late jurassic bimodal magmatism in the northern sea floor remnant of the rocas verdes basin southern patagonian andes magmatic and detrital zircon ages from the rocas verdes basin a tectonically juxtaposed remnant of sea floor in the magallanes fold and thrust belt southern patagonia south america indicates that a rifting phase of the rocas verdes basin occurred between 152 and 142 ma and was accompanied by bimodal magmatism a dacite dyke cross cutting pillow basalt successions and a plagiogranite dyke in mixed mafic felsic terranes of the basal sarmiento ophiolite complex contain 150 ma zircon crystals indicating that mafic submarine volcanism had started prior to or during the late jurassic 10 15 ma earlier than previously thought the silicic pyroclastic rocks of the tobifera formation with two samples dated at 148 and 142 ma were heralded by synrift sedimentation along fault bounded grabens within palaeozoic metasediments no evidence for an active volcanic arc during the early formation of the rocas verdes basin was detected in detrital zircon grains of the lower sedimentary member of the tobifera formation a minimum of 25 ma of continuous sedimentation in the rocas verdes basin is suggested by detrital zircon grains in the upper member of the zapata formation the rocas verdes basin was rimmed on the western side by an incipient and subaerial magmatic arc only in its later evolution

geochemistry of source rock controlled late triassic coal an example from the dabaoding coal mine in panzhihua sichuan province southwestern china abstract the geochemistry of source rock controlled coals from the late triassic daqiaodi formation in the dabaoding coal mine of the southwestern sichuan province was investigated a total of 15 coal samples 6 parting samples and 4 roof and floor rock samples from the d15 3 and d18 coals were subjected to proximate and ultimate analyses for coal quality by using lta xrd with siroquant software for minerals xrf for major element oxides icp ms for trace elements icp cct ms for as and se ise for f and a dma 80 analyzer for hg results indicate that the dabaoding d15 3 and d18 coals are classified as low ash and low volatile bituminous coal minerals in coals are dominated by quartz kaolinite illite and dolomite most trace elements in the dabaoding coals are depleted or at normal levels relative to chinese coals or world hard coals except for cr with slight enrichment the dabaoding coals and host rocks are characterized by weakly positive ce and y anomalies strongly positive gd anomalies and weakly negative eu anomalies based on paleogeographical mineralogical and geochemical evidence the sediment source rocks of the daqiaodi coal bearing strata are identified as the panzhihua trachyte at the top of the kangdian upland which exerted crucial impacts on the dabaoding coals

seismic ridge subduction and topography foreland deformation in the patagonian andes abstract the patagonian andes recorded several episodes of active ridge subduction in the last 80 million years an analysis of the spatial and temporal relation between the present segment of collision of the chile ridge and the digital topography of the foreland shows a correlation with the beginning of deformation and uplift in the inner sector of the patagonia fold and thrust belt several magmatic episodes related to the collision such as near trench magmatism adakite emplacement oib plateau basalts in the retroarc and the arc volcanic gap are associated with the uplift and deformation of the patagonian cordillera based on these correlations a collision of the aluk or phoenix farallon ridge during paleogene times south of 43 30 is identified changes in magmatic patterns molasses deposits deformation and uplift of the patagonian cordillera constrain the region affected by the collision similar evidence implies a third period of collision in the late cretaceous based on the occurrence of adakitic rocks arc magmatic gap and deformation along the southern patagonian andes this earliest hypothesized collision would require the existence of a new oceanic microplate between the pacific and the aluk plates during late cretaceous times present rapid isostatic rebound related to the continental ice cap retreat in the patagonian andes is restricted to the region south of chile triple junction 46 30 s the uplift rate here is more than two times more rapid than normal isostatic rebounds recorded in the northern hemisphere and requires an abnormally hot mantle with low viscosity this abnormal mantle may be a consequence of several episodes of ridge collision and development of asthenospheric windows that are inconsistent with periods of cold flat slab subduction proposed by some authors to explain the arc volcanic gaps

