GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 909 

Petroleum and Mineral 

Resources of Antarctica 

Work done in cooperation with the 

National Science Foundation 

Petroleum and Mineral 

Resources of Antarctica 

By John C. Behrendt, Editor 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 909 

Work done in cooperation with the 

National Science Foundation 

7983 
United States Department of the Interior 

JAMES G. WATT, Secretary 

Geological Survey 

Dallas l. Peck, Director 

First Printing 1983 

Second Printing 1984 

Free on application to Branch of Distribution, U.S. Geological Survey, 604 South Pickett Street, Alexandria, VA 22304 
CONTENTS 

Introduction 

Are there petroleum resources in Antarctica?, by John C. Behrendt . . . . . . 

Mineral occurrences of Antarctica, by Peter D. Rowley, Paul L. Williams, and Douglas 

E. Pride ......................... · · · · · · · · · · · · · 

The Dufek Intrusion of Antarctica and a survey of its minor metals and possible resources, 

by Arthur B. Forq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

1 

3 

25 

51 

Page 

FIGURE 1. Index map of Antarctica 4 

2. Cartoon of "ring of oil" 5 

3-9. Maps showing: 

3. Worldwide distribution of giant petroleum fields . . . . . . . . 5 

4. Southernmost giant oil fields on a continental reconstruction . 6 

5. Magnetic anomalies over the Ross Ice Shelf and Transantarctic Mountains 8 

6. Contours of depth to magnetic basement in area of figure 5 . . 10 

7. Contours of bedrock elevation of area shown in figures 5 and 6 . . . . . . 11 

8. Contours of magnetic intensity in the Ross Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 

9. Ship (Polarsirkel) tracks in the Weddell Sea along which multichannel seismic reflection data 

were collected . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 

10. Seismic-record section across the Crary Trough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 

11-18. Maps showing: 

11. Ship (Krplom) tracks in the Weddell Sea along which multichannel seismic reflection data 

were collected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 

12. Examples of reflection profiles in the Weddell Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 

13. Ship tracks in the Weddell Sea along which 12-channel seismic reflection data were collected 

by U.S.S.R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 

14. Ship (Hakurei-Maru) tracks in Weddell Sea along which 24-channel seismic, gravity, and magnetic data were collected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 

15. Ship (E.r:plom) tracks in Ross Sea where multichannel seismic reflection data were collected 

for BGR and IFP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 

16. Ship (Explom) tracks over continental shelf of East Antarctica along which 48-channel seismic 

reflection data were collected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 

17. Ship (Hakurei-Maru) tracks in the Bellingshausen Sea along which 12-channel seismic, gravity, 

and magnetic data were collected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 

18. Cruise track of Glomar Challenger DSDP leg 28 in the Ross Sea . 21 

19. Composite stratigraphic section from DSDP sites in the Ross Sea . . . . . . 22 
Page 

FIGURES 20-22. Maps showing: 

20. Localities of mineral occurrences in Antarctica . . . . . 28 

21. Localities of mineral occurrences in Antarctic Peninsula 30 

22. Location of Dufek intrusion in Antarctica . . . . . . . . 52 

23. Section showing rock-stratigraphic nomenclature of Dufek intrusion and generalized range of 

minerals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 

24. Photograph of summit of Aughenbaugh Peak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 

25. Photograph of cross section of anorthosite-filled channel, southern Forrestal Range 59 

26-28. Charts showing: 

26. Chemical variation in Dufek intrusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 

27. Possible comparison between lower parts of the Bush veld Complex and the Dufek intrusion . 63 

28. Correlation of analyzed elements in 22 cumulates of the Dufek intrusion . . . . . . . . . 66 

TABLES 

Page 

TABLE 1. Comparison of areas of selected mafic stratiform intrusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 

2. Chemical analyses of little-differentiated rocks inferred to represent original magmas of selected mafic 

stratiform intrusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 

3. Spearman rank correlation coefficients for chemical constituents with stratigraphic height and mineral content 

in 22 analyzed cumlates of the Dufek intrusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 

4. Summary of minor-element content of typical rocks from the layered sequence of the Dufek intrusion . 65 
Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Antarctica 

By John C. Behrendt, Editor 

INTRODUCTION 

No known petroleum or mineral resources occur 

in Antarctica. The data on these subjects have 

been collected, mainly since the IGY (International Geophysical Year), 1957-58, as a part of 

other research carried out by geologists and 

geophysicists from a number of countries. Specific 

resource-related studies have not been made. 

Wright and Williams (1974) summarized what was 

known of Antarctic mineral resources a decade 

ago. 

The U.S. Geological Survey has been actively 

pursuing various investigations in Antarctica since 

194 7. In the course of this work and that of our 

colleagues elsewhere in the United States and in 

other countries, much information relevant to petroleum and mineral resources has been obtained. 

Since 1976, modern state-of-the-art multichannel 

seismic reflection and aeromagnetic surveys by 

several countries over the continental margin of 

Antarctica have indicated thick sedimentary basins. However, no offshore drilling beneath the 

continental shelf has taken place since the DSDP 

(Deep Sea Drilling Project) holes in the Ross Sea 

in 1973. Geologic field investigations begun at the 

turn of the twentieth century have been intensified in the past two decades; most rock outcrops 

have been visited and samples collected. Technology to exploit resources, particularly in the Arctic, 

has been developing at a rapid rate, and much 

of it could be applied to Antarctica. 

As a result of the petroleum price increases of 

the past decade, the attention of a number of countries has turned to Antarctica, but under the policy of "voluntary restraint" adopted by the Ant1 

arctic Treaty nations, no active petroleum or mineral exploration is taking place. The Antarctic 

treaty countries are in the process of negotiating 

an Antarctic mineral resources regime that is 

anticipated to be completed within the next 

several years. Therefore it seemed timely to us 

to readdress the question of petroleum and 

mineral resources. These reports review and summarize the available information. The first report 

summarizes the information relevant to petroleum 

resources. Although uneconomic at present, petroleum is generally considered more likely to be 

exploited (if supergiant fields were ever found) in 

the next few decades than hard minerals. The second report reviews the reported occurrences of 

minerals in Antarctica and discusses their significance. The final report discusses the Dufek 

layered mafic intrusion, second only to the 

Bushveld Complex in size in the world; the Dufek 

intrusion might be considered as a potential target 

for mineral exploration. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

We thank our colleagues in the U.S. Geological 

Survey, in the United States Antarctic Research 

Program, and from a number of other countries 

active in Antarctic Research for ideas, material, 

and helpful discussion. The National Science Foundation has provided funds and logistic support for 

field work over the years for the authors. 

REFERENCE CITED 

Wright, N. A., and Williams, P. L., 1974, Mineral resources 

of Antarctica, U.S. Geological Survey Circular 705, 29 p. 

Are There Petroleum Resources In Antarctica? 

By John C. Behrendt 

No known petroleum resources occur in Antarctica (fig. 1). Nonetheless, because of current concern about world supplies of oil and gas, 

geologists, geophysicists, economists, lawyers, 

and statesmen from a number of countries have 

turned their attention to Antarctica. The Antarctic Treaty nations are working on the problems 

of establishing a mineral resources regime. Exploitation of any metallic minerals that could be mined 

economically would be many years in the future 

(Rowley and others, in press; Rowley and others, 

this volume), even if deposits were to be found 

that might be economic to recover in other parts 

of the world. The only mineral commodity with 

the possibility of exploitation within the next two 

or three decades is petroleum. Most of Antarctica 

is covered by a moving ice sheet about 3 km thick. 

The only aFeas accessible to available or soon-tobe-developed oil exploitation technology are the 

continental margin, possibly including the areas 

beneath ice shelves. Several authors (Wright and 

Williams, 1974; Zumberge, 1979a, b; Holdgate and 

Tinker, 1979; Dugger, 1978; Splettstoesser, 1977; 

Group of Experts, 1977; Rivera, 1977; Ivanhoe, 

1980; Cameron, 1981; Quigg, 1983; Behrendt, in 

press) have addressed the possibility of the occurrence of petroleum resources on the Antarctic continental margin from various perspectives 

(geologic, environmental, economic, and legal); I 

will be referring to their work as well as my own 

in this report. 

In a study of world oil resources, Nehring (1978) 

discussed the occurrence of giant fields (0.5 billion 

bbl or about 70 million tons of recoverable oil) and 

3 

supergiant fields (5 billion bbl or about 700 + mil-· 

lion tons of recoverable oil; Meyerhoff (1976) used 

the figure 10 billion bbl or 1.4 billion metric tons 

for supergiant fields). Nehring (1978) estimated 

that a total of four to ten supergiants containing 

30-100 billion tons remain to be discovered in the 

world. It is probable that nothing smaller than 

giant, and more probably supergiant, fields would 

be economic in the harsh Antarctic environment, 

particularly considering the world petroleum 

"glut" as this is written in 1983. Nehring (1978) 

concluded that " ... the rate at which the ultimate 

resource will become available depends primarily 

on the development of technology for offshore Arctic [Antarctica was not discussed] and deep-water 

exploration and production, the production policies 

of the OPEC countries, and the existence of the 

necessary economic incentives to producers and 

refineries." The cartoon presentation of the "ring 

of oil" (fig. 2) from Nehring (1978) shows the concentration of nearly 85 percent of the world's 

known petroleum resources on a reconstruction of 

Gondwanaland, from which one would infer that 

it is unlikely that Antarctica as a whole would be 

promising for petroleum. Possibly the "ring of oil" 

is only a reflection of the areas of the world where 

the most intense exploration has so far taken 

place. Meyerhoff (1976) published a map (fig. 3) 

showing the locations of giant and supergiant oil 

fields of the world; these have a significant concentration in the Northern Hemisphere. 

I plotted the southernmost of the giant oil fields 

from figure 3 on the continental reconstruction 

published by Craddock (1969) as shown in figure 
4, which suggests that the areas with the most 

potential for petroleum resources are the Ross, 

Amundsen, Bellingshausen, and Weddell Seas' 

parts of the West Antarctic continental margin. 

However, the validity of any conclusion drawn 

from a Gondwanaland reconstruction is largely restricted to the consideration of rocks that predate 

the Gondwanaland fragmentation. After fragmentation, the various fragments have distinct 

geologic histories. Given this, the age of the various oil fields on figure 4 becomes crucial. R. J. 

Tingey (written commun., 1982) made the following comment. "The Australian examples (in fig. 

4) range from small gas fields in western Australia 

90°W 

....__._.---...- Bathymetric contours 

- ---- Ice-sheet surface contours 

.,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Ice shelves 

--:.... -~ Areas of exposed rocks 

in pre-break-up Triassic strata, to intracontinental 

Permian strata in central Australia, to oil bearing 

strata of break-up (i.e. Eocene) age in the Gippsland basin. In the South American San Jorge 

basin, the petroleum-bearing rocks are the Late 

Cretaceous Chubut Group which post-date the Africa-South America separation and thus bear no 

relation to the underlying (and older) orogen that 

allegedly once continued right across Gondwanaland. Similarly the Gippsland oil fields of Australia 

are not related to the much older Tasman orogen 

on which they are plotted; both the San Jorge and 

Gippsland rocks appear to be related not to transGondwanaland orogens but rather to the processes 

oo 

500 

' ' <Ya vo 

' ' \ 

I 

\ 

' ' 

1000 KILOMETERS 

' I ,_ 

FIGURE 1.-Index map of Antarctica showing major geographic features discussed in text, including the continental 

margin. Bathymetric contour interval 3000 meters; ice-sheet surface contour intervallOOO meters. 

4 
FIGURE 2.-Cartoon of "ring of oil" showing concentration 

of nearly 85 percent of known petroleum resources of the 

world on a continental reconstruction about 170 m.y. B.P. 

(From Nehring, 1978.) 

of Gondwanaland orogens break-up." 

Consideration of the known geology of Antarctica and inferences from sparse geophysical work 

"" I • , 

. 

suggest the presence of significant thicknesses of 

sedimentary rock in the areas throughout West 

Antarctica and several areas in East Antarctica 

(fig. 1). The Amery Ice Shelf area of East Antarctica might be considered, on the basis of the large 

indentation in the continent suggesting a possible 

failed rift, analogous to the petroleum-rich Benue 

Trough area of West Africa. In this report I review the available geophysical data and discuss 

the results of drilling on the continental margin 

by the DSDP (Deep Sea Drilling Project). I also 

briefly discuss the environmental hazards associated with future Antarctic petroleum exploration and exploitation. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

I thank P. D. Rowley and K. A. Kvenvolden 

for helpful discussions. A. B. Ford, C. M. Masters, and G. L. Dolton and R. J. Tingey (Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources) critically reviewed the manuscript. The material covered in 

this report is essentially the same as that in 

Behrendt (in press). 

FIGURE 3.-Worldwide distribution of giant petroleum fields (solid dot). (Modified from Meyerhoff, 1976.) 

5 
~ 

---............ 

