Geology of the area between the Axel Heiberg and Shackleton Glaciers, Queen Maud Range, Antarctica

Abstract

Abstract In this area continental sediments of the Beacon Group overlie a peneplaned Upper Precambrian and Lower Paleozoic basement complex. The beds at Mt Fridtjof Nansen and Mt Wade dip at about 5° to the south-west, but at Cape Surprise (84° 30′ S, 174° 40′ W), on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf, they have been downfaulted some 17,000 ft, and form two adjacent blocks, one dipping north-north-west at 35°, and the other dipping south-south-west at a similar angle. At Mt Fridtjof Nansen and Mt Wade thin conglomerate beds, filling hollows in the peneplain, are overlain by 300 ft of lacustrine fine sandstone and dark shale (Unit A), above which lies 600 to 800 ft of lacustrine fine to medium sandstone (Unit B). At Cape Surprise Unit B locally rests on the granitic basement. The incoming of well rounded quartz pebbles is taken to mark the change from a lacustrine environment (Units A and B) to a fluviatile environment, which dominated deposition of the succeeding coal measures. These overlie Unit B conformabl...