a paleocene lowland macroflora from patagonia reveals significantly greater richness than north american analogs few south american macrofloras of paleocene age are known and this limits our knowledge of diversity and composition between the end cretaceous event and the eocene appearance of high floral diversity we report new unbiased collections of 2516 compression specimens from the paleocene salamanca formation ca 61 7 ma from two localities in the palacio de los loros exposures in southern chubut patagonia argentina our samples reveal considerably greater richness than was previously known from the paleocene of patagonia including 36 species of angiosperm leaves as well as angiosperm fruits flowers and seeds ferns and conifer leaves cones and seeds the floras which are from siltstone and sandstone channel fills deposited on low relief floodplain landscapes in a humid warm temperate climate are climatically and paleoenvironmentally comparable to many quantitatively collected paleocene floras from the western interior of north america adjusted for sample size there are 50 more species at each palacio de los loros quarry than in any comparable u s paleocene sample these results indicate more vibrant terrestrial ecosystems in patagonian than in north american floodplain environments 4 m y after the end cretaceous extinction and they push back the time line 10 m y for the evolution of high floral diversity in south america the cause of the dis parity is unknown but could involve reduced impact effects because of greater distance from the chicxulub site higher latest cretaceous diversity or faster recovery or immigration rates

new paleomagnetic data from the antarctic peninsula and their tectonic implications new paleomagnetic data presented here further constrain the relative motion of the antarctic peninsula relative to east antarctica during the mesozoic development of the southern ocean basins the antarctic peninsula ap is one of four crustal blocks that define west antarctica the others being the ellsworth whitmore mountains ewm thurston island eights coast ti and marie byrd land mbl a jurassic pole 155ma 124 e 64 s a95 7 1 n 10 vgps was obtained from the ap block which suggests that the ap block rotated clockwise between 175 and 155 ma due to significant early opening in the weddell sea basin a new early cretaceous paleomagnetic pole 182 e 74s a95 5 9 n 6 site mean vgps indicates that the ap block was in or near to its present day position with respect to east antarctica by 130 ma between 155 and 130 ma counterclockwise rotation of the ap ti blocks together with the southward motion of east gondwanaland probably resulted in subduction of weddell sea ocean floor beneath the southern ap block and initiated the palmer land deformational event a 130 ma pole from the ti block requires clockwise rotation of the ti and possibly the ewm blocks between 130 and 110 ma producing sinsistral strike slip motion between the ewm block and east antarctica and dextral transpressional motion between the ti ewm blocks and the ap block new ap block 110 ma and 85 ma poles from this study 199 e 74 s a95 6 9 n 13 vgps 152 e 86 s a95 7 5 n 6 vgps respectively are similar to equivalent age poles from east antarctica and suggest little or no relative motion between the antarctic peninsula and east antarctica northern and southern antarctic peninsula mid cretaceous poles are very much alike suggesting that the s shape of the antarctic peninsula is not due to oroclinal bending since 110 ma

tectonic reconstructions for paleobathymetry in drake passage abstract a minimum complexity tectonic reconstruction based on published and new basin opening models depicts how the scotia sea grew by cenozoic plate divergence dismembering a jurassic sheared margin of gondwana part of the jurassic early cretaceous ocean that accreted to this margin forms the core of the central scotia plate the arc plate above a trench at the eastern end of the scotia sea which migrated east away from the antarctic and south american plates a sequence of extensional basins opened on the western edge of the central scotia plate at 50 30 ma decoupled from the south american plate to the northwest by slow motion on a long transform fault succeeding the basins seafloor spreading started around 30 ma on the west scotia ridge which propagated northwards in the 23 17 ma period and ceased to operate at 6 ma the circuits of plate motions inside and outside the scotia arc are joined via rotations that describe antarctic central scotia plate motion in powell basin until 20 ma and along the south scotia ridge thereafter the modelled relative motion at the northern edge of the scotia sea is thus constrained only by the plate circuit but nonetheless resembles that known coarsely from the geological record of tierra del fuego a paleobathymetric interpretation of nine time slices in the model shows drake passage developing as an intermediate depth oceanographic gateway at 50 30 ma with deep flow possible afterwards initially this deep flow would have been made tortuous by numerous intermediate and shallow barriers a frontal pattern resembling that in the modern scotia sea would have awaited the clearance of significant barriers by continuing seafloor spreading in the scotia sea at 18 5 ma at shag rocks passage and after 10 ma southeast of south georgia