AFRICAN 

SHIELD 

', 

EAST 

ANTARCTIC 

SHIELD 

-..... 

'\ 

" '-;> .......... 

LAND? \ 

\ 

BRAZILIAN 

SHIELD SHIELD 

F'IGURF. 4.-Southernmost giant oil fields (solid dot) from figure 3 on a continental reconstruction. Dashed lines and queries 

indicate uncertainty. (Modified from Craddock, 1969; oil fields from Meyerhoff, 1976.) 
SUMMARY OF GEOLOGY 

Rowley and others (in press) summarized the 

regional geology of Antarctica, and I am using material from their text here. Antarctica (fig. 1) is 

generally divided into two parts, geologically and 

topographically. The semicircular area (fig. 1) 

lying mainly in the Eastern Hemisphere is known 

as East Antarctica. There the ice sheet is mostly 

more than 3 km high and bedrock is near or below 

sea level in places. Subglacial mountain ranges 

exist with as much as 4 km of local relief. The 

rocks of East Antarctica are rarely exposed except 

at the coast and along the Transantarctic Mountains marking the boundary with West Antarctica. 

East Antarctica, where outcrops exist, is mainly 

a craton consisting of Precambrian crystalline 

metamorphic complexes welded together in late 

Precambrian or early Paleozoic time. These older 

rocks, deformed and folded in early Paleozoic 

time, are overlain unconformably by the generally 

flat lying Beacon Supergroup sedimentary sequence that ranges from Devonian and possibly 

Silurian to Early Jurassic in age. The Beacon 

rocks are particularly well exposed in the Transantarctic Mountains. 

West Antarctica, lying only in the Western 

Hemisphere, is much lower in elevation, and in 

many areas the bedrock is more than 1 km below 

sea level (Bentley, 1964). West Antarctica is 

faulted and fragmented and may consist of several 

microplates, as discussed by Dalziel and Elliot 

(1982) and Behrendt (1964a). These microplates include the 5-km-high Ellsworth Mountains (mainly 

upper Precambrian and Paleozoic sedimentary 

rocks folded in Mesozoic time) and the Antarctic 

Peninsula (consisting largely of upper Mesozoic 

and Tertiary stocks and batholiths intruding Mesozoic sedimentary and volcanic sequences). Sedimentary rocks are locally abundant in Marie Byrd 

Land. Tertiary and Quaternary volcanic rocks 

crop out in :Marie Byrd Land and in the McMurdo 

area. 

All of the known geology on land is based on 

samples from highly competent outcrops projecting through the ice as mountain ranges and isolated nunataks. Therefore, sampling is biased and 

the Cretaceous and Cenozoic basins, containing 

unmetamorphosed sedimentary rocks whose presence would be expected by analogy to other continents, are not exposed but probably occur beneath 

the ice sheet and continental margin. These basins 

are the places likely to contain petroleum, but only 

7 

geophysical methods and drilling can determine 

their presence and resource potential. 

GEOPHYSICAL STUDIES 

Some geophysical work was carried out in Antarctica during the 1930's (Poulter, 1937) and 1940's, 

but the 1950's saw the beginning of systematic reconnaissance seismic-reflection and -refraction, 

gravity, land-magnetic, and aeromagnetic studies. 

The early seismic reflection work on the oversnow 

traverses (Robin, 1958; Kapitza, 1960; Bentley, 

1964; Thiel and Behrendt, 1959; Behrendt, 1962; 

Crary and Robinson, 1962) was primarily directed 

at measuring ice thickness, with few sub-ice reflection results reported. No modern multichannel 

seismic reflection data have been collected on the 

grounded ice sheet or floating ice shelves of Antarctica. The seismic refraction results from the 

oversnow traverses were biased towards the 

higher velocities because the seismic velocity of 

ice is about 3.9 km/s, precluding direct observation 

of lower velocity sedimentary rocks in basins beneath the ice. 

The gravity measurements made along oversnow traverses are of severely limited quality because of poor elevation control (Bentley, 1964). 

Most gravity data on the ice sheet are not particularly useful geologically because ice thickness is 

known only at widely spaced intervals where seismic reflection measurements were made. Modern 

radio echo ice-sounding techniques allow quick 

measurements of ice thickness but, except in a few 

local surveys, such as England and others (1979), 

gravity measurements are no longer being made 

on long oversnow traverses. 

Radio echo ice-sounding from the air (Drewry, 

1975) has allowed continuous measurements of 

bedrock topography over large areas of Antarctica, but only recently (Behrendt and others, 1980; 

Jankowski and others, 1983) have simultaneous 

aeromagnetic measurements been made, allowing 

subglacial geologic interpretations. Aeromagnetic 

data without radio echo ice-thickness measurements have been obtained on a reconnaissance 

basis mostly on widely spaced profiles throughout 

large areas of Antarctica. In West Antarctica, 

Behrendt and Wold (1963) and Behrendt (1964b) 

reported substantial (>5 km) thicknesses of nonmagnetic presumably sedimentary rocks west of 

the Ellsworth Mountains. Jankowski and Drewry 

(1981) also indicated several-kilometer-thick sedimentary rocks in this area on the basis of 
goo w r-- -------s,5o_s _______ ..----=:...:=-=-_;_;,c_, O=--=L=-------------,85_ S _______ , goo E 

l?OSS SEA 

EXPLANATION 

SHORT -WAVELENGTH 

MAGNETIC ANOMALIES 

---- Aeromagnetic 

survey line 

•osoP - 270 

180° 

105° E 

500 KILOMETERS 

FIGURE 5.- Magnetic anomalies along aeromagnetic track lines flown in 1963-64 over the Ross Ice Shelf and adjacent 

parts of the Transantarctic Mountains. Turns on flight lines are indicated by dashed lines on magnetic profiles. Drillhole 

is indicated at DSDP 270. 

8 
aeromagnetic and radio echo ice-sounding. 

Behrendt and others (1974) reported thick but undetermined amounts of sedimentary rock between 

the Pensacola and Ellsworth Mountains on the 

basis of unusually smooth magnetic profiles. 

In the early 1960's, widely spaced aeromagnetic 

profiles were collected across the entire length of 

the Transantarctic Mountains (Behrendt, 1964b; 

Behrendt and Bentley, 1968). Figure 5 shows the 

locations of these profiles between longs 120° W. 

and 135° E. in the Ross Ice Shelf area. I reinterpreted the data shown in figure 5 using the 

method of Vacquier and others (1951) to obtain 

rough estimates of elevation of magnetic basement 

as shown in figure 6. For comparison, figure 7 

shows the generalized bedrock elevation of the 

same area. Beneath the Ross Ice Shelf and the 

grounded ice sheet west of the Transantarctic 

Mountains, large areas of rock inferred to be sedimentary have thicknesses of 4-8 km or greater. 

The RIV E ltanin collected magnetic profiles 

(Hayes and Davey, 1975) over the Ross Sea continental shelf (fig. 8) along with single-channel seis-· 

mic reflection profiles, but Hayes and Davey did 

not attempt to calculate depth estimates because 

temporal variations in the magnetic field relative 

to the slow ship speed made it difficult to separate 

temporal from spatial anomalies. The anomalies I 

determined by the aeromagnetic method are not 

as sensitive to distortion by temporal variation because of much higher aircraft speeds. Nevertheless, the 200-nT-contour magnetic anomaly map 

(fig. 8) published by Hayes and Davey (1975) is 

not inconsistent with several kilometers of sedimentary rock beneath the continental shelf as 

suggested in figure 6 for areas beneath the Ross 

Ice Shelf. 

In the past 5 years, geophysicists from the 

U.S.S.R. have collected substantial aeromagnetic 

data in the Filchner and Ronne Ice shelf areas 

south of the Weddell Sea (Masolov, 1980). His data 

suggest a 12-15 km thickness of sedimentary rock 

beneath the continental shelf in that area 

(Masolov, 1980). The BAS (British Antarctic Survey) has also begun a program of aeromagnetic 

survey flights over the Ronne Ice Shelf, results 

of which are consistent with thicknesses of 14 or 

15 km of sedimentary rock (G. Renner, personal 

commun., 1981). Thus, it appears that the area 

beneath the Ronne Ice Shelf and the continental 

margin bordering the Weddell Sea to the north 

may be underlain by a thick section of sedimentary 

rock. 

9 

The results from magnetic surveys in West Antarctica discussed previously suggest that several 

kilometers of sedimentary rock occur beneath the 

ice sheet and continental shelves. By analogy to 

sedimentary basins in other continents and the 

known geology of West Antarctica, we might expect Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks to constitute 

a substantial part of the unexposed sedimentary 

section. Because several kilometers of Paleozoic 

and older sedimentary rock are exposed in the 

Ellsworth Mountains, sedimentary rocks of this 

age may also underlie the Ronne Ice Shelf (fig. 

1). Bibby (1966) reported that Cretaceous sandstone crops out at the north end of the Antarctic 

Peninsula and that a few outcrops of sedimentary 

rocks of Tertiary age are also found there. Rocks 

of Early Cretaceous age do occur beneath thenarrow continental shelf of East Antarctica at about 

long 147° W. (Domack and others, 1980). Near 

long 95° E. there is evidence of Early to Late Permian, Late Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous, and Late 

Cretaceous to early Tertiary age sediments (Truswell, 1982). There are indications of Early Cretaceous, and Late Cretaceous to early Tertiary sequences on the continental shelf and slope near 

longs 130° E.-135° E. and about long 145° E. 

(Truswell, 1982). Truswell (1982) pointed out that 

the sequence near long 95° E. (Shackleton Ice 

Shelf area) probably has faced the Indian Ocean 

since Mesozoic time, whereas the other two Cretaceous sequences occur at points conjugate to the 

Great Australian Bight Basin and Otway Basin in 

Australia. Precambrian, Paleozoic, and early Mesozoic sedimentary rocks crop out in the mountains 

throughout West Antarctica and along the Transantarctic Mountains, but these rocks are mostly 

metamorphosed, or fractured and intruded by 

dikes and sills. The most promising areas for petroleum resources in a frontier region like Antarctica would seem to be those with younger (that 

is, Cretaceous and Tertiary age) rocks. 

Since 1976, ships from Norway (Haugland and 

others, 1983; Fossum and others, 1982), the Federal Republic of Germany (Hinz, 1982), and the 

U.S.S.R. (G. E. Grikurov, written commun., 

1982) have collected multichannel seismic reflection profiles over the continental margin in the 

Weddell Sea area. In 1976-77, the NARE (Norwegian Antarctic Research Expedition) acquired 16-

channel data along tracks shown in figure 9 (Fossum and others, 1982). The profile across the 

Crary Trough (fig. 10; southernmost profile in fig. 

9), which extends beneath the Filchner Ice Shelf 
goow ,--------.::.;85:_0 S:__ _______ _:::S_:::O-= PO::..::.: LE:__ ________ 1

85_0_S -------,goo E 

105°W 

120°W 

80° s 

135°W 

75° s 

150°W 

)00 s 

ROSS SEA 

EXPLANATION 

--- - Aeromagnetic 

survey line 

165°W 

•osoP - -- 270 

180° 

500 KILOMETERS 

165° E 

105° E 

120° E 

80° s 

135° E 

75° s 

150° E 

)00 S 

FIGURE 6.-Contour map showing estimated depth to magnetic basement on the basis of magnetic profiles shown in 

figure 5. Drill holes are indicated at DSDP 270 and J 9. Contour interval 4 km; dashed where least certain. Hachures 

indicate closed "low" . 

10 
500 KILOMETERS 

165°W 180° 165° E 

FIGURE 7.-Bedrock elevations of area shown in figures 5 and 6. Contours were generalized from Drewry (1975), Clough 

and Hansen (1979), and Bentley and Jezek (1981). Drill holes are indicated at DSDP 270 and J9. Contours indicated 

in meters. 

11 
(Haugland and others 1983, and Y ngve Kristofferson, written commun., 1983). The west-dipping reflections are consistent with the thick section of 

sedimentary rock inferred from aeromagnetic data 

(Masolov, 1982) in the western Weddell Sea continental shelf and Ronne Ice Shelf area discussed 

in the preceding. Additional profiles were collected by NARE in 1978-79 (Haugland and others, 

1983) in the same area. 

In 1978, the BGR (Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources) of the Federal Re180° 

~ "< ....; 

::r 

~ 

~ 

f:d ;); 

,.,os 

» 

180° 

100 

public of Germany collected 5854 km of 48-channel 

data over the continental shelf between longs 25° 

W. and 20° E., as shown in figure 11 (Hinz, 1982). 

Hinz reported the "Explora wedge" of seawarddipping relectors having seismic velocities >4.5 

km/s to be overlain by sediments as much as 3-5.2 

km thick having velocities of 1.6--3.6 km/s. These 

lower velocities seem reasonable for Tertiary or 

possibly Late Cretaceous age rocks. Hinz (1982) 

interpreted the >4.5-km/s, seaward-dipping. reflectors as evidence of volcanic layers rather than 

200 

165°W 

300 KI LOMETERS 

lSos 

FIGURE 8.-Contour map of magnetic intensity along RN Eltanin cruise tracks (heavy line) in the Ross Sea. Contours 

indicate multiples of 200 nT. Dashed lines indicate uncertainty. (From Hayes and Davey, 1975.) 

