Cretaceous Of Gondwana Research Articles

Tethyan and Indian subduction viewed from the Himalayan high- to ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks

The Himalayan range is one of the best documented continent-collisional belts and provides a natural laboratory for studying subduction processes. High-pressure and ultrahigh-pressure rocks with origins in a variety of protoliths occur in various settings: accretionary wedge, oceanic subduction zone, subducted continental margin and continental collisional zone. Ages and locations of these high-pressure and ultrahigh-pressure rocks along the Himalayan belt allow us to evaluate the evolution of this major convergent zone. (1) Cretaceous (80–100 Ma) blueschists and possibly amphibolites in the Indus Tsangpo Suture zone represent an accretionary wedge developed during the northward subduction of the Tethys Ocean beneath the Asian margin. Their exhumation occurred during the subduction of the Tethys prior to the collision between the Indian and Asian continents. (2) Eclogitic rocks with unknown age are reported at one location in the Indus Tsangpo Suture zone, east of the Nanga Parbat syntaxis. They may represent subducted Tethyan oceanic lithosphere. (3) Ultrahigh-pressure rocks on both sides of the western syntaxis (Kaghan and Tso Morari massifs) formed during the early stage of subduction/exhumation of the Indian northern margin at the time of the Paleocene–Eocene boundary. (4) Granulitized eclogites in the Lesser Himalaya Sequence in southern Tibet formed during the Paleogene underthrusting of the Indian margin beneath southern Tibet, and were exhumed in the Miocene. These metamorphic rocks provide important constraints on the geometry and evolution of the India–Asia convergent zone during the closure of the Tethys Ocean. The timing of the ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism in the Tso Morari massif indicates that the initial contact between the Indian and Asian continents likely occurred in the western syntaxis at 57 ± 1 Ma. West of the western syntaxis, the Higher Himalayan Crystallines were thinned. Rocks equivalent to the Lesser Himalayan Sequence are present north of the Main Central Thrust. Moreover, the pressure metamorphism in the Kaghan massif in the western part of the syntaxis took place later, 7 m.y. after the metamorphism in the eastern part, suggesting that the geometry of the initial contact between the Indian and Asian continents was not linear. The northern edge of the Indian continent in the western part was 300 to 350 km farther south than the area east of the Nanga Parbat syntaxis. Such “en baionnette” geometry is probably produced by north-trending transform faults that initially formed during the Late Paleozoic to Cretaceous Gondwana rifting. Farther east in the southern Tibet, the collision occurred before 50.6 ± 0.2 Ma. Finally, high-pressure to ultrahigh-pressure rocks in the western Himalaya formed and exhumed in steep subduction compared to what is now shown in tomographic images and seismologic data.

Gondwana breakup via double-saloon-door rifting and seafloor spreading in a backarc basin during subduction rollback

A model has been developed where two arc-parallel rifts propagate in opposite directions from an initial central location during backarc seafloor spreading and subduction rollback. The resultant geometry causes pairs of terranes to simultaneously rotate clockwise and counterclockwise like the motion of double-saloon-doors about their hinges. As movement proceeds and the two terranes rotate, a gap begins to extend between them, where a third rift initiates and propagates in the opposite direction to subduction rollback. Observations from the Oligocene to Recent Western Mediterranean, the Miocene to Recent Carpathians, the Miocene to Recent Aegean and the Oligocene to Recent Caribbean point to a two-stage process. Initially, pairs of terranes comprising a pre-existing retro-arc fold thrust belt and magmatic arc rotate about poles and accrete to adjacent continents. Terrane docking reduces the width of the subduction zone, leading to a second phase during which subduction to strike-slip transitions initiate. The clockwise rotated terrane is caught up in a dextral strike-slip zone, whereas the counterclockwise rotated terrane is entrained in a sinistral strike-slip fault system. The likely driving force is a pair of rotational torques caused by slab sinking and rollback of a curved subduction hingeline. By analogy with the above model, a revised five-stage Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous Gondwana dispersal model is proposed in which three plates always separate about a single triple rift or triple junction in the Weddell Sea area. Seven features are considered diagnostic of double-saloon-door rifting and seafloor spreading: i) earliest movement involves clockwise and counterclockwise rotations of the Falkland Islands Block and the Ellsworth Whitmore Terrane respectively; ii) terranes comprise areas of a pre-existing retro-arc fold thrust belt (the Permo-Triassic Gondwanide Orogeny) attached to an accretionary wedge/magmatic arc; the Falklands Islands Block is initially attached to Southern Patagonia/West Antarctic Peninsula, while the Ellsworth Whitmore Terrane is combined with the Thurston Island Block; iii) paleogeographies demonstrate rifting and extension in a backarc environment relative to a Pacific margin subduction zone/accretionary wedge where simultaneous crustal shortening occurs; iv) a ridge jump towards the subduction zone from east of the Falkland Islands to the Rocas Verdes Basin evinces subduction rollback; v) this ridge jump combined with backarc extension isolated an area of thicker continental crust — The Falkland Islands Block; vi) well-documented EW oriented seafloor spreading anomalies in the Weddell Sea are perpendicular to the subduction zone and propagate in the opposite direction to rollback; vii) the dextral strike-slip Gastre and sub-parallel faults form one boundary of the Gondwana subduction rollback, whereas the other boundary may be formed by inferred sinistral strike-slip motion between a combined Thurston Island/Ellsworth Whitmore Terrane and Marie Byrd Land/East Antarctica.