high resolution 104 years deep sea foraminiferal stable isotope records of the eocene oligocene climate transition we have constructed high resolution 104 105 years benthic foraminiferal 13c and 18o records for the upper eocene through lower oligocene of two pelagic sequences deep sea drilling project dsdp site 522 in the angola basin south atlantic ocean and ocean drilling program odp site 744 in the southern indian ocean these records provide improved constraints on both the timing and magnitude of marine oxygen and carbon isotope events from 30 to 35 ma the oxygen isotope records indicate that the ubiquitous 18o increase oi 1 which marks the rapid expansion of continental ice sheets and a minimum of 3 to 4 c of cooling of bottom waters in the earliest oligocene 33 6 ma occurred in 350 kyr more than half the transition occurred over the final 40 50 kyr this period of lower temperatures and widespread continental glaciation persisted for roughly 400 kyr i e the duration of magnetochron c13n these records also indicate that this interval was characterized by at least two 100 kyr waxing and waning cycles oi 1a and oi 1b and possibly several higher frequency events the benthic foraminiferal 13c records show a positive 0 8 excursion that is nearly isochronous with the oi 1 oxygen isotope increase similar magnitude 13c increases at other sites indicate this was a global phenomenon suggestive of an unusually large perturbation to the carbon cycle this excursion was followed by smaller amplitude 13c oscillations with periods of roughly 400 kyr we suspect that the ubiquitous oi 1 13c excursion resulted from a brief but substantial increase in export production and carbon burial

short paper the significance of mid palaeozoic basement in graham land antarctic peninsula a mid palaeozoic basement to the antarctic peninsula is confirmed by a geochronological study of the gneissose country rock of the mesozoic magmatic arc of eastern graham land rb sr whole rock ages of 410 15 and 426 12 ma from samples of orthogneiss indicate a previously unrecognized episode of granitic magmatism in the antarctic peninsula during the silurian sm nd data on garnet whole rock pairs indicate that subsequent amphibolite facies metamorphism occurred in late carboniferous times probably as a result of plutonism

southern patagonian plateau basalts and deformation backarc testimony of ridge collisions abstract the distribution and volume of tertiary patagonian plateau basalts and the evolution of the patagonian fold and thrust belt between 46 and 49 s appear to be closely tied with ridge trench interactions along the continental margin to the west eocene plateau basalts south of 43 s are associated with a gap in the eocene arc and can be related to a proposed collision of the aluk farallon ridge against the trench at this time eruptions of late miocene to recent plateau basalts between 46 and 49 s can be related to time transgressive slab windows in the underlying mantle generated by the collision of segments of the chile ridge at 10 14 ma and 6 ma the principal deformation in the patagonian fold and thrust belt predates the eruption of the basalts and also appears to be related with late miocene ridge collision comparison of plateau basalts related to the collision of the three distinct ridge segments suggests that the volume of basalt erupted increases with the length of the collided ridge segment almost all eocene to recent plateau basalts between 46 and 49 s have oib like ocean island basalt trace element signatures showing that the mantle source region changed little with time plateau basalts with more arc like signatures appear to be contaminated by continental crust relative melting percentages inferred from the trace element chemistry of the plateau basalts correlate with volumes of erupted basalt implying spatial and temporal changes in temperatures in the mantle source that can be correlated with slab windows

investigations of fusain transition fossils from the lower carboniferous comparisons with modern partially charred wood plant fossils showing vitrinite semifusinite fusinite transitions and permineralised semifusinite transitions were collected from lower carboniferous locations within the british isles several were obtained from east kirkton quarry bathgate scotland and one fusinite semifusinite vitrinite semifusinite fusinite transition fossil was collected at muckros head county donegal ireland the muckros head fossil was found in a limestone sea cliff face where it had been weathered proud of the rock matrix thus enabling a detailed examination and interpretation of the macroscopic appearance of the specimen the distinctive sandwich like cross section of the fossil is interpreted as being caused by the burial and coalification of a partially charred plant stem with recent exposure and weathering resulting in the loss of its shattered edges under s e m and reflected light microscopy non permineralised transition fossils are seen to grade from structureless vitrinite into compressed and bogen structured semifusinite and occasionally continue through to structured uncompressed fusinite with corresponding increases in reflectance these gradations parallel the reflectances seen in modern partially charred stems stable carbon isotopic analysis of the transition fossils c13 17 19 0 to 19 26 0 22 46 0 to 24 54 0 24 47 0 24 47 0 to 26 20 0 show a significant difference between the vitrinite and semifusinite fusinite with the semifusinite fusinite isotopically heavier the various techniques employed to investigate these transition fossils all indicate that they represent coalified partially charred stems correlation of the properties and characteristics of the semifusinite fusinite in transition fossils with the properties and characteristics of isolated semifusinite and fusinite fragments collected from rocks of the lower carboniferous through to the tertiary supports the view that most of these isolated fragments also represent fossil charred wood and charcoal