12 
sedimentary rock, and therefore inferred a low 

petroleum potential for the continental margin in 

this area. Figure 12 shows examples of profiles 

from Hinz's (1982) report. Neither the 1976 

NARE or the 1978 BGR expeditions penetrated 

the heavy pack ice of the Weddell Sea north of 

the Ronne Ice Shelf where the magnetic data referred to on page 9 suggested a 12-15 km depth 

to magnetic basement. The U.S.S.R. collected 12-

channel seismic reflection data (G. E. Gikurov, 

written commun., 1982) partly over this area along 

the tracks shown in figure 13 between longs 15° 

W. and 60° W. from 1980 to 1982, but no results 

are available. 

In 1981-82, the RN Hakurei-Maru from the 

JNOC (Japan National Oil Corporation) collected 

24-channel reflection profiles in the southern Weddell Sea along the tracks shown in figure 14 

WEDDELL SEA 

100 

I 

200 

I 

COATS LAND 

- GEOPHYSICAL 

PROFILING 

300 KI LOMETERS 

I 

FIGURE 9.- Ship (Polarsirkel) tracks (heavy line) over the Weddell Sea continental margin along which multichannel seismic 

and other geophysical data were collected in 1976--77 by NARE. Bathymetric contours indicated in meters. (Modified 

from Fossum and others, 1982.) 

13 
w 

~ 

i= 

..J 

u. 

w 

a: 

>-

<( 

5: 

I 

0 

5: 

1-

w E 

SB12-77 SB14-77 

----

FIGURE 10.-Seismic-record section across the Crary Trough (southernmost profile in fig. 9). From Haugland and others (1983). 

Kindly furnished by Yngve Kristoffersen. SB, sonobuoy location. Length of profile, 150 km. Reflection time in seconds. 

Filchn er 

Ice She/{ 

100 200 300 KILOMETERS 

~0 J' 

FIGURE 11.-Ship (Explora) tracks (heavy line) over the Weddell Sea continental margin along which multichannel 

seismic and other geophysical data were collectecl by the BGR in 1978. Bathymetric contour in meters. (Modified 

from Hinz, 1982.) 

14 
~ 

01 

U) 

0 

z 

0 

u 

LU 

U) 

z 

LU-

::2: 

i= 

U) 

0 

z 

0 

u 

LU 

U) 

z 

u..J 

::2: 

i= 

E 

SSE 

TRACK 18 

TRACK 19 TRACK 20 

NNW E 

~ 

~ '-

0 50 KILOMETERS I I I I I I 

FIGURE 12.-Three examples of interpreted profiles from seismic reflection data along tracks of figure 11. Vertical lines are 

locations where velocities were determined by sonobuoys. Vertical dashed line indicates jogin track. (Modified from Hinz, 

1982.) 

w 

w 
(Okuda and others, 1983), which is the same area 

as that of the BG R data shown in figure 11. Their 

preliminary interpretation indicates about a 1.0-s 

time thickness of sedimentary rock on the continental slope near long 5o W., which would be equal 

to 1.5 km for an assumed velocity of 3 km/s. 

In 1980, the BGR acquired 6745 km of 48-channel data over the Ross Sea continental shelf (fig. 

15) (Fritsch, 1980). These data cover the same 

general area as the Eltanin cruise track (along 

which single-channel data were obtained) shown 

in figure 8. Fritsch (1980) reported that two discontinuities were found in the eastern part of the 

Ross Sea continental shelf, which he could correlate with upper Miocene-lower Pliocene and middle Miocene-upper Miocene contacts recognized in 

the DSDP core holes. He reported a structural 

high along about the 180° meridian, which divides 

the Ross Sea into two geologic provinces. His data 

processing is not completed and a maximum sedimentary rock thickness is not available, but at 

least several kilometers are suggested. In 1981-82 

the IFP (Institut Francais du Petrol), also using 

the same ship Explora, collected about 1500 km 

of 48-channel data in the Ross Sea area; the ship 

tracks are shown in figure 15 (J. W annesson, written commun., 1982). No results from this work 

are available. Davey and others (1982) reported 

sedimentary basins in the Ross Sea on the basis 

of data from seismic refraction and variable angle 

reflection measurements using sonobuoys in 1980-

81. These results indicate three major basins with 

sedimentary rock thickness exceeding 4 km in the 

central trough basin along about the 175° E. meridian west of the ridge reported by Fritsch (1980). 

In 1983, the JNOC ship Hakurei-Maru also colFilchner Ice Shelf 

100 200 KILOMETERS 

FIGURE 13.-Ship tracks (heavy line) in the Weddell Sea along which 12-channel seismic reflection data were collected by 

U.S.S.R. from 1980 to 1982 (G. E. Grikurov, written commun., 1982). 

16 
lected multichannel reflection profiles in the Ross 

Sea area, but no results are known. 

In the 1981--82 season, Explora collected 48-

channel reJection data for IFP along the approximately 3000 km of tracks shown in figure 16 between longs 135° E. and 155° E. over the East 

Antarctic continental margin (J. Wannesson, written commun., 1982) near Adelie Land. No results 

are available yet. 

The JNOC ship Hakurei-Maru collected more 

than 3280 km of 12-channel (3-fold) reflection data 

in the Bellingshausen Sea area in 1981 (Kimura, 

1982) along the tracks shown in figure 17. Kimura 

(1982) reported that maximum sedimentary rock 

thickness (about 3 s or about 3--3.5 km) is greatest 

in the site of a paleo-trench lower-slope complex 

and decreases both seaward and landward. 

The BMR (Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources) collected about 5000 km of 6-channel reflection data on closely spaced tracks over the continental margin in the area offshore of the Amery 

Ice Shelf (fig. 1) during 1981-1982 between longs 

55° E. and 80° E. (R. J. Tingey, oral commun., 

1982). No results of this work are available. The 

BMR survey should provide interesting information on this area in East Antarctica, which is the 

most favorable for petroleum resources. 

DRILLING STUDIES 

The Glomar Challenger drilled a series of holes 

on Leg 28 of the DSDP from December 22 to February 16, 1973 (fig. 18) in the Antarctic area (Shipboard Scientific Party, 1975). Of these, Sites 270, 

271, 272, and 273 were drilled beneath the continental shelf at the thinnest part of the sedimentary wedge and are relevant to the evaluation for 

petroleum resources. The most significant results 

of this work are summarized in the initial reports 

(Shipboard Scientific Party, 1975). Results from 

these four holes (fig. 19) showed a Paleozoic continental basement overlain by a section of early Oligocene to late Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene 

rocks. 

620 s4·r--oo__,w ____ _ -----"l'l-ow"'-------____,..-----"';-.!L_--------'-"io-'lw ______ -loi-o -------'-'] 

SOUTH ORKNEY 

RIDGE 

G;;;::> 

500 KILOMETERS 

FIGURE 14.-Ship (Hakurei-Maru) tracks (heavy line) in the Weddell Sea along which 24-channel seismic, gravity, and magnetic 

data were collected by Japan in 1981--<'\2. The 3000- and 5000-m bathymetric contours are indicated. (Modified from Okuda 

and others, 1983.) 

17 
160° E 170° E 

180° 

Ross Ice Shelf 

180° 

100 

I 

200 

I 

300 KILOMETERS 

I 

FIGURE 15.-Ship (Explora) tracks (heavy line) over the continental shelf in the Ross Sea area along which 48-channel 

and other geophysical data were collected in 1980 by the BGR (from Fritsch, 1980) and in 1981-82 by the IFP (J . 

Wannesson, written commun. 1982). DSDP holes 270, 271 , and 272 are indicated from Hayes and Frakes (1975). 

Bathymetric contours indicated in meters. 

Although small amounts of methane and ethane 

were reported in parts of the dominantly nonmarine Miocene sedimentary rock (Shipboard Scientific Party, 1975), the authors considered it premature to attach any economic significance to the 

hydrocarbons. Mel ver (1975) also analyzed samples from the cores of Sites 271, 272, and 273. 

He reported significantly higher amounts of 

ethane and heavier homologs in these samples 

than from others collected in the DSDP. He 

suggested this as evidence of local organic 

diagenesis. These provocative results must be considered cautiously until further drilling takes 

place. 

Leg 35 of DSDP in the Antarctic area did not 

drill on the continental shelf or slope, and thus 

does not have a direct bearing on the petroleum 

18 

resource question. However, leg 35 provides a 

great deal of data on the Paleogene and Neogene 

climate in Antarctica (Shipboard Scientific Party, 

1976). 

DISCUSSION 

Various reconstructions of Gondwanaland have 

been published, and the position of Antarctica is 

basically similar in all. For the purpose of this report, that of Craddock (1969) shown in figure 4 

is most useful. The tectonic relationships of West 

Antarctica are complex subsequent to rifting (Dalziel and Elliot, 1982), which was probably initiated 

in Jurassic time, as suggested by the ages from 

163-179 m.y. of the Ferrar Dolerite and correlative intrusions found along the Transantarctic 
100 200 

ADELlE LAND 

oS 

'\<s 

300 KILOMETERS 

FIGURE 16.-Ship (Explora) tracks (heavy line) over the continental shelf of East Antarctica along which IFP collected 

48-channel seismic reflection data in 1981-82. Bathymetric contours indicated in meters. (From J. Wannesson, written 

commun., 1982.) 

Mountains (Grindley, 1963; Elliot, 1970; Ford and 

Kistler, 1980). The limited geophysical data discussed in this report and general geologic considerations suggest that the continental shelves of 

the Ross, Bellingshausen, Amundsen, and Weddell Seas, including areas covered by ice shelves 

and large areas of the Byrd subglacial basin (fig. 

1), contain sections of Cretaceous and Tertiary 

sedimentary rock several kilometers thick. Large 

areas beneath the ice sheet in East Antarctica 

such as the Wilkes subglacial basin (fig. 1) are also 

probably underlain by several kilometers of sedimentary rocks of similar ages, as suggested by 

the magnetic depth estimates in figure 6. The Antarctic continental shelf east of about long 90° E. 

can be expected to have parallels with Australia's 

southern margin in breakup (late Mesozoic) and 

19 

early Cenozoic sequences. Distinct differences are 

probable between Antarctica and Australia, particularly in strata deposited after the Oligocene/ 

Miocene onset of Antarctic glaciation, by which 

time Australia and Antarctica were widely separated. West of long 90° E., the Antarctic continental shelf could be expected in pre-breakup strata 

to have similarities to the Indian and West Australian continental margins. 

Data are insufficient to predict which of the 

areas along the West Antarctic continental margin 

might be the most likely for petroleum resources. 

Wright and Williams (1974) suggested that the 

Ross Sea continental shelf may contain more oil 

and gas than the Weddell Sea shelf because of the 

Ross Sea shelfs affinities with the Gippsland 

Basin of Australia, which in 1974 had proved re-
serves of 345 million tons (about 2.5 billion bbl) 

of oil and 220 billion m3 of gas. Cameron (1981) 

pointed out that the Gippsland Basin is not part 

of the southern Australian marginal rift and therefore has no direct analog on the Antarctic margin. 

On the other hand, the probable greater thickness 

of sedimentary rock beneath the Weddell Sea shelf 

might make this area the most promising location 

for petroleum deposits in Antarctica (despite small 

amounts of oil and gas produced to date from the 

adjacent margins in South America and Africa in 

the Gondwanaland reconstruction). Little or no information is available on the Bellingshausen and 

Amundsen Sea's shelves to allow speculation of 

their petroleum resources potential relative to the 

Ross and Weddell Sea's shelves. 

The specific questions relating to presence or 

absence of source rocks, organic material, reservoir rocks, seals, and structures favorable for hydrocarbon accumulation in West Antarctica cannot 

be answered now. No data are available on past 

geothermal gradients that might answer the question of whether there is sufficient maturation for 

genesis of petroleum. The presence of Tertiary 

and Quaternary volcanic activity beneath the Ross 

Sea shelf as suggested by the magnetic anomalies 

of figure 5 is well known in various areas of West 

Antarctica, and suggests that the regional heat 

flow in at least these areas is probably high. 

Further research drill holes such as those proposed for the "deceased" Ocean Margin Drilling 

Program (Davies and Hay, 1981) are needed to 

answer the general questions relating to petroleum geology. These will need to be preceded by 

much more geophysical data collection, such as the 

profile shown in figure 10 (Joint Oceanographic Institutions, 1981), to correctly site the drill holes. 

ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS 

Antarctica has the most severe environment on 

Earth in which to carry out petroleum exploration 

or exploitation. Were exploration and exploitation 

to occur, much research would be required into 

the types of hazards that might be encountered 

and the types of ecosystems that might be disturbed. Various groups (such as Group of Experts, 

1977; Zumberge, 1979b; and Holdgate and Tinker, 

1979) have attempted to deal with potential environmental problems and to suggest research 

62 sr---------~o,o ~----------------~90 'W~----------------~so o~w----------------~ oo ~, 

BELLINGSHAUSEN SEA 

100 200 300 KILOMETERS 

FIGURE 17.-Ship (Hakurei-Maru) tracks (heavy line) in the Bellingshausen Sea along which 12-channel seismic, gravity, 

and magnetic data were collected by Japan in 1980-81. Bathymetric contours indicated in meters. (From Kimura, 1982.) 

20 
AUSTRALIA 

1000 2000 KILOMETERS 

FIGURE 18.-Cruise track (heavy line) of Glomar Challenger DSDP leg 28, and locations of core 

holes in the Ross Sea. (From Hayes and Frakes, 1975.) 

areas. Generally, these reports have concentrated 

on climatological, oceanographic, and glaciologic 

hazards and the fragile Antarctic ecosystems that 

might be affected, yet have largely ignored the 

geologic hazards that could actually lead to blowouts and oil spills. 

Considering the expense incurred in Antarctic 

research, ships conducting the marine geophysical 

surveys for geologic framework studies should also 

collect as much data relative to environmental hazards as possible. Subsequently, as specific regions 

are delineated as possibly high in hydrocarbon potential, systematic programs of research into environmental hazards should be undertaken. For example, the Ross Sea area is attractive for future 

exploitation in that the area is largely free of ice 

in the austral summer, and geophysical data 

suggest a reasonably thick section of sedimentary 

rock. Therefore, it is generally considered the 

most probable area for early exploration. However, further research might exclude the entire 

area, or large parts of it, on the basis of results 

from geophysical surveys and research drill holes, 

21 

long before other exploration leading to exploitation would have started. 

Some of the specific studies needed from a physical-sciences standpoint (as opposed to the biological studies also necessary) are: the occurrence and 

frequency of icebergs, pack-ice conditions, weather, physical oceanography (relative to currents 

that might move icebergs or oil spills, or transport 

sediment along the sea bottom), sea-bed stability, 

evidence of iceberg scour, possible presence of 

permafrost or clathrate (Kvenvolden and McMenamin, 1980), and areas of slumping on steeper 

slopes. The Antarctic continental shelf is at a 

depth of about 500 m, or deeper than that of the 

other continents; this would have a strong bearing 

on the difficulty of exploratory or production drilling, subsea completion of oil wells, or risk from 

icebergs to subsea installations. A hole drilled 

through the Ross Ice Shelf (J9) (Clough and Hansen, 1979) demonstrated the feasibility of rapidly 

and repeatedly drilling large-diameter holes 

through moving ice shelves. The technology probably could be developed to keep such a hole open 
along a track as an ice shelf moved at a meter 

or so per day. The risks are obvious and one wonders at the difficulty of containing a blowout on 

the sea bottom beneath an ice shelf 250 m thick. 

giant or supergiant fields-and probably only four 

to ten supergiants remain to be discovered in the 

world. In this report I have attempted to discuss 

some of the available information on potential petroleum resources in Antarctica, which can be 

summarized as follows. SUMMARY 

1. West Antarctica is probably the most promising area of Antarctica for petroleum because it 

likely contains large areas of unmetamorphosed 

sedimentary rock of post-rift age. East Antarctica 

probably contains a number of subglacial sedimentary basins particularly adjacent to high mountain 

Although no petroleum resources are known in 

Antarctica and the petroleum industry is not particularly interested at present (Ivanhoe, 1980), 

economic and political considerations may change 

the industry's interest in the next few years, and 

Meters 

0 

SITE 

274 

SITE 

Z731Z73A 

SITE 

21o-m 

271 • 

"": :::- ecce: ;:;~~;"' _ ,.,'l r I=r-·-- ----_ !M•ddle --

2 _ ~ i!H~Wi~e/ ZA - : M1ocene -- 1 

3 _-_- _ _1M~&' Y_ o m1d -=::-=::: : _ _ \ 

100 :Pliocene 

I :I late Gilbert -

: Gauss?\ -"-- Early to \ -- -_- • I 1 

4 ;._---:::- m•d ~ \ 28 ~ = ... = ~Early\ \ 

~ Ol1gocene \ --=-=- : MIOct~e \ 

-:. c:_- Lafe TOC.ne I I - - - : I \ 5--- \ \ I - - I \ I I 

'>".• I \ I I basalt 1 \ 1 I \ 1\ I I \ ,, \ \ 

\ ,, \ \ 

\ \\ \ \ 

\ \\ \ \ 

zoo 

300 

400 

: 

. ----------50 

m 

10.5 

? ? ? 

\ \\ \ \ \ \\ \ ' ? 

\ \\ I 

EXPLANATION \ I\ \ \ \\ 

I I I I \ \\ I _____ ----- - -16.0 Silly ,,, 270 clay 

\\\ ~-: 

,, \ -=-~= \~ \ 2 -'::-..= :Early Miocene 

~~ \ -=---: ~, \ _-_ : 

\ \ ---: \'---- \ ~~=------- - ~ : Late Oligocene 

I..J'::"~s~d --= L_ ---~2 5 broccia ~~e~e.:_ _ 

marble & Early Paleozoic? gneiss 

D•aii)Tl silty clay 

Sand-s• It-day 

; ?!ce-raltedsand 

_............ Urx:onform11y 

FIGURE 19.-Composite stratigraphic sections from DSDP sites 274, 273/ 

273A, and 270-272 in the Ross Sea. Age in millions of years indicated 

at right. (From Hayes and Frakes, 1975.) 

exploration and exploitation are possible within 

one or two decades. A number of countries are 

actively carrying out multichannel seismic reflection surveys of the Antarctic continental margin, 

as noted in this report, which are obviously focused on petroleum resource studies. Technology 

development will probably occur at a more rapid 

rate than research, exploration, and legal developments (Holdgate and Tinker, 1979; Dugger, 1978). 

The only types of potentially economically exploitable petroleum resources in Antarctica would be 

22 

ranges and within the probable failed rift in the 

Amery Ice Shelf area. 

2. Because of the moving grounded ice sheet 

several kilometers thick that covers most of Antarctica, the only practical areas for possible exploitation, were petroleum to exist, are the continental margins (possibly including the parts covered 

by ice shelves). The most probable areas for petroleum resources are those bordering the Ross, 

Amundsen, Bellingshausen, and Weddell Seas in 

West Antarctica, and the Amery Ice Shelf in East 
Antarctica. 

3. The sparse geophysical data suggest that a 

>8-km-thick section of sedimentary rock occurs 

beneath the Ross Sea continental shelf and a 14-

to 15-km-thick section beneath the Weddell Sea 

continental shelf. The Bellingshausen Basin probably contains >3 km of sedimentary rock. No information is available on sedimentary rock thickness 

beneath the continental shelves bordering the 

Amundsen Sea and Amery Ice Shelf area at this 

time. 

4. DSDP holes on the Ross Sea continental shelf 

indicate the presence of rocks from Oligocene to 

Pleistocene in age. Sedimentary rocks of Cretaceous or possibly Jurassic age might be present 

in the deepest parts of the section indicated by 

seismic reflection data and depths estimated from 

aeromagnetic data. Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary sedimentary rocks are probably present beneath the continental shelf and adjacent 

glacierized areas of East Antarctica on the basis 

of the analysis of a number of samples by several 

investigators. 

5. No direct information is available on the petroleum geology beneath Antarctic continental 

shelves, with the possible exception of the provocative and equivocal shows of gas reported in 

core holes beneath the Ross Sea continental shelf. 

6. If future geophysical and geologic (deep-drilling) research were to indicate certain areas as 

being worthy of exploration, programs of environmental research would be necessary to study possible meteorological, glaciological, oceanographic, 

and geologic hazards that might be encountered 

which would adversely affect future exploration or 

exploitation. Concomitant biological research programs into the fragile ecosystems that might be 

affected by possible blowouts or oil spills would 

also be required. 

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23 

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Shipboard Scientific Party, 1975, Initial reports of the Deep 

Sea Drilling Project, Part 1, Shipboard site reports: 

California University, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, v. 28, p. 1-369. . . . 

___ 1976 Initial reports of the Deep Sea Dr1llmg ProJect, 

Part 1,' Shipboard site reports: California University, 

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, v. 35, p. 

23-193. 

Splettstoesser, J. F., 1977, Offshore development for oil and 

and gas in Antarctica, in POAC 77, International conference on port and ocean engineering under arctic conditions, 4th: University of Newfoundland Memoir, p. 1-10. 

Thiel, E. C., and Behrendt, J. C., 1959, Seismic studies on 

the Filchner Ice Shelf: IGY Glaciology Report No. 2, v. 

1, American Geographical Society, p. V1-V14. 

Truswell, E. M., 1982, Palynology of seafloor samples collected 

by the 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition-Implications for the geology of coastal East Antarctica: unpublished manuscript. 

Vacquier, Victor, Steenland, N. C., Henderson, R. G., and 

Zietz, Isidore, 1951, Interpretation of aeromagnetic maps: 

Geological Society of America Memoir 47, 151 p. 

Wright, N. A., and Williams, P. L., 1974, Mineral resources 

of Antarctica: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 705, 29 p. 

Zumberge, J. H., 1979a, Mineral resources and geopolitics in 

Antarctica: American Scientist, v. 67, p. 68-77. 

Zumberge, J. H., ed., 1979b, Possible environmental effects 

of mineral exploration and exploitation in Antarctica: Cambridge, England, Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, University Library, 59 p. 
Mineral Occurrences of Antarctica 

By Peter D. Rowley, Paull. Williams, and Douglas E. Pride1 

Interest in the exploration and mining of metallic and nonmetallic minerals in Antarctica has increased steadily during the late 1970's and early 

1980's as world demands for mineral resources 

have risen. A major reason for the interest has 

been numerous comparisons of parts of Antarctica 

with mineral-rich belts on Gondwana continents 

that formerly were connected with Antarctica; 

such comparisons have revealed many similarities. 

Numerous reports have summarized the mineral 

occurrences of Antarctica, including the following: 

Fermor (1951), Fairbridge (1952), Kosack (1955), 

Schnellmann (1955), Anonymous (1956), Chalmers 

(1957), Potter (1969), Runnels (1970), Smith 

(1972), Wright and Williams (1974), Ericksen 

(1976), Piper (1976), Quartino and Rinaldi (1976), 

Schofield (1976), Splettstoesser (1976), Wade 

(1976), Anonymous (1977), Cheeseright (1977), Elliot (1977), Ferran (1977), Law (1977), Mitchell 

(1977), Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (1977), Dugger (1978), Turner (1978), 

Zegarelli (1978), Anonymous (1979), Kanehira 

(1979), Lovering and Prescott (1979), Rowley and 

Williams (1979), Zumberge (1979a, b), Ivanhoe 

(1980), Mitchell and Tinker (1980), Auburn (1982), 

Rowley and Pride (1982), Shapley (1982), Quigg 

(1983), Splettstoesser (1983), and Rowley (1983). 

Of these, the most comprehensive summary of 

mineral occurrences was that of Wright and Williams (1974). Kameveva and Grikurov (1983) and 

Rowley, Ford, and others (1983) tentatively defined the metallogenic provinces of Antarctica. 

This report summarizes the known occurrences of 

1

Department of Geology and Mineralogy, The Ohio State University, Columbu~. 

Ohio 43210. 

25 

metallic and nonmetallic minerals on land in Antarctica and attempts to describe them within an 

overall framework of ore genesis. A similar report 

(Rowley and others, in press) is included in a volume, edited by J. F. Splettstoesser, that also discusses other types of mineral resources and the 

environmental implications of their development. 

