Landslides in the Transantarctic Mountains: lower Jurassic and older strata displaced in late Mesozoic to late Cenozoic time

Abstract

ABSTRACT Eight landslides, seven certain and one possible, have been identified in the central Transantarctic Mountains and one at Carapace Nunatak, south Victoria Land. Four consist of Kirkpatrick Basalt lavas alone, two comprise Kirkpatrick lavas with associated pyroclastic rocks, one consists of Hanson Formation beds and Kirkpatrick lavas, and one involves Fremouw Formation strata. One possible block, of uncertain origin, consists only of Hanson Formation beds. All rocks comprising the displaced blocks, except one, are Early Jurassic in age. The exception is the inferred slide involving the Triassic Fremouw beds. The locations of some landslides are consistent with emplacement on present-day topography, which has been little modified since the middle Miocene, but the time of emplacement of others is either Oligocene to pre-middle Miocene or pre-dates the onset of glaciation in Eocene/Oligocene time. The older landslides reflect fortuitous preservation of an ancient landscape not unlike that of today, one dominated by horizontal beds consisting of resistant dolerite sills and quartz-rich sandstones alternating with intervals of weak fine-grained sedimentary beds, and capped by basalt lavas. The landslides are interpreted to document three stages in landscape evolution: a pre-glaciation semi-arid landscape, an early warm-based glacial environment, and a late cold-based glacial setting.