paleogene opening of drake passage the timing of events leading to the earliest connection between the pacific and atlantic oceans at drake passage is controversial but important because gateway opening probably had a profound effect on global circulation and climate a rigorous new analysis of marine geophysical data demonstrates a major change in the motion of the south american and antarctic plates at about 50 ma from n s to wnw ese accompanied by an eightfold increase in separation rate this would have led to crustal extension and thinning and perhaps the opening of small oceanic basins with the probable formation of a shallow b1000 m gateway during the middle eocene no change in south american antarctic motion is observed near the eocene oligocene boundary but a deep water connection developed between 34 and 30 ma when continued extension led to the initiation of seafloor spreading at the west scotia ridge these timings correlate with events seen in the oxygen isotope record from benthic foraminera and support the view that drake passage opening was the trigger for abrupt eocene oligocene climate deterioration and the growth of extensive antarctic ice sheets d 2005 elsevier b v all rights reserved

role of strike slip faulting in the tectonic evolution of the antarctic peninsula the antarctic peninsula mesozoic magmatic arc has had a long history of dextral strike slip deformation the deformation was initially associated with the development of a wide accretionary complex by the migration of fore arc slivers and the formation and inversion of a thick fore arc basin succession it also formed an important component within major shear zones in the arc and may have controlled the formation of sedimentary basins in the back arc region although some transcurrent motion within the fore arc region was related to a component of oblique subduction the main movement occurred during the breakup of gondwanaland and the formation of a major transtensional rift system a new reconstruction for this part of gondwanaland is presented taking this transcurrent motion into consideration

determining the channel sinuosity of ancient fluvial systems from paleocurrent data abstract the classification of modern river channels is based primarily on their sinuosity values which can be determined directly from aerial photographs ancient channel systems are seldom sufficiently exposed to allow direct measurement of thalweg and valley lengths but paleocurrent directions can be used to calculate fairly accurate sinuosity values aerial photographs of four modern meander belts were studied to determine the relationship between local current directions within the meander belts and the actual sinuosity of the active river channels a value of 3 2 times the standard deviation gave the best approximation of the operational channel range resulting in a close correspondence between calculated and actual sinuosity values this method can therefore be used to estimate the s nuosity of ancient fluvial systems

additions to the diversity of elasmosaurid plesiosaurs from the upper cretaceous of antarctica abstract three specimens of elasmosaurid plesiosaurs sauropterygia plesiosauria from upper cretaceous beds of antarctica are described here these include postcranial remains of a single adult individual recovered from late maastrichtian beds of marambio seymour island possessing a distinctive combination of features cervical vertebrae having centra with a triangular outline in transverse section a vertical groove on the rostral and caudal edge of the neural spines and a deep articulation over the neural arch for the following postzygapophysis while the scapula shows an unusually large and anteriorly recurved dorsal process this combination of features is unknown in any adult postcranial elasmosaurid genus recovered to date in the upper cretaceous of the weddellian biogeographic province and could represent a new form additional specimens from james ross island comprise the first record of an aristonectinae plesiosauria elasmosauridae in late campanian beds being the oldest known record of this sub family finally a third specimen from the same age and locality reveals the presence of very long necked elasmosaurids with affinities to typical representatives from the upper cretaceous of the northern hemisphere these findings add to the known diversity of upper cretaceous elasmosaurids in high latitudes of the southern hemisphere