Resources such as sand and gravel, manganese 

nodules on the ocean floor, icebergs for fresh 

water, and geothermal energy are discussed in 

some of the reports listed above. Oil and natural 

gas resources, which may be the first mineral resources to be exploited in Antarctica, are discussed by Behrendt (1983; this volume; in press). 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

We are grateful for the assistance in identifying 

locations and types of mineral occurrences given 

by C. A. Cox, D. H. Elliot, Gunter Faure, and 

W. J. Zinsmeister, The Ohio State University; C. 

C. Plummer, Sacramento State University, 

California; J. E. Curl, Shell Oil Company, Houston; Edmund Stump and S. G. Borg, Arizona 

State University; T. S. Laudon, University of 

Wisconsin-Oshkosh; I. W. D. Dalziel, Columbia 

University; and M. D. Turner, National Science 

Foundation. We thank R. J. Tingey, Australian 

Bureau of Mineral Resources, and P. R. James, 

University of Adelaide, for sending copies of manuscripts in press. Technical reviews and assistance 

by A. B. Ford, C. H. Thorman, and P. L. Martin 

greatly improved the manuscript. The study was 

financed by National Science Foundation Grants 

DPP78-24214 and DPP80-07388. 
CONSTRAINTS TO MINERAL 

DEVELOPMENT 

Largely ignored in the increased interest in 

Antarctic mineral resources are the physical and 

political constraints to development of an "ore 

body" in Antarctica. Weather forecasting is not 

highly developed in Antarctica. Mean land temperatures are much lower than those of any other 

large area of the Earth's surface, and winds generally are higher in velocity and more constant than 

elsewhere. The continent is far removed from potential markets and the surrounding waters are 

stormy and filled with pack ice and icebergs for 

most of the year. Port facilities and harbors where 

ports could be built are rare, and even if port facilities were constructed, few would be usable for 

more than 2 months per year. Icebreakers would 

be required for assistance during most ship trans 

portation. Land travel to the interior in most 

places is impaired by poorly accessible coastlines 

and by glaciers that are most strongly crevassed 

where they drop down the last pitch to the 

shoreline. Thus much of the transportation, especially from the interior of Antarctica, probably 

would have to be by aircraft. Because of the low 

temperatures and darkness, however, air transportation during most of the winter "night" would 

be dangerous at best. 

Because of these many constraints, a study of 

the economics of hypothetical mining ventures (Elliot, 1977) found that it would cost about three 

times as much to recover hypothetical platinum 

from the Dufek intrusion (Ford and others, 1983; 

Ford, this volume; in press) as it would cost to 

recover an equal amount of platinum from a comparable orebody in the United States. The costs 

would be considerably higher for commodities such 

as iron and copper that have lower unit prices and 

thus larger transportation costs. Drastic increases 

in metal prices would be necessary to offset the 

economic liabilities of mineral development in Antarctica. Lacking such incentives, it is unlikely 

that private firms would invest in Antarctic mining ventures in the foreseeable future unless costs 

ceased to be a factor, perhaps as a result of war, 

collapse of the free market system, loss or potential loss of a supplier of some strategic metal, or 

some other disaster. Barring such calamities, proiected world reserves indicate at least 50 years 

supply (Brobst and Pratt, 1973) elsewhere in the 

world for commodities identified in Antarctica. 

26 

Geologic constraints offer additional reasons to 

be cautious about the likelihood for development 

of mineral resources on land. Purely scientific investigations have dominated the geologic work in 

Antarctica; to date (1983) almost no detailed studies 

have been designed to explore for and characterize 

mineral deposits. Few chemical analyses of rock 

samples or unconsolidated sediment have been published. The nature and types of mineralized and 

altered rocks, including general geochemical patterns, are unknown for virtually the entire continent. No mineral occurrences have been explored 

by drilling techniques. In addition, the number of 

mineral deposits likely to be found in Antarctica 

is low because nearly 98 percent of the continent 

is covered by ice. (For an analysis of discovery 

probabilities, see Wright and Williams, 1974.) 

Furthermore, most of the exposed areas have 

been so little studied that they remain among the 

least geologically and geophysically explored parts 

of the world. Some large areas of rock exposures 

have never been visited, and most others are 

known by reconnaissance geologic mapping only. 

The logistics of transportation and supply commonly dominate decisions on where to go in the 

field; areas that deserve detailed study might not 

be accessible or may have to be studied hastily. 

Altered and mineralized rocks commonly are softer and subject to more rapid erosion than adjacent 

rocks, and thus are more likely to be in lowlands, 

now covered by ice. Furthermore, ice levels over 

most parts of Antarctica were much higher in 

Pleistocene and late Tertiary time, so most exposed bedrock has been deeply scoured by ice. Because ice has covered Antarctica during much of 

Cenozoic time, little surface drainage by running 

water has occurred there, and thus few alluvial 

sediments have been deposited. Therefore, prospecting by inspecting and analyzing alluvial sediments for upstream bedrock mineral deposits can 

rarely be used, and placer-type mineral deposits 

are not likely on the continent. Similarly, groundwater movement has been absent or restricted 

during most of Cenozoic time, and supergene enrichment deposits either never formed or have 

been removed by glacial erosion. Ore minerals will 

have to be recognized by their primary minerals 

and their alteration products. 

The mineral deposits most likely to be exploited 

in Antarctica probably would be large-tonnage, 

low-grade types (for example, iron, copper, and 

coal). Therefore large volumes of ore would have 
to be exported or, more likely, milled or concentrated in Antarctica. The technology to mine on 

land in polar areas exists (Potter, 1969; Hall, 1975; 

Splettstoesser, 1976; Dugger, 1978; Zumberge, 

1979a, b; Auburn, 1982), but the climate in Antarctica is much more severe than that encountered 

in any past or present mining venture. In addition, 

mining and milling activities require large energy 

supplies; the availability of adequate energy 

sources has not been studied in detail. Similarly, 

the effects of exploitation, construction, or mining 

on the environment are poorly known but are 

probably important obstacles to development. 

Political problems offer additional formidable 

constraints to any exploitation of possible ore deposits in Antarctica. Antarctica is an international 

continent governed by the Antarctic Treaty. 

There are no provisions in the Antarctic Treaty 

that concern the recovery of minerals on the land 

areas or from the continental shelves (Scientific 

Committee on Antarctic Research, 1977; Alexander, 1978; Anonymous, 1979; Lovering and Prescott, 1979; Zumberge, 1979a, b; Mitchell and 

Tinker, 1980; Auburn, 1982; Quigg, 1983). International agreements concerning the exploitation of 

mineral resources may be reached in the near future, but until such time, we cannot speculate on 

what regulations or restrictions any such agreements might entail. It is unlikely that any private 

or government enterprise would be willing to commit large sums of money for exploration or development prior to establishment of international 

agreements on mineral rights and mineral exploitation. 

Because of the numerous constraints to discovery and development of mineral deposits in Antarctica, it is unlikely that any such deposit will 

be economically developed for many years. Despite this conclusion, however, adequate knowledge of the mineral resource potential of Antarctica must be actively sought so that proper decisions can be made about the possible presence, 

distribution, and future use of these resources. 

REGIONAL SETTING 

For purposes of this report, a brief review of 

the regional geology of Antarctica-taken from 

Ford (1964), Dalziel and Elliot (1972), Craddock 

(1972, 1982), Rowley (1983), and others-is given 

here. Antarctica may be divided into two parts, 

27 

East Antarctica and West Antarctica (fig. 20, 

inset), on the basis of differences in geology and 

topography. The rocks of East Antarctica are 

rarely exposed except along the coast and in the 

Transantarctic Mountains. East Antarctica is 

mostly a shield consisting largely of Archean "nuclei" craton blocks and surrounding belts of deformed Proterozoic rocks, all welded together in 

Proterozoic and perhaps early Paleozoic time during probable plate-tectonic processes. The shield 

of East Antarctica contains numerous mineral occurrences of many types, as do comparable shield 

rocks of most Gondwana continents formerly adjacent to East Antarctica. Deposits in Precambrian 

shields of these other continents include iron-formation and perhaps bedded manganese in Australia, India, and Africa; conglomeratic placer 

gold-uranium deposits of South Africa; chromite, 

nickel-copper, platinum, and magnetite-vanadium 

deposits of the stratiform Bushveld intrusion of 

Africa; copper-cobalt deposits of Zambia and 

Zaire; nickel deposits in intrusions in Australia; 

gold deposits in mafic volcanic rocks in Australia; 

lead-zinc-copper-silver deposits of Mount Isa and 

Broken Hill, Australia; and diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes (Cretaceous) of South Africa (Wright 

and Williams, 1974; Rowley, Ford, and others, 

1983). Similar deposits might be expected in Antarctica. 

The Transantarctic Mountains (Ross belt) are in 

large part underlain by Proterozoic and lower Paleozoic sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous 

rocks that were folded and intruded during probable collisional plate-tectonic processes during Late 

Proterozoic and early Paleozoic deformation and 

magmatism. The igneous rocks and deformed 

rocks of East Antarctica are unconformably overlain locally by generally flat lying middle Paleozoic 

through lower Mesozoic sedimentary and igneous 

rocks of the Beacon Supergroup and Ferrar 

Group. These flat-lying rocks are especially widespread in the Transantarctic Mountains and locally 

may conceal mineral resources in the underlying 

rocks. In contrast to the East Antarctic shield, 

few mineral occurrences have been found in the 

Transantarctic Mountains. The Dufek Massif 

(Ford and others, 1983; Ford, this volume; in 

press) is one of the few areas in the Transantarctic 

Mountains that contains potentially important 

metal occurrences (iron and copper, and perhaps 

cobalt, chromium, and other metals). Suggestions 

as to what additional deposits might be present 
may be attained by looking at the Tasman fold 

belt of eastern and central Australia, which is 

geologically similar to the Transantarctic Mountains. In particular, the Adelaide part of the Tas0 

' 0 

0 

p 

33 

d 

SCOTIA 

ARC 

73 ' SOUTH 

SANDWICH 

ISLANDS 

tl-35 

,..--1, ' 

WE DELL 

SEA 

1'\ ANTA?CT PLATE '\...I -'-' <" '•L 

\~\' '•7\?. 

0 

NEW {? 

ZEALAND<!, AUSTR LIA 

ROSS 

SEA 

500 

,-. 

180° 

man belt in central Australia may be correlative 

with some parts of the Transantarctic Mountains; 

the Adelaide area contains numerous deposits of 

copper and subordinate gold, lead, zinc, silver, 

1000 I 

1500 KILOMETERS 

FIGURE 20.-Map of Antarctica showing numbered localities of mineral occurrences discussed in the text. Dotted lines 

show boundaries of ice shelves. Inset shows relationship of Antarctica to other continental and oceanic plates, as 

well as spreading ridges (solid lines) and transform faults (dashed lines) in the ocean basins. 

28 
barium, manganese, antimony, and other metals 

mostly in rocks of Late Proterozoic and early Paleozoic age. The more eastern parts of the Tasman 

belt, which geologically resemble the Victoria 

Land part of the Ross belt, contain gold, copper, 

silver, arsenic, lead, zinc, molybdenum, bismuth, 

tin, tungsten, antimony, and other metals related 

to lower Paleozoic volcanic rocks and lower to 

upper Paleozoic granitic intrusions (Wright and 

Williams, 1974; Rowley, Ford, and others, 1983). 

West Antarctica is much lower topographically 

than East Antarctica and consists mostly of Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks. West Antarctica may be 

composed of several small lithospheric plates that 

have moved independently of each other. The Andean belt, characterized by calc-alkaline igneous 

rocks formed during subduction of Pacific oceanic 

lithosphere beneath mostly continental lithosphere, has been superimposed on the Pacific margin of these small plates. Two of the small plates 

are the Ellsworth Mountains area and the Antarctic Peninsula, which exhibit, respectively, the lowest and highest potential for metallic mineral discoveries on the continent. The Ellsworth Mountains consist of Paleozoic clastic rocks that were 

folded in early Mesozoic time; the range contains 

no known mineral deposits. 

The Andean belt is best developed in the Antarctic Peninsula. The peninsula consists in large 

part of stocks and batholiths of Early Jurassic 

through Tertiary age that form several magmatic 

arcs. Most arcs developed on continental lithosphere (Pankhurst, 1982) during subduction of 

oceanic lithosphere. The peninsula, which is more 

ice free than most other parts of the continent, 

is considered to be a particularly favorable 

geologic environment for copper, molybdenum, 

lead, zinc, tin, tungsten, and other mineral deposits because it has a geologic and plate-tectonic 

setting that is similar to the Andean belt of South 

America, one of the world's major mineral belts. 

But more recently, Wright and Williams (1974), 

Ericksen (1976), and Rowley and Pride (1982) 

pointed out that the southern Andes are not 

nearly as rich in mineral deposits as are the Andes 

farther north. A significant geologic break between the northern and southern Andes occurs 

where the Chile Ridge is subducted beneath South 

America. The late Cenozoic igneous evolution has 

been markedly different north and south of this 

intersect of the Chile Ridge with the continent. 

To the north, a trench and a rapidly moving Benioff zone still are active, whereas to the south, 

subduction generally has been slower and the 

oceanic plate has moved at an acute angle with 

respect to the continent (Herron and Tucholke, 

1976; DeLong and Fox, 1977). Subduction under 

West Antarctica ceased at different times in different places: it halted first in Late Cretaceous 

time in Marie Byrd Land and western Ellsworth 

Land (LeMasurier and Wade, 1976), where no 

mineral deposits are known, and at various times 

during the Tertiary in various parts of the Antarctic Peninsula and southern South America (Herron 

and Tucholke, 1976). Thus the geologic history of 

the southern Andes and the Antarctic Peninsula 

is complex compared to that of the northern and 

central Andes. Hawkes (1981, 1982) has even 

speculated that the occurrence of some sulfide 

mineral deposits in the peninsula has been partly 

controlled by onshore extensions of oceanic transform fracture zones. In addition to the differences 

mentioned, southern South America and the Antarctic Peninsula may have undergone deeper erosion than the Andes farther north. These concepts 

indicate that the earlier predictions of numerous 

rich mineral deposits in the Antarctic Peninsula 

were premature (Rowley and Pride, 1982). Nonetheless, the peninsula appears to have the highest 

probability in Antarctica for containing an 

economic base-metal deposit (Wright and Williams, 1974). 

