Apatite single-grain (U-Th)/He data from Heimefrontfjella, East Antarctica: Indications for differential exhumation related to glacial loading?

Single-grain (U-Th)/He ages from two profiles were used to reconstruct the post-Permian tectonic-thermal history of basement rocks in Heimefrontfjella, East Antarctica. The (U-Th)/He ages from one sample collected below the late Carboniferous/Early Permian sedimentary cover rocks indicate Jurassic-Early Cretaceous basement paleotemperatures of similar to 40 degrees - 60 degrees C due to post-Permian burial. Combined apatite fission track and (U-Th)/He analyses from samples of a profile in Sivorgfjella suggest a period of flexural-related tilting after similar to 87 Ma. The timing was further constrained using forward and inverse models of the (U-Th)/He data. Model results indicate a Cenozoic phase of relatively rapid cooling from similar to 40 degrees C surface temperatures. As the driving mechanism, we propose flexural isostatic rebound due to glacial load during the development of the intracontinental ice sheet in the hinterland of the Heimefrontfjella region. Citation: Emmel, B.,J. Jacobs, P. Crowhurst, A. Austegard, and U. Schwarz-Schampera (2008), Apatite single-grain (U-Th)/He data from Heimefrontfjella, East Antarctica: Indications for differential exhumation related to glacial loading?, Tectonics, 27, TC6010, doi: 10.1029/2007TC002220.