the south patagonian batholith 150 my of granite magmatism on a plate margin a new database of 70 u pb zircon ages mostly determined by shrimp indicates that the south patagonian batholith resulted from the amalgamation of subduction related plutons from the late jurassic to the neogene construction of the batholith began with a voluminous previously undetected late jurassic bimodal body mainly composed of leucogranite with some gabbro emplaced along its present eastern margin within a restricted time span 157 to 145 ma this episode is at least in part coeval with voluminous rhyolitic ignimbrites of the tobifera formation deposited in the deep rocas verdes basin east of the batholith this was the last of several southwestward migrating silicic volcanic episodes in patagonia that commenced in an early jurassic extensional tectonic regime the quasi oceanic mafic floor of the basin was also contemporaneous with this late jurassic batholithic event as indicated by mutually cross cutting field relationships changes in subduction parameters then triggered the generation of earliest cretaceous plutons cretaceous 1 144 137 ma west of the late jurassic ones a westward shift that culminated at 136 127 ma cretaceous 2 along the present western margin of the batholith most mid to late cretaceous cretaceous 3 126 75 ma and paleogene 67 40 ma granitoids are represented by geographically restricted plutons mainly emplaced between the previously established margins of the batholith and mostly in the far south no associated volcanic rocks of similar age are known at present in this area during the final neogene stage of plutonism 25 15 ma a recurrence of coeval volcanism is recognized within and east of the batholith typical endt values for the granitoids vary from strongly negative 5 in the late jurassic to progressively higher values for cretaceous 1 4 cretaceous 2 0 7 cretaceous 3 2 and the paleogene 5 followed by lower and more variable ones in the neogene 1 to 5 these variations may reflect different modes of pluton emplacement large crustal magma chambers developed in the early stages late jurassic to cretaceous 1 leading to widespread emplacement of plutons with a crustal signature whereas the cretaceous 2 cretaceous 3 and palaeogene parts of the batholith resulted from incremental assembly of small plutons generated at greater depths and with higher endt this does not in itself justify the idea of a reduction in crustal character due to progressive exhaustion of fusible material in the crust through which the magmas passed

mean annual temperature estimation based on leaf morphology a test from tropical south america abstract are models that predict mean annual temperature mat from leaf morphology applicable globally fifteen models that predict mat from leaf morphology were tested on thirty floral samples from tropical south america to determine the degree to which models based on published data that are primarily from other regions are applicable to floras from tropical south america the models included are based on regional data from north america south america and asia of the fifteen models tested five are simple linear regressions six are multiple linear regressions two are canonical correspondence analyses and two are correspondence analyses followed by nearest neighbor analyses for the seven modern floras with mat 21 c every model overestimates mat for the 23 modern floras with mat 21 c all models produce variable results without a systematic error the range of average model errors is 2 7 7 3 c while the absolute extremes of error are 0 and 15 1 c average 95 predictive confidence intervals range from 1 6 to 6 9 c predicted mat falls within the published standard error of the model for 0 67 of the south american test floras evaluating the seven sites with mat 21 c separately from the 23 sites with mat 21 c shows that no equation accurately estimates mat of the majority of low temperature sites but that four equations accurately estimate 50 of high temperature sites the results suggest that at least for sites of unknown or high elevation mean annual temperature of fossil floras from tropical south america may be better predicted from models based on the leaf morphology of tropical south american floras

tectonic events reflected by palaeocurrents zircon geochronology and palaeobotany in the sierra baguales of chilean patagonia abstract the sierra baguales situated north of the torres del paine national park in the magallanes region of southern chile shows a well exposed stratigraphic sequence ranging from the late cretaceous to late pliocene which presents a unique opportunity to study the evolution of sedimentological styles and trends palaeoclimate changes and tectonic events during this period the depositional environment changed from a continental slope and shelf during the cenomanian campanian tres pasos formation to deltaic between the campanian maastrichtian dorotea formation and estuarine in the lutetian bartonian man aike formation during the rupelian a continental environment with meandering rivers and overbank marshes was established rio leona formation this area was flooded in the early burdigalian estancia 25 de mayo formation during the patagonian transgression but emerged again during the late burdigalian santa cruz formation measured palaeocurrent directions in this mesozoic cenozoic succession indicate source areas situated between the northeast and east southeast during the late cretaceous east southeast during the middle eocene and southwest during the early oligocene to early miocene this is confirmed by detrital zircon age populations in the different units which can be linked to probable sources of similar ages in these areas the east southeastern provenance is here identified as the antarctic peninsula or its northeastern extension which is postulated to have been attached to fuegian patagonia during the eocene the southwestern and western sources were exhumed during gradual uplift of the southern patagonian andes coinciding with a change from marine to continental conditions in the magallanes austral basin as well as a decrease in mean annual temperature and precipitation indicated by fossil leaves in the rio leona formation the rain shadow to the east of the andes thus started to develop here during the late eocene early oligocene 34 ma long before the quechua phase of andean tectonics 19 18 ma that is generally invoked for its evolution at lower latitudes