MINERAL OCCURRENCES AND DEPOSITS 

Mineral occurrences are abundant throughout 

much of Antarctica, but most of them are only 

small masses of metallic or nonmetallic minerals. 

They will be described by commodity and by 

groups of genetically related commodities. Their 

locations are shown on figures 20 and 21. Where 

necessary, isotopic ages given below have been 

corrected according to the new decay constants 

supplied by Steiger and Jager (1977). 

29 

IRON 

Iron probably is the commodity forming the potentially largest deposits in Antarctica. Its distribution suggests the presence of an iron metallogenic province in East Antarctica (Rowley, 

Ford, and others, 1983). The most extensive deposits are of banded iron-formation (jaspilite) that 

define an iron-formation subprovince extending 
from Enderby Land through Wilkes Land (fig. 

20). The iron-formation is similar in lithology, 

geochemistry, and age to Superior- and perhaps 

Algoma-type deposits (Gross, 1965) in numerous 

(/)(} .,.- 60 0 

z 0 

<( 

-J 

~ 

~ (j21 

60°W f::! &-36 

w t:> 

J: 

(/) WEDDELL 

22 

SEA 

other Precambrian terranes in the world; Gole and 

Klein (1981) noted that most deposits elsewhere 

in the world have an age range of 2.0 to 1.8 b.y. 

(billion years). An iron-oxide vein subprovince in 

IE 

Ronne 

Ice 

Shelf 

)QO $ 

~ 

ELLSWORTH 

MOUNTAINS f 90°WI--------------+-----__;_::_"t----V)--------------r-------190°W ....; 

4:! 

)QO $ 80° s 

200 400 600 KILOMETERS 

FIGURE 21.-Map of the Antarctic Peninsula showing numbered localities of mineral occurrences discussed in the text. In 

the vicinity of the Ronne Ice Shelf, the map follows the modifications suggested by Swithinbank and others (1076). Dotted 

lines show boundaries of ice shelves. 

30 
Queen Maud Land (Rowley, Ford, and others, 

1983) contains veins of magnetite and possibly related sulfide minerals that may have been remobilized by hydrothermal processes acting on 

older iron source terranes. Australian and Soviet 

workers have studied Antarctic iron deposits in 

greatest detail; Tingey (in press) summarized the 

geology and history of discovery of the various 

iron occurrences and concluded that none are 

likely to be economically developed. 

The largest known deposits of iron-formation in 

Antarctica are in the Prince Charles Mountains 

(localities 1 and 2, fig. 20), MacRobertson Land 

(Grew, 1982, fig. 57.2; Ravich and others, 1982; 

Tingey, 1982a, b, in press). The largest deposits 

occur on Mount Ruker (locality 1, fig. 20) Here, 

beds of banded iron-formation as thick as 70 m 

alternate with slate, siltstone, quartzite, chlorite 

schist, andesitic volcanic rocks or metagabbro(?), 

and talc-carbonate rocks (Ravich and others, 1982; 

Tingey, in press). The main sequence contains 

laminated-type iron-formation and is nearly 400 m 

thick. It is overlain and underlain by sequences, 

each more than 300 m thick, in which banded ironformation is less abundant than other rock types 

(Ravich and others, 1982). These and overlying sequences have been subjected to greenschist 

metamorphism and are tightly folded. The age of 

the banded iron-formation is not known but probably is Early Proterozoic (that is, 2.5 to 1.6 b.y. 

old) or Late Archean on the basis of Rb-Sr (rubidium-strontium) ages that partly bracket the rocks 

(Tingey, 1982a, b, in press); the deposits may be 

part of an Archean craton block in the southern 

Prince Charles Mountains (Tingey, 1982a). 

Beds of banded iron-formation consist of 0.1- to 

2-cm-thick, crinkled, alternating laminae of 

quartzite and dark-gray and purplish-black opaque 

minerals (Ravich and others, 1982) of the Superior 

type (Tingey, in press). Magnetite is more abundant than hematite in the opaque fraction, and ilmenite locally replaces both (Ravich and others, 

1982). Chemical analyses show that silica ranges 

from 36 to 61 percent, and total iron from 25 to 

46 percent (average of 34 percent; Ravich and 

others, 1982; Tingey, in press). Fe20 3 content exceeds FeO; this ratio is the opposite of that in 

most other large deposits of banded iron-formation 

(Gole and Klein, 1981). Tingey (in press) noted 

that the average content of P20 5 is 0.17 percent, 

resulting in ore that is detrimental to steelmaking. 

Two aeromagnetic anomalies, each 5 to 10 km 

31 

wide and with positive amplitudes of 600 to 3,000 

gammas, extend west from Mount Ruker for 120 

and 180 km under glacial ice (Hofmann, 1982, fig. 

58.1; Ravich and others, 1982). These anomalies 

almost certainly indicate additional iron deposits. 

Intensely faulted beds of banded iron-formation 

were noted by Ravich and others (1982) at Mount 

Stinear (locality 2, fig. 20), northeast of Mount 

Ruker, and nearby positive aeromagnetic 

anomalies under glacial ice further suggest additional iron-bearing rocks there. Tingey (1982b, in 

press), however, found only low-grade iron-bearing rocks at Mount Stinear, the rocks of which 

have Archean ages based on Rb-Sr determinations. 

Iron occurrences are abundant in Enderby Land 

(fig. 20), although none has been described in detail. For example, a zone of aluminous schist, in 

which magnetite forms as much as 30 percent of 

the volume of the rock, occurs over an area nearly 

150 km long (Ravich and Kamenev, 1975). Ravich 

and others (1965) reported that the crystalline 

basement complex of Enderby Land also contains 

magnetite that cements clasts of garnet and pyroxene gneiss in breccia zones 10 to 50 m wide 

and more than 100m long. Most magnetite, which 

forms 30 to 40 percent of the volume of the breccia 

zones, apparently originated from solutions that 

migrated along faults, perhaps during Archean 

migmatization (Ravich and others, 1965). Magnetite schist and gneiss also occur in other parts of 

Enderby Land (Ravich and others, 1965). Most 

iron occurrences are in the Napier Complex, an 

Archean craton block, but some are in the adjacent Rayner Complex of Early Proterozoic age 

(Sheraton and others, 1980; James and Tingey, 

1983; Tingey, in press). In 1977, Australian 

geologists reported the discovery of the largest 

deposit of banded iron-formation in Enderby 

Land, at Newman Nunataks (locality 3, fig. 20); 

the deposit is 750 m long, 150 m wide, and 20 

m thick and has an average iron content of 34 percent (Lovering and Prescott, 1979). The deposit 

is lithologically similar to, but much smaller than, 

the one at Mount Ruker (Tingey, in press). It is 

in high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Napier 

Complex and is considered to be at least 3.1 b.y. 

old (Tingey, in press). Magnetite-rich rocks also 

occur at nearby Mount Mueller (locality 4, fig. 20), 

at Mount Cook (locality 5, fig. 20), in the 

Amundsen Bay area (locality 6, fig. 20), and in 

other parts of Enderby Land (Crohn, 1959; Trail 
and others, 1967; Trail and McLeod, 1969a; Lovering and Prescott, 1979). Aeromagnetic anomalies 

were discovered near Knuckey Peaks (locality 7, 

fig. 20; Lovering and Prescott, 1979). 

Glacial boulders of banded iron-formation have 

been found along the coastline of East Antarctica 

between longs 78° E. and 93° E. (Ravich and 

others, 1965; Tingey, in press). For example, in 

the V estfold Hills (locality 8, fig. 20) of the Ingrid 

Christensen Coast, banded iron-formation of 

greenschist facies occurs as boulders as large as 

2 m (Ravich and others, 1982). Average iron content of the boulders, based on sparse chemical 

analyses, is 21 percent (Ravich and others, 1982; 

Tingey, in press). These boulders of banded ironformation are lithologically different from iron-formation of the Prince Charles Mountains; probably 

they were glacially transported from one or more, 

presently ice-covered, iron deposits upstream 

(Ravich and others, 1982). The location of possible 

sources is suggested by the presence of positive 

magnetic anomalies that extend beneath the ice 

in a 120-km-long east-trending belt to the south 

of the Vestfold Hills; the anomalies are 10 to 40 

km long and 2 to 4 km wide and have positive 

amplitudes ranging from 800 to 5,900 gammas 

(Ravich and others, 1982). Bedrock exposures in 

the V estfold Hills also contain unspecified volumes 

of banded iron-formation within an Archean craton 

block (Oliver and others, 1982; Collerson, 1983). 

Magnetite deposits also are present as veins and 

in garnet-quartz-feldspar gneiss in the Larsemann 

Hills (locality 9, fig. 20; Trail and McLeod, 1969b), 

west of the V estfold Hills. The gneiss complex 

presumably belongs to the same Archean block 

(Collerson, 1983); plutonic rocks that intrude it in 

the Vestfold Hills have yielded consistent Rb-Sr 

whole-rock and K-Ar (potassium-argon) ages ranging from 1.5 to 1.0 b.y. old (Grindley and 

McDougall, 1969). 

Farther east, in Wilkes Land, magnetite schist 

and gneiss occur in the Bunger Hills (locality 10, 

fig. 20). Plutonic rocks, which extend over an area 

from longs 90° to 130° E. and which have been 

dated by K-Ar, Pb-U (lead-uranium), and Pb-Th 

(lead-thorium) methods at 1.4 to 0.9 b.y. old 

(Grindley and McDougall, 1969), apparently cut 

the iron-bearing rocks. Still farther east, small 

lenses of limonite-stained magnetite-rich rocks, including banded iron-formation, have been found 

within high-grade Precambrian rocks near Casey 

Station, an Australian base (locality 11, fig. 20; 

32 

Lovering and Prescott, 1979; Lovering and 

Plimer, 1983). Morainal boulders of banded ironformation and magnetite schist have been noted 

by Kleeman (1940) and Mawson (1940) from Cape 

Denison, Adelie Land (locality 12, fig. 20). 

The iron-oxide vein subprovince of Queen Maud 

Land contains numerous iron occurrences whose 

origins are poorly known. The age of the oldest 

rocks in Queen Maud Land is not definitely 

known, but it may be mostly Middle Proterozoic 

(James and Tingey, 1983). Paleozoic metamorphic, 

sedimentary, volcanic, and plutonic rocks of Late 

Proterozoic to early Mesozoic age also are present 

in Queen Maud Land (Grindley and McDougall, 

1969; Neethling, 1972; Van Autenboer and Loy, 

1972; James and Tingey, 1983). Metal occurrences 

in the subprovince include garnet-magnetite veins 

0.5 to 5 m wide in a 50-m-wide fracture zone in 

a Precambrian basement complex in the "Mount 

Hedden" area of central Queen Maud Land (apparently in the Gjelsvik Mountains, locality 13, fig. 

20; Ravich and Solov'ev, 1969). Magnetite schist 

and gneiss occur elsewhere in Queen Maud Land 

(Ravich and others, 1965). Secondary copper 

stains and a minor magnetite-quartz vein were 

noted in similar rocks in the nearby Sverdrup 

Mountains (locality 14, fig. 20) of Queen Maud 

Land (Van Autenboer and Loy, 1972). Breccia 

zones containing abundant magnetite and minor 

disseminated chalcopyrite are related to mafic intrusions in Queen Maud Land. For example, garnet-magnetite veins and pyroxene-magnetite veins 

occur in gneissic country rocks at the contacts of 

charnockite intrusions in the Humboldt Mountains 

(locality 15, fig. 20) of central Queen Maud Land 

(Ravich and others, 1965). Most charnockite plutons may be Late Proterozoic but some probably 

are early Paleozoic (Ravich and others, 1965; 

Ravich and Solov'ev, 1969). Individual veins are 

0.2 to 0.5 m thick and occur in large stockworks 

reported to be "tens of meters" in diameter 

(Ravich and others, 1965); magnetite content within the stockworks ranges from 30 to 40 percent 

by volume. Magnetite adjacent to Upper Permian 

to Triassic syenitic intrusions occurs in the 

Paulsen Mountains and Gburek Peaks (both lying 

between the Sverdrup Mountains and Gjelsvik 

Mountains, Queen Maud Land); the deposits in the 

Gburek Peaks consist of biotite and titanomagnetite in lenticular bodies as much as 3 m wide and 

15 m long within an 80-m-wide contact zone 

(Ravich and others, 1965; Ravich and Solov'ev, 
1969). The many ages of iron occurrences and related mineralized rocks suggest remobilization, by 

plutons, of iron and other metals from Archean or 

Proterozoic iron-formation source terranes. 

