Eocene to Miocene geometry of the West Antarctic Rift System

Abstract

Tectonic models for the Late Cretaceous/Tertiary evolution of the West Antarctic Rift System range from hundreds of kilometres of extension to negligible strike-slip displacement and are based on a variety of observations, as well as kinematic and geodynamic models. Most data constraining these models originate from the Ross Sea/Adare Trough area and the Transantarctic Mountains. We use a new Antarctic continental crustal-thinning grid, combined with a revised plate-kinematic model based on East Antarctic – Australia – Pacific – West Antarctic plate circuit closure, to trace the geometry and extensional style of the Eocene – Oligocene West Antarctic Rift from the Ross Sea to the South Shetland Trench. The combined data suggest that from chron 21 (48 Ma) to chron 8 (26 Ma), the West Antarctic Rift System was characterised by extension in the west to dextral strike-slip in the east, where it was connected to the Pacific – Phoenix – East Antarctic triple junction via the Byrd Subglacial Basin and the Bentley Subglacial Trench, interpreted as pullapart basins. Seismic-reflection profiles crossing the De Gerlache Gravity Anomaly, a tectonic scar from a former spreading ridge jump in the Bellingshausen Sea, suggest Late Tertiary reactivation in a dextral strike-slip mode. This is supported by seismic-reflection profiles crossing the De Gerlache Gravity Anomaly in the Bellingshausen Sea, which show incised narrow sediment troughs and vertical faults indicating strike-slip movement along a north – south direction. Using pre-48 Ma plate circuit closure, we test the hypothesis that the Lord Howe Rise was attached to the Pacific Plate during the opening of the Tasman Sea. We show that this plate geometry may be plausible at least between 74 and 48 Ma, but further work especially on Australian – Antarctic relative plate motions is required to test this hypothesis.