paleomagnetism and tectonics of the south shetland islands and the northern antarctic peninsula new paleomagnetic data presented here from 61 sites in paleozoic mesozoic and cenozoic igneous and sedimentary rocks from the antarctic peninsula and the south shetland islands constrain the relative motion of the antarctic peninsula since the mid cretaceous and allow the quantification of tectonic rotation between the different blocks recognized within the area paleozoic and jurassic results failed the fold test and suggest an important remagnetization in the area the similarity between these results and those obtained from cretaceous intrusives indicates a mid cretaceous age for the remagnetization the paleopoles obtained for the different blocks and for different ages suggest that there is no relative rotation among them these combined results allow us to obtain a cretaceous 90 ma and paleocene 60 ma paleopole these paleopoles document a very low apparent polar wandering of the antarctic peninsula for the last 100 ma

cenozoic crustal thickening wrenching and rifting in the foothills of the southernmost andes abstract the southernmost andes form an orocline between the patagonian cordillera trending n s and the fueguian cordilleras trending e w on the foreland side is the magellan basin the area has a history of paleozoic compression triassic to early cretaceous rifting and late cretaceous to quaternary compression in response to changing plate tectonics major structures of late cretaceous and cenozoic age vary along the strike in the patagonian cordillera and foothills folds and thrusts trend nnw slightly oblique to the orogen whereas strike slip faults are parallel to the orogen and right lateral in the fueguian cordilleras and foothills folds and thrusts trend ese slightly oblique to the orogen whereas strike slip faults are parallel to the orogen and left lateral in the axial zone of the magellan basin folds and thrusts are parallel to the orogen and rifts are sub perpendicular to it to a first approximation the pattern of structures has mirror symmetry about the axis of the magellan basin in detail however wrenching appears to be more prevalent in the fueguian cordillera and foothills than it is in the patagonian cordillera and foothills minor faults of cenozoic age are common in the foothills from a kinematic analysis of fault slip data 1 shortening and stretching directions are mostly sub horizontal 2 shortening directions vary in trend from ene in the patagonian foothills to ne in the fueguian foothills and 3 stretching directions are sub parallel to traces of major thrusts in the fueguian cordillera and foothills strike slip faulting is prevalent in the patagonian foothills crustal thickening is prevalent over strike slip faulting the kinematics reflect a combination of thrusting and wrenching and they are consistent with the major structures to investigate the origin of the cenozoic structures we used analogue models on a fully lithospheric scale where an oceanic plate subducted beneath a continental corner the corner was an area of transition from frontal subduction to transcurrent motion the boundary conditions may not have been fully realistic but the experiments did account for the major elements of the structural pattern in southernmost south america including rifts that are perpendicular to the orogen and counterclockwise block rotations

scotia sea regional tectonic evolution implications for mantle flow and palaeocirculation abstract the scotia sea and surrounding scotia arc have evolved over the past 40 ma by extension behind an east migrating subduction zone at the boundary between the south american sam and antarctic ant plates the considerable data set now available regional geology and geophysics earthquake seismology satellite altimetry global plate analyses suggest why east migrating subduction began what has been the driving force that has sustained it and what other processes have controlled the mode of back arc extension in the scotia sea a suite of six reconstructions has been developed based on this data set the reconstruction to 40 ma creates a compact cuspate continental connection between south america and the antarctic peninsula at the subducting pacific margin with fragments now dispersed around the scotia arc occupying positions within it compatible with their known geology the driving force has been subduction of south american ocean floor which began as a result of southward migration of the pole of south american antarctic plate rotation and a key modulator of back arc extension has been collision of ridge crest sections of the south american antarctic plate boundary with the east advancing trench cenozoic regional tectonic evolution has two other likely consequences which greatly increase its importance firstly this region saw the tectonic disruption of the final barrier to complete circum antarctic deep water flow that may have had a profound effect on palaeoclimate secondly it is possible that the rapid roll back of the hinge of subduction is related to shallow eastward flow in the sub lithospheric mantle both of these consequences are explored the reconstructions show that rapid roll back of the subduction hinge averaging 50 mm a over the last 40 ma with respect to the south american plate has been a feature of all of scotia sea evolution and provide a history of motion of several oceanic microplates most of which are now welded together within the scotia sea this will guide the location of seismometers and or dredge hauls to test the hypothesis of shallow mantle flow and help interpret the results the reconstructions also allow an assessment of the creation of deep water pathways that would have permitted the development of the present day antarctic circumpolar current acc an early miocene onset within the period 22 17 ma seems likely for the acc depending on the structure and palaeo elevation of davis bank and aurora bank sections of the north scotia ridge however the study shows there was a delay of one or more million years between initial provision of a deep water pathway and the major mid miocene change in global climate involving the general level of antarctic glaciation that may have been related if these changes were related then the delay suggests that other factors possibly rough elevated ocean floor but also non tectonic factors such as atmospheric co2 were important in determining palaeoclimate