Ravich and Solov'ev (1969) also reported magnetite "placer" boulders as heavy as 5 kg at two 

localities in central Queen Maud Land. 

Iron occurrences are also abundant outside the 

East Antarctic shield. Magmatic-type iron is found 

in the stratiform gabbroic Dufek intrusion (Middle 

Jurassic) of the northern Pensacola Mountains 

(locality 16, fig. 20), Transantarctic Mountains. 

The intrusion contains seams of cumulus iron-titanium oxides as thick as 2 m; the seams have fairly 

high titanium and vanadium contents (Himmelberg and Ford, 1977). Scattered minor occurrences of copper and iron sulfides, and derivative 

minerals, also occur in the Dufek intrusion (Ford, 

1970, 1976; Ford, Schmidt, and Boyd, 1978; Ford, 

Schmidt, and others, 1978; Ford, this volume). 

Layered bodies such as this commonly contain 

large volumes of cobalt, chromium, nickel, vanadium, copper, and iron, plus significant amounts of 

platinum-group minerals. Ford (this volume), in 

a detailed discussion of economic possibilities for 

the Dufek intrusion, considers it possible that 

economically important deposits occur in the l~wer 

part of this 9-km-thick body, but only the top of 

the intrusion is exposed. Magnetite layers may 

occur in other stratiform intrusions of the Ferrar 

Group in the Transantarctic Mountains (for example, Hamilton, 1964). 

Magmatic iron is associated with other 

stratiform intrusions in Antarctica, especially in 

the Antarctic Peninsula, where they help define 

an iron subprovince within the Andean metallogenic province (Rowley, Ford, and others, 1983). 

Late-stage magmatic magnetite layers are reported by Fraser (1964) and Elliot (1964) within 

a stratiform gabbro body of Andean age in the 

Anagram Islands of the Argentine Islands (locality 

17, fig. 21), southern Antarctic Peninsula. The 

gabbro is part of a batholith complex that includes 

silicic phases that have K-Ar ages (Rex, 1976) of 

58-55 m.y. (million years). Other minerals found 

within the gabbro include limonite, talc, serpentine, and "copper minerals." Disseminated pyrite 

and small concentrations of pyrite, magnetite, 

molybdenite, hematite, and quartz veins, as well 

as potassic and propylitic altered rocks, occur elsewhere in the islands; all these features suggest 

porphyry mineralization in the area (Hawkes and 

Littlefair, 1981). No metallic minerals in the 

Argentine Islands are known to be of economic 

importance (D. H. Elliot, oral commun., 1977). A 

stratiform gabbro body of Andean age has been 

described by Adie (1955) and Nichols (1955) in the 

Terra Firma Islands (locality 18, fig. 21). Here, 

magnetite and limonite occur in a prominent 

cumulus layer about 6 m thick near the base of 

the intrusion. Cumulus layers of magnetite and 

chromite(?) were noted by Singleton (1980a) in the 

basal part of an Andean layered gabbro intrusion 

in the central Black Coast (locality 19, fig. 21). 

Magmatic iron also occurs in Pleistocene lava 

flows of andesite and olivine basalt mapped 

throughout Brabant Island (locality 20, fig. 21; 

Alarcon and others, 1976; Alarcon, 1977; Vieira 

and others, 1982), Antarctic Peninsula. The lava 

flows apparently are lithologically similar to magnetite-bearing flows at El Laco, northern Chile 

(Park, 1961). The principal minerals in the flows 

on Brabant Island are magnetite and subordinate 

hematite and martite. Hematite and limonite locally have migrated into adjacent Upper Cretaceous 

to Miocene (British Antarctic Survey, 1979) sedimentary rocks (Vieira and others, 1982). 

COPPER 

Occurrences of disseminated copper, molybdenum, and related metals are common in the Antarctic Peninsula, but most are deeply eroded or 

poorly known, and none appear to be economically 

recoverable (Rowley and Pride, 1982). Secondary 

copper minerals, especially those called malachite 

by many authors, are abundant in the Antarctic 

Peninsula and to a lesser extent in other parts 

of Antarctica; X-ray studies show that most of 

these minerals are complex dry-climate copper sulfates and chlorides (Vennum, 1980; V ennum and 

Nishi, 1981). The most promising copper occurrences in Antarctica are on islands west of the 

mainland Antarctic Peninsula and are associated 

with the youngest (Tertiary) trondhjemitic plutons 

of the Andean intrusive suite (Rowley and Pride, 

1982). These include possible porphyry deposits, 

most of which occur in plutonic rocks of 

hypidiomorphic-granular (granitoid) texture and 

appear to have been either emplaced at deeper 

levels or eroded to deeper levels; such deposits 

are of the "plutonic porphyry" type (Sutherland 

Brown, 1969, 1976; Sutherland Brown and others, 

1971; Cox and others, 1981). Polymetallic vein de-
posits, some of which may be peripheral to porphyry mineral systems, also are common in the 

Antarctic Peninsula. The copper occurrences in 

the Pacific margin of West Antarctica define a copper subprovince within the Andean metallogenic 

province (Rowley, Ford, and others, 1983). 

Geologic maps by the British Antarctic Survey 

(1979, 1981, 1982) show the general geology and 

many of the localities containing metallic minerals 

and isotopic ages. 

Pyrite deposits, quartz replacement bodies, and 

hydrothermally altered rocks of considerable volume are scattered throughout King George Island 

(locality 21, fig. 21), an 80 km by 30 km island 

within the South Shetland Islands (Hawkes, 1961; 

Barton, 1965). King George Island consists mostly 

of Upper Cretaceous(?) to Pleistocene volcanic 

rocks (British Antarctic Survey, 1979; Davies, 

1982) that are intruded by small Tertiary quartz 

diorite to granodiorite plutons, one of which has 

K-Ar ages of 53-46 m.y. (British Antarctic Survey, 1979; Watts, 1982). According to Hawkes 

(1961) and Barton (1965), the plutons may represent cupolas of a large batholith that underlies the 

central part of the island. Quartz veins containing 

abundant pyrite and subordinate secondary hematite and limonite were first described by Ferguson 

(1921) and Tyrrell (1921). Some veins are large, 

including one in the central part of the island that 

is more than 2 km long and as much as 155 m 

wide (Ferguson, 1921), one in the northeast that 

is 1.5 km long and as much as 30m wide (Ferguson, 1921), and one in the southwest that is more 

than 2 km long and as much as 0.3 km wide (Barton, 1965). 

In a reappraisal of the deposits on King George 

Island, Littlefair (1978) concluded that the "veins" 

noted by earlier workers are replacement bodies 

formed by hydrothermal fluids that moved along 

fractures in country rocks. Cox and others (1980) 

also recently studied the deposits on Keller and 

Barton Peninsulas and concluded that plutonism, 

alteration, and mineralization were controlled by 

northeast- and northwest-striking faults and 

ioints. 

Broad areas of hydrothermally altered rocks 

(propylitic, argillic, phyllic, and potassic grades) 

on King George Island have been studied by 

numerous workers (Tyrrell, 1921; Hawkes, 1961; 

Barton, 1965; Grikurov and Polyakov, 1971a, b; 

Littlefair, 1978; Davies, 1982), although according 

to Cox and others (1980), alteration may not be 

as widespread as previously reported. Numerous 

alteration minerals, including chlorite, epidote, 

calcite, quartz, sericite, and clays, have been 

noted on the island (Littlefair, 1978; Cox and 

others, 1980; C. A. Cox, oral commun., 1981). In 

addition, Littlefair (1978) reported a mineral assemblage that includes chalcopyrite, bornite, pyrrhotite, marcasite, alunite, natroalunite, jarosite, 

native sulfur, fluorite, gypsum, barite, diaspore, 

and ankerite. Cox and others (1980) also noted the 

presence of magnetite and molybdenite(?) in rocks 

from Barton Peninsula. Chemical analyses of pyrite from King George Island (Littlefair, 1978) reveal anomalously high copper (100-2,200 ppm 

[parts per million]) and cobalt (5-230 ppm) contents. The copper content in samples of diorite 

from Keller and Barton Peninsulas also appears 

anomalously high (C. A. Cox, written commun., 

1981), averaging 144 ppm (3 samples) and 187 ppm 

(20 samples), respectively. The alteration and 

mineralization on King George Island apparently 

is related genetically to plutonism (Hawkes, 1961; 

Barton, 1965; Littlefair, 1978; Cox and others, 

1980). According to Littlefair (1978), the altered 

rocks may represent low-temperature epithermalsolfataric alteration of the type that characterizes 

an area above hot springs with magmatic sources, 

as at Yellowstone National Park, U.S.A. The 

presence of pyrrhotite and perhaps molybdenite 

in rocks from Barton Peninsula (Littlefair, 1978; 

Cox and others, 1980) suggests that at least some 

high-temperature mineralization and alteration occurred on the island. Littlefair (1978) and Hawkes 

(1982) speculated that a porphyry-type mineral deposit may be present at depth on King George 

Island. According to C. A. Cox (oral commun., 

1981), however, the evidence for porphyry-type 

mineralization on the island is not compelling. 

Two copper occurrences have been reported 

from south-central Livingston Island (locality 22, 

fig. 21) of the South Shetland Islands. Both occur 

adjacent to tonalite and trondhjemite Andean plutons. One is apparently a polymetallic base-metal 

vein deposit near and in a small altered tonalite 

pluton in the Johnsons Dock area of Hurd Peninsula (Hobbs, 1968; Caminos and others, 1973; del 

Valle and others, 1974; Cox and others, 1980; 

Pride and others, 1981). The pluton has a K-Ar 

age of 53 m.y. (British Antarctic Survey, 1979). 

Mineralized rocks occur scattered throughout an 

area 1.5 km long and 10m wide within clastic sedimentary rocks of the Miers Bluff Formation 
(upper Paleozoic? or lower Mesozoic). Within the 

mineralized area, veins of quartz and calcite contain pyrite, chalcopyrite, covellite, bornite, tetrahedrite, tennantite, galena, sphalerite, chalcocite, malachite(?), azurite, linarite, antlerite, 

cerussite, witherite, hematite, and limonite. Altered rocks next to the veins contain albite, sericite, epidote, clinozoisite, chlorite, and calcite. One 

sphalerite vein is about 50 em thick (Cox and 

others, 1980). Fieldwork by D. E. Pride suggests 

that the volume of mineralized rock, especially of 

galena, increases northward toward J ohnsons 

Dock. 

The second mineral occurrence on Livingston Island is in the northeastern part of the False Bay 

area, and may represent a deeply eroded coppermolybdenum porphyry deposit. Here, a pluton 

with Rb-Sr mineral ages averaging 39 m.y. (Dalziel and others, 1973) is intensely altered to sericite, chlorite, epidote, and quartz (Hobbs, 1968). 

J. E. Curl (oral commun., 1974) found boulders, 

deposited by glaciers draining the pluton, that 

contain molybdenite veins and stains of secondary 

copper minerals. The field studies in the False Bay 

area by D. E. Pride revealed the presence of glacially derived boulders containing several plutonic 

phases, especially gray granodiorite. These rocks 

contain pyrite, chalcopyrite, molybdenite, sphalerite, quartz, and secondary copper minerals but appear unaltered except for the presence of epidote 

(Pride and others, 1981). 

Several areas of poorly known but widespread 

mineralized rocks in the Danco and northern 

Graham Coasts have been described by Alarcon 

and others (1976), Alarcon (1977), and Vieira and 

others (1982), and are shown on the map by the 

British Antarctic Survey (1979). The Spring Point 

region of the northern Danco Coast (locality 23, 

fig. 21), for example, contains veins and areas of 

disseminated pyrite, scattered subordinate chalcopyrite and copper oxides, and weakly altered 

rocks. The rocks consist primarily of calc-alkaline 

volcanic rocks of the Antarctic Peninsula Volcanic 

Group (Lower Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous) and 

silicic, locally porphyritic Andean plutons. 

The Wilhelmina Bay region of the central Danco 

Coast (locality 24, fig. 21) contains several areas 

of polymetallic base-metal veins and accompanying 

disseminated pyrite, chalcopyrite, and limonite, 

and subordinate copper oxides, sphalerite, galena, 

marcasite, and silver-bearing minerals. The rocks 

are made up of hydrothermally altered (quartz and 

35 

chlorite primarily) clastic sedimentary rocks of the 

Trinity Peninsula Formation (upper Paleozoic? and 

Triassic) and volcanic rocks of the Antarctic Peninsula Volcanic Group (British Antarctic Survey, 

1979) that occur near silicic Andean plutons. Pride 

and others (1981) found float boulders that contain 

veins of pyrite, galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite along the shore of the Bahia Frei-Recess Cove 

area east of Wilhelmina Bay; the veins range in 

thickness from 1 to about 10 em. Vieira and others 

(1982) suggested that the best exploration targets 

for a mineral deposit in the Wilhelmina Bay region 

are limonite covers. 

