Abstract
Throughout the Transantarctic Mountains, Early Jurassic silicic magmatism preceding the emplacement of the Ferrar flood-basalt province (Heimann et al. 1994) is documented by the increasing input of silicic ash into otherwise epiclastic, fluviolacustrine deposits of the Beacon Supergroup (see Elliot et al. 2017). Vertebrate biostratigraphy and radiometric analyses indicate a Sinemurian to Pliensbachian age span for silicic volcaniclastic deposits in the central Transantarctic Mountains (CTMs) (Elliot et al. 2017). For northern Victoria Land (NVL), radiometric geochronology and palynostratigraphy revealed that explosive silicic volcanism began with minor pulses during the early Sinemurian (c. 195 Ma) and reached a peak phase beginning in the middle Pliensbachian (c. 187 Ma) (Bomfleur et al. 2014). A basin-wide correlation of these widely separated age frameworks has so far been hampered by the scarcity of data on coeval deposits in southern Victoria Land (SVL). Here, we present new palynostratigraphic data from mixed epiclastic–volcaniclastic deposits in the Prince Albert Mountains that provide supporting evidence for the widespread synchronicity of silicic volcanic episodes preceding Ferrar magmatism.
Highlights
Two palynological samples were taken from the middle and upper parts of a 1 m-thick succession of carbonaceous mudstone, coal and thin beds of tuff near the base of the section
Samples were collected during the 13th German Antarctic North Victoria Land Expedition (GANOVEX XIII 2018–19) from a raft of sedimentary deposits exposed between Ferrar dolerite sills at the southern tip of McLea Nunatak, Prince Albert Mountains (76.00849°S, 159.61997°E; Fig. 1a & b)
Based on lithology and sedimentary features, they can be correlated with the upper Section Peak Formation of northern Victoria Land (NVL) (e.g. Schöner et al 2011) and with the lower Hanson Formation of the central Transantarctic Mountains (CTMs) (e.g. Elliot et al 2017)
Summary
Two palynological samples were taken from the middle and upper parts of a 1 m-thick succession of carbonaceous mudstone, coal and thin beds of tuff near the base of the section. Samples were collected during the 13th German Antarctic North Victoria Land Expedition (GANOVEX XIII 2018–19) from a raft of sedimentary deposits exposed between Ferrar dolerite sills at the southern tip of McLea Nunatak, Prince Albert Mountains (76.00849°S, 159.61997°E; Fig. 1a & b).
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