Revised stratigraphy of the Permian Bainmedart Coal Measures, northern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica

Abstract

The Bainmedart Coal Measures constitute the middle portion of the Permian–Triassic Amery Group, which represents the only substantial Palaeozoic–Mesozoic sedimentary succession exposed in eastern Antarctica outside the Transantarctic Mountains. The coal measures disconformably or unconformably overlie alluvial fan deposits of the Radok Conglomerate and are conformably overlain by the dominantly fluviatile Flagstone Bench Formation. The coal measures were deposited within alluvial settings dominated by north to northeasterly flowing, low-sinuosity rivers chiefly confined to broad, fault-bounded, valleys of the Lambert Graben, a major late Palaeozoic to early Mesozoic failed rift system. Both climatic and local tectonic factors are considered to have been the major influences on the pattern of coal measure sedimentation. Recent mapping has identified a much greater thickness of sediments within the coal measures than had been inferred previously. The Bainmedart Coal Measures are formally subdivided into six members. In ascending stratigraphic order these are: Dart Fields Conglomerate Member (<3 m thick), Toploje Member (c. 300 m thick), Dragons Teeth Member (15–25 m thick), Glossopteris Gully Member (c. 670 m thick), Grainger Member (c. 350 m thick) and McKinnon Member (c. 530 m thick).