Thermal history of the Vestfold Hills (East Antarctica) between Lambert rifting and Gondwana break-up, evidence from apatite fission track data

Analysis of five basement samples from the Vestfold Hills (East Antarctica) reveals pooled apatite fission track (FT) ages ranging from 188 to 264 Ma and mean lengths of 13.7 to 14.9 μm. Quantitative thermal histories derived from these data give consistent results indicating onset of cooling/denudation began sometime prior to 240 Ma, with final cooling below 105°–125°C occurring between 240 and 220 Ma (Triassic). A Cretaceous denudation phase can be inferred from the sedimentary record of the Prydz Bay offshore the Vestfold Hills. The two denudational episodes are likely associated with Palaeozoic large-scale rifting processes that led to the formation of the adjacent Lambert Graben, and to the Cretaceous Gondwana break-up between Antarctica and India. Subsequent evolution of the East Antarctic passive continental margin likely occurred throughout the Cenozoic based on the depositional record in Prydz Bay and constraints (though tentative) from FT data.

Vicariant Origin of Malagasy Reptiles Supports Late Cretaceous Antarctic Land Bridge

Since the acceptance of Wegener's theory of plate tectonics in the 1960s, continental drift vicariance has been proposed as an explanation for pan-Gondwanan faunal distributions. Given the recognition of historical connections among continents, it no longer was necessary to invoke hypotheses of dispersal across nearly insurmountable barriers. The application of continental drift vicariance theory to Gondwanan floral and faunal distributions provided reasonable explanations for such unusual distributions as that of the southern beech (Nothofagus) and chameleons. However, recent studies have demonstrated a significant, if not dominant, role for dispersal in the present-day distributions of these and numerous other "Gondwanan" taxa. The evolutionary histories of three Malagasy groups (boid snakes, podocnemid turtles, and iguanid lizards) commonly have been interpreted as reflecting vicariance because of continental drift associated with the breakup of Gondwana. Bayesian analyses of divergence ages suggest that this pattern is the result of vicariance coincident with the isolation of Madagascar in the Late Cretaceous (approximately 80 million years ago). This represents the first temporal evidence linking the vicariant origin of extant Malagasy vertebrates to a single geologic event. Specifically, our data provide strong, independently corroborated evidence for a contiguous Late Cretaceous Gondwana, exclusive of Africa and connected via Antarctica.

