Continental rifting and transform faulting along the Jurassic Transantarctic Rift, Antarctica

Abstract

The Transantarctic rift, an extensional continental rift valley, formed between East and West Antarctica during latest Early and Middle Jurassic time and is represented today by the high Transantarctic Mountains, which contain large volumes of continental flood basalt, diabase, and gabbro. Transantarctic rifting marked the beginning of the breakup of Gondwanaland; it was contiguous and synchronous with continental rifting between East Antarctica‐India and Africa as represented by the continental basalt and diabase of Queen Maud Land and the Karroo of southern Africa. During Late Jurassic time, about 150 Ma or slightly earlier, East and West Gondwanaland separated and new oceanic crust of the earliest Indian Ocean formed between East Antarctica‐India and Africa. If, as assumed, West Antarctica and South America remained fixed through a tip‐to‐tip join between the Antarctic Peninsula and Tierra del Fuego, then this seafloor spreading required major right‐lateral transform faulting of 500 to 1000 km on the Transantarctic rift system between East and West Antarctica. The Transantarctic Mountains were elevated at about the same time in Late Jurassic; such uplifts are characteristic of active rift margins worldwide. During Cenozoic time, extensional block faulting, independent of the Jurassic rifting, further disrupted large areas of West Antarctica. During the same time, the Transantarctic Mountains were further uplifted.