ma to c.10 Ma. This pattern of block tilting was locally disrupted by normal faulting along the Larsemann Hills detachment fault at c.5.4 Ma. The regional extension in the Larsemann Hills, East Antarctica was the result of tectonic evolution in this area, and may be related to the global extension. Through the discussion of Pan-Gondwanaland movement, and Mesozoic and Cenozoic extensions in West and East Antarctica and adjacent areas, we suggest that the protracted Cenozoic cooling over the Larsemann Hills area was caused by extensional tectonics related to separation and formation of the India Ocean at the time of Gondwanaland breakup.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available