Kinematic history of western Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica: direct evidence from Cretaceous mafic dykes

Abstract Intracontinental deformation occurred in West Antarctica during the final stages of plate convergence along the Cretaceous Gondwana margin. In western Marie Byrd Land, 115 Ma to 95 Ma A-type granitoids and mafic dykes record a change in plate kinematics. The magmatism typically is viewed as a record of extension leading to orthogonal break-up between New Zealand and Marie Byrd Land by c. 67 Ma. This paper presents new kinmatic and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age data for a mafic dyke array in the Ford Ranges, a region >1000 km 2 dominated by plutonic and metamorphic bedrock. The mean dyke trend of N16W corresponds to a maximum finite strain axis orientated N74E, highly oblique to the N58E-trending margin and to on-land crustal structures defined from airborne geophysics. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar emplacement ages for most dykes fall between 114 Ma and 97 Ma, coeval with emplacement of a gneiss dome at 101-96 Ma and with development of mylonitic shear zones at 100–95 Ma in coastal western Marie Byrd Land. The oblique orientation of maximum finite strain with respect to large faults, geophysical lineaments and the rifted margin of western Marie Byrd Land is consistent with transcurrent tectonics along this segment of the Gondwana margin at c. 100 Ma.

A possible oviraptorosaur from the Late Cretaceous of northwestern Argentina

ABSTRACT A newly discovered cervical vertebra from the Upper Cretaceous Lecho Formation of northwestern Argentina (Estancia El Brete) bears pneumatic foramina and epipophyses, and is assigned to the Theropoda. Although isolated, this specimen is significant because it is different from all described theropod cervical material from South America, most likely representing a new taxon. The El Brete specimen most closely resembles the cervical vertebrae of Chirostenotes, oviraptorids, and therizinosaurids. A cladistic analysis of cervical morphology groups the new specimen with those of the Laurasian oviraptorosaurs, suggesting the presence of this group of nonavian theropods in the Cretaceous of Gondwana.

First record of the family Dromaeosauridae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) in the Cretaceous of Gondwana (Wadi Milk Formation, northern Sudan)

The Cenomanian Wadi Milk Formation in Sudan yielded a rich continental vertebrate fauna. Apart from big theropod fragments, some disarticulated elements of a pes and a tooth indicate the presence of a dromaeosaurid theropod in the Late Cretaceous of Sudan. This is the first record of this theropod family from Gondwanian continents.

A Late Cretaceous polar dinosaur fauna from New Zealand

New fossils of dinosaurs and pterosaurs have been found in the conglomeratic facies of the Maungataniwha Member of the Tahora Formation (Campanian) of New Zealand. These derive from a large theropod, a sauropod, an ankylosaur and a pterosaur. Together with previously described material they indicate at least five, maybe seven, taxa from the Late Cretaceous terrestrial fauna of New Zealand. At that time New Zealand was an island near Antarctica, so this represents an insular, polar fauna. We assume a vicariance model for the origin of this fauna, which probably samples that present in Antarctica at the time New Zealand rifted away from it. The fauna differs from other well known Cretaceous Gondwana faunas in including an ankylosaur, but is similar to that from the Late Early Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia. The inclusion of both an ankylosaur and sauropod lend a relict, Early Cretaceous aspect to the fauna. There seems to be no particular similarity to known polar faunas from the Early Cretaceous of Victoria, Australia, or the Late Cretaceous of Alaska and Antarctica. Dinosaurs, both large and small, were capable of surviving in the cool to cold-temperate, seasonal climate of New Zealand at this time.

Brook street and Murihiku terranes of New Zealand in the context of a mobile South Pacific Gondwana margin

Data from geochemistry, isotope studies and paleomagnetism suggest that both the Permian arc-dominated Brook Street terrane and Triassic-Jurassic Murihiku forearc basin terrane are unrelated to each other and that both are allochthonous with respect to the Gondwana margin. The Murihiku terrane lies farther from the Gondwana margin but its fauna and flora have strong Gondwana affinities and closely resemble those of autochthonous epi-Gondwana basins in Australia and Argentina. All terranes within New Zealand are elongate parallel to the Gondwana margin but very few can be clearly identified in the Australian and Antarctic continental crust that abuts New Zealand in Cretaceous Gondwana reconstructions. Similarly, some Australia terranes do not appear to continue into New Zealand or Antarctica. This suggests that breakup was influenced significantly by old terrane boundaries and also that there was considerable terrane mobility in the active Gondwana margin before the Cretaceous. A systematic comparison of arc chemistry, geochronology, biota, and paleomagnetism is desirable to constrain the development of the South Pacific margin between Australia and South America in the Mesozoic.