a review of tertiary climate changes in southern south america and the antarctic peninsula part 2 continental conditions abstract climate changes in southern south america and the antarctic peninsula during the tertiary show a strong correlation with ocean warming and cooling events which are in turn related to tectonic processes during periods of accelerated sea floor spreading and mid ocean ridge activity sea levels rose so that parts of the continents were flooded and forests were destroyed however this was balanced by the large scale release of co2 during volcanic outgassing and carbonate precipitation on the continental shelves which caused rising air temperatures and the poleward expansion of sub tropical and temperate forests cooling episodes generally caused an increase in the north south thermal gradient because of an equatorward shift in climate belts so that the westerly winds intensified and brought higher rainfall to the lower latitudes an increase in wind blown dust caused temperatures to drop further by reflecting sunlight back into space the rising andes range had a marked influence on climate patterns up to the middle miocene it was still low enough to allow summer rainfall to reach central and north central chile but after about 14 ma it rose rapidly and effectively blocked the spill over of moisture from the atlantic ocean and amazon basin at this time the cold humboldt current was also established which together with the andes helped to create the arid diagonal of southern south america stretching from the atacama desert to the dry steppes of patagonia this caused the withdrawal of subtropical forests to south central chile and the expansion of sclerophytic vegetation to central chile however at the same time it intercepted more rain from the northeast causing the effect of the south american monsoon to intensify in northwestern argentina and southern bolivia where forest communities presently occur in patagonia glaciation started as early as 10 5 ma but by 7 ma had become a prominent feature of the landscape and continued apparently uninterruptedly into the pleistocene the antarctic peninsula saw its first mountain glaciation between 45 and 41 ma with major ice sheet expansion commencing at about 34 ma isolated stands of nothofagus forests were still present in low lying areas suggesting that the glaciers were initially wet based but dry based glaciers were established at around 8 ma although temperatures rose briefly during the messinian pliocene transition causing sub antarctic flora to retreat to higher elevations of the transantarctic mountains the present cold polar conditions were finally established by about 3 ma

production of jurassic rhyolite by anatexis of the lower crust of patagonia abstract the mid jurassic marifil and chon aike volcanic rocks of eastern patagonia are part of one of the largest silicic igneous provinces known rb sr geochronology indicates eruptive ages of 175 190 ma for the marifil complex mostly toarcian aalenian the majority of the rocks are isotopically uniform with initial 87sr 86sr 0 7067 0 0003 and endt 4 2 primary magmas of andesitic composition were generated by partial melting of mafic grenvillian lower crust indentified by depleted mantle model ages of 1150 1600 ma lower crustal pyroxene granulite xenoliths can be modelled as residual jurassic source although they may alternatively be co genetic cumulates the dacite rhyolite suite formed by crystal liquid fractionation processes from the primary andesites involving multistage crystallization and re melting during magma ascent with the later stages of evolution being explicable by fractional crystallization of plagioclase amphibole and accessory minerals the province represents large scale lower crustal reworking associated with the unique tectonic and igneous environment of gondwana break up

timing and climatic consequences of the opening of drake passage age estimates for the opening of drake passage range from 49 to 17 million years ago ma complicating interpretations of the relationship between ocean circulation and global cooling secular variations of neodymium isotope ratios at agulhas ridge southern ocean atlantic sector suggest an influx of shallow pacific seawater approximately 41 ma the timing of this connection and the subsequent deepening of the passage coincide with increased biological productivity and abrupt climate reversals circulation productivity linkages are proposed as a mechanism for declining atmospheric carbon dioxide these results also indicate that drake passage opened before the tasmanian gateway implying the late eocene establishment of a complete circum antarctic pathway

