The Cambrian Ross Orogeny in northern Victoria Land (Antarctica) and New Zealand: A synthesis

Abstract

In the Cambrian, the paleo-Pacific margin of the East Gondwana continent, including East Antarctica, Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand, was affected by the Ross–Delamerian Orogeny. The evidence from geochemistry of volcanic rocks and petrography of clastic sediments in northern Victoria Land (Antarctica) reveals that orogenesis occurred during a phase of oblique subduction accompanied by the opening and subsequent closure of a back-arc basin. A similar sequence of events is recognized in New Zealand. In both regions Middle Cambrian volcanic rocks are interpreted as arc/back-arc assemblages produced by west-directed subduction; sediments interbedded with the volcanic rocks show provenance both from the arc and from the Gondwana margin and therefore place the basin close to the continent. Rapid back-arc closure in the Late Cambrian was likely accomplished through changes to the subduction system.