the chon aike province of patagonia and related rocks in west antarctica a silicic large igneous province the field occurrence age classification and geochemistry of the mesozoic volcanic rocks of patagonia and west antarctica are reviewed using published and new information dominated by rhyolitic ignimbrites which form a bimodal association with minor mafic and intermediate lavas these constitute one of the largest silicic igneous provinces known equivalent in size to many mafic lips diachronism is recognized between the early middle jurassic volcanism of eastern patagonia marifil and chon aike formations and the middle jurassic earliest cretaceous volcanism of the andean cordillera el quemado ibanez and tobifera formations this is accompanied by a change in geochemical characteristics from relatively high zr and nb types in the east to subalkaline arc related rocks in the west although the predominance of rhyolites remains a constant factor all of the associated mafic rocks are well fractionated compared to direct mantle derivatives petrogenetic models favour partial melting of immature lower crust as a result of the intrusion of basaltic magmas possibly with some hybridisation of the liquids and subsequent fractionation by crystal settling or solidification and remelting the formation of large amounts of intracrustal silicic melt acted as a density barrier against the further rise of mafic magmas which are thus rare in the province

provenance of eastern magallanes foreland basin sediments heavy mineral analysis reveals paleogene tectonic unroofing of the fuegian andes hinterland abstract documenting variations in the composition of foreland basin detrital sediments is a useful tool for reconstructing the kinematic history of associated orogenic systems herein we report the results of our sem eds heavy mineral analysis of the late cretaceous to early miocene eastern magallanes basin of southernmost argentina our data indicate that campanian to middle eocene sediments had a mafic ophiolitic provenance which we interpret as being derived from the patagonian fuegian magmatic arc and the mafic floor of the preceding rocas verdes marginal basin upper middle eocene to lower miocene heavy minerals on the other hand indicate a metamorphic metasedimentary provenance which we interpret as being derived from the cordillera darwin metamorphic complex together these data indicate an abrupt shift in sediment provenance in middle to late eocene time thereby corroborating recent interpretations of the basin s detrital zircon geochrononology and providing further support for temporal and possibly genetic relationships between development of the patagonian orocline the opening of drake passage and the oi 1 glaciation of antarctica

a provenance study of the paleozoic ventania system argentina transient complex sources from western and eastern gondwana abstract the u pb and lu hf isotopic analyses of the different sedimentary sequences of the ventania system an old paleozoic orogenic belt exposed in the southern region of the rio de la plata craton in the province of buenos aires argentina provide new evidence for the understanding of the tectonic evolution of the western sector of the gondwanides mountain belt these ranges formed as result of the late paleozoic collision of the patagonia terrane against the continental margin of gondwana the provenance analysis together with the sedimentary paleocurrents confirm a dominant source from the tandilia system a paleoproterozoic mountain belt formed during the amalgamation of the rio de la plata craton at about 1800 2200 ma and incorporated to western gondwana during the brasiliano orogeny at 550 530 ma the local dominant source at the base of the early paleozoic changed to more distant supplies toward the top of the sequences when an increasing participation of detritus from first cambrian 560 520 ma zircons from the pampean orogen and later on ordovician 480 460 ma zircons from the famatinian orogen is recorded the detrital zircon patterns and the maximum age of the units shed light on some previous discrepancies in the early paleozoic stratigraphy the balcarce formation an early paleozoic sedimentary cover of the tandilia metamorphic and igneous basement shows striking differences when compared with the new data from the ventania system the two data sets reveal different sources for the two regions the late paleozoic foreland basin deposits mark an abrupt change of 180 in the paleocurrent directions in the petrographic composition of the sediments and in the provenance of detrital zircons these data indicate a southern provenance with the first evidence of carboniferous and permian magmatic zircons the oldest archean zircons together with the finding of clasts with archeocyathids support the provenance from patagonia which was derived from eastern gondwana the u pb ages of the ash fall tuffs in the tunas formation confirm the early permian age of the eurydesma fauna in the ventania system the u pb data together with the lu hf isotopic data enhance the comprehension of the tectonic evolution of the ventania system as part of the larger gondwanides belt that amalgamated to western gondwana during late permian times with some independent pieces derived from eastern gondwana