The Paradise Harbor region of the southern 

Danco Coast (locality 25, fig. 21) contains scattered areas of disseminated and vein-type pyrite 

and subordinate chalcopyrite and copper oxides 

within hydrothermally altered rocks containing 

chlorite, quartz, clay, epidote, K-feldspar (potassium-feldspar), and calcite. The altered and 

mineralized rocks occur within volcanic rocks of 

the Antarctic Peninsula Volcanic Group near silicic 

Andean plutons (Ferguson, 1921; Vieira and 

others, 1982). One of the plutons has a K-Ar age 

of 96 m.y. (West, 1974; British Antarctic Survey, 

1979). 

The LeMaire Channel region (locality 26, fig. 

21) of northeastern Graham Coast contains scattered minor disseminated and vein-type pyrite, 

chalcopyrite, and pyrrhotite, as well as hydrothermally altered rocks, all of which suggest hydrothermal copper vein mineralization (Vieira and 

others, 1982). The altered and mineralized rocks 

largely occur within volcanic rocks of the Antarctic 

Peninsula Volcanic Group that are adjacent to Andean plutons (British Antarctic Survey, 1981). One 

of the plutons has a Rb-Sr whole-rock age of 93 

m.y. (British Antarctic Survey, 1981; Pankhurst, 

1982). 

Vein- and perhaps porphyry-type alteration and 

mineralization occurred on Anvers Island (locality 

27, fig. 21). The altered and mineralized rocks are 

either within a large, deeply altered, composite 

Tertiary batholith that forms most of the island 

and smaller adjacent islands, or in the Antarctic 

Peninsula Volcanic Group marginal to the 

batholith. The batholith is primarily silicic to intermediate in composition and of medium-grained 

hypidiomorphic-granular texture; trondhjemite is 

a prominent rock type (Hooper, 1962). The 

batholith has K-Ar ages of 54-45 m.y. (Scott, 1965; 

Rex, 1976; British Antarctic Survey, 1979) and 
Rb-Sr whole-rock and K-Ar ages of 34-20 m.y. 

(British Antarctic Survey, 1979; Gledhill and 

others, 1982). Mineralization related to emplacement of the batholith is widespread, but to date 

only small volumes of chalcopyrite, pyrite, and 

subordinate bornite, magnetite, molybdenite, and 

secondary copper minerals have been found in 

quartz veins and in disseminated form (Ferguson, 

1921; Thomas, 1921; Hooper, 1962; Anderson, 

1965; Potter, 1969; Alarcon and others, 1976; Alarcon, 1977; Cox and others, 1980; Vieira and others, 

1982; C. C. Plummer, written commun., 1977; W. 

J. Zinsmeister, oral commun., 1977). These small 

deposits, summarized by Rowley and Pride (1982), 

occur in several places on Anvers Island and 

nearby Wieneke Island, Doumer Island, the 

Wauwermans Islands, and Isle Casabianca. C. C. 

Plummer (written commun., 1977), W. J. 

Zinsmeister (oral commun., 1977), and Pride and 

others (1981) noted a fairly"' extensive system of 

quartz veins containing pyrite, molybdenite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, and secondary copper minerals near Palmer Station 

(U.S.A.), southern Anvers Island. Other porphyry 

copper or hydrothermal vein deposits occur in the 

nearby Melchior Islands (locality 28, fig. 21) and 

Brabant Island (locality 20, fig. 21), where large 

areas of disseminated chalcopyrite and, locally, native copper were noted (Vieira and others, 1982). 

Alteration minerals are widespread in all these 

areas. They include K-feldspar, albite, quartz, biotite, sericite, chlorite, epidote, and calcite. Dikelike bodies of sheared, locally high temperature 

alteration minerals (albite, quartz, K-feldspar, biotite, chlorite, and epidote) cut plutonic rocks in 

some places, especially on Anvers Island. The 

geology of Anvers Island and adjacent small islands is complex, and detailed mapping and 

geochemical surveys probably will be required if 

any significant mineral deposits are to be distinguished from among the many mineralized and altered rocks. 

Another deeply eroded Tertiary batholith complex occurs in the Argentine Islands (locality 17, 

fig. 21). Rocks there include a trondhjemite phase 

and a stratiform gabbro body (Fraser, 1964; Elliot, 

1964). Hydrothermally altered rocks are widespread on the islands, and chalcopyrite, molybdenite, and other primary and secondary copper and 

iron minerals have been reported from the area. 

The islands were reinvestigated by Hawkes and 

Littlefair (1981), who recognized zones of potassic 

36 

and propylitic altered rocks within granodiorite of 

70 and 58-55 m.y. (Rb-Sr whole-rock and K-Ar 

ages; Rex, 1976; British Antarctic Survey, 1981; 

Gledhill and others, 1982; Pankhurst, 1982) and 

younger quartz monzonite plutonic rocks and volcanic rocks that are intruded by the plutons. 

Quartz-molybdenite-chalcopyrite veinlets and 

peripheral quartz-magnetite and quartz-pyrite 

veinlets occur within the potassic zone, and disseminated pyrite and magnetite occur within the 

propylitic zone. Hawkes and Littlefair (1981) interpreted the minerals of the potassic zone to represent the roots of a porphyry copper-molybdenum deposit. 

Adelaide Island to the south (locality 29, fig. 

21) is geologically similar to Anvers Island. It and 

nearby small islands are underlain by deeply 

eroded, locally brecciated, composite Andean plutons (Dewar, 1970; British Antarctic Survey, 1981) 

that have Rb-Sr whole-rock ages of 62-60 m.y. 

(Pankhurst, 1982). The rocks range in composition 

from gabbro to trondhjemite and granodiorite. 

Disseminated pyrite and quartz veins containing 

pyrite, magnetite, molybdenite, and "copper minerals" occur locally within altered plutonic rocks. 

Molybdenite, magnetite-limonite masses, disseminated pyrite, quartz veins containing "copper minerals," quartz-magnetite- pyrite veins, and quartzspecularite veins occur adjacent to plutonic rocks 

in sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Antarctic 

Peninsula Volcanic Group (Nichols, 1955; Dewar, 

1970). As with Anvers Island, Adelaide Island 

may be underlain by porphyry-type or plutonic 

porphyry-type deposits and (or) hydrothermal 

vein deposits. Alternatively, any deposits that 

might have occurred on Adelaide Island may have 

been largely removed by erosion. 

Small, widely scattered areas of altered rocks 

or of mineralized rocks containing pyrite, chalcopyrite, magnetite, molybdenite, secondary copper and iron minerals, and other minerals occur 

in about 30 places on the southern Black Coast, 

Lassiter Coast, and northern Orville Coast (fig. 

21; Rowley and others, 1977; Vennum, 1980; 

British Antarctic Survey, 1981; Rowley, Kellogg, 

and others, in press) and in several dozen other 

places on the Orville Coast and in eastern 

Ellsworth Land. All known mineralized and altered rocks in the southern Antarctic Peninsula 

occur in Lower Cretaceous (Farrar and Rowley, 

1980; Farrar and others, 1982) Andean plutons, 

or in wallrocks adjacent to the plutons. These 
wallrocks consist of either volcanic rocks of the 

Mount Poster Formation (Middle? and Upper Jurassic) of the Antarctic Peninsula Volcanic Group 

or sedimentary rocks of the Latady Formation 

(Middle and Upper Jurassic) (Williams and others, 

1972; Rowley and Williams, 1982; Rowley, V ennum, and others, 1983). 

In addition to the many scattered occurrences 

of metals in the southern Antarctic Peninsula, 

three noneconomic "plutonic" porphyry-type deposits have been discovered. The mineralization 

affected plutons of Early Cretaceous age (Farrar 

and Rowley, 1980; Farrar and others, 1982; Rowley, Farrar, and others, in press). One deposit, 

a copper-molybdenum deposit, is exposed in the 

Copper Nunataks of the central Lassiter Coast 

(locality 30, fig. 21; Rowley and others, 1975, 1977; 

Rowley, Farrar, and others, in press). The Lassiter Coast copper deposit contains disseminated 

and vein-type pyrite, chalcopyrite, molybdenite, 

and magnetite, and subordinate secondary copper 

and iron minerals. Mineralized rocks are within 

a sheared, brecciated, and altered (propylitic, argillic, phyllic, and weak potassic grades) 

granodiorite batholith and granite stock. The 

batholith and the stock, respectively, are about 

25 km and at least 8 km in known longest diameter 

and yield K-Ar ages of 108 and 97 m.y. Both plutons are intruded by dacite porphyry dikes, which 

are the possible sources of the mineralization. Average metal values from rocks of the most 

mineralized nunatak, which is intruded by the 

granite stock, do not exceed 200 ppm copper, 100 

ppm lead, and 50 ppm molybdenum; higher values 

may occur laterally beneath the ice or at depth 

(Rowley and others, 1977). 

The Sky-Hi N unataks copper deposit of eastern 

Ellsworth Land (locality 31, fig. 21) contains disseminated and vein-type pyrite, chalcopyrite, and 

magnetite within a small sheared and altered 

(propylitic, argillic, phyllic, and weak potassic 

grades) granodiorite stock that is cut by dacite 

porphyry dikes (Rowley, 1978, 1979; Rowley and 

Pride, 1982; Rowley, Farrar, and others, in 

press). The stock is 1 to 2 km in diameter and 

about 122 m.y. old (Farrar and Rowley, 1980). Average values of the exposed plutonic rocks do not 

exceed 200 ppm copper and 50 ppm zinc. Small 

quartz veins in volcanic rocks of the Mount Poster 

Formation in nearby nunataks, however, contain 

pyrite, chalcopyrite, molybdenite, and secondary 

copper minerals; semiquantitative spectrographic 

37 

analyses of mineralized rocks in these veins locally 

show values of as much as 7,000 ppm copper, 1,500 

ppm zinc, 1,900 ppm lead, 110 ppm molybdenum, 

and 40 ppm silver. 

Shear zones, altered rocks (propylitic, argillic, 

phyllic, and weak potassic grades), and low-grade 

mineralized rocks also occur within the Merrick 

Mountains stock (locality 32, fig. 21) of eastern 

Ellsworth Land (Rowley, 1978; Rowley, Farrar, 

and others, in press; V ennum and Laudon, in 

press). These features are lithologically similar to 

but less widespread than those in the Lassiter 

Coast and Sky-Hi copper deposits. The Merrick 

Mountains stock, consisting of quartz diorite and 

subordinate granodiorite cut by rhyodacite porphyry dikes, is about 10 km in longest diameter 

and has a Rb-Sr biotite and whole-rock age of 107 

m.y. (Halpern, 1967). Disseminated and vein-type 

pyrite, chalcopyrite, magnetite, and secondary 

copper minerals are widely scattered within the 

stock. Analyses locally show values of as much as 

10,000 ppm copper, 700 ppm zinc, 300 ppm lead, 

and 50 ppm silver in veins, but average values 

of exposed plutonic rocks probably do not exceed 

100 ppm copper. 

Scattered minerals of copper and related metals 

occur in other parts of the Antarctic Peninsula, 

but are either too low grade, too poorly exposed, 

or too poorly studied to enable appraisal of their 

significance (Rowley and Pride, 1982). For example, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and hematite veins occur 

in sedimentary rocks and sills of an Upper Jurassic 

and Lower Cretaceous island arc sequence on 

South Georgia (locality 33, fig. 20; Stone, 1980; 

Tanner and others, 1981). Atacamite stains occur 

in Quaternary volcanic rocks on Montagu Island 

(locality 34, fig. 20), South Sandwich Islands 

(Holdgate and Baker, 1979). Disseminated sulfide 

minerals were found in Paleozoic(?) schist and an 

Andean dike on southeastern Coronation Island 

(locality 35, fig. 20), South Orkney Islands (Dalziel, 1972; Thomson, 1974). Veins containing chalcopyrite, copper oxides and carbonates, magnetite, ankerite, and barite occur in Tertiary(?) volcanic rocks (British Antarctic Survey, 1979) on 

Greenwich Island (locality 36, fig. 21), South Shetland Islands (Mueller, 1964). Minor pyrite and 

propylitically altered rocks occur on Low Island 

(locality 37, fig. 21; Smellie, 1980) among rocks 

of the Antarctic Peninsula Volcanic Group and intrusive breccia of Andean plutons (British Antarctic Survey, 1979). Adie (1957, 1964) noted veins 
and small masses of pyrite and chalcopyrite at the 

contacts between sedimentary rocks of the Trinity 

Peninsula Formation and Andean quartz diorite 

and diorite plutons in northeastern Graham Land 

(locality 38, fig. 21); here, a pluton has K-Ar ages 

of 392-358 m.y. (Rex, 1976; British Antarctic Survey, 1979). Aitkenhead (1975) mapped small 

quartz veins containing pyrite and secondary copper minerals at the northeastern contact between 

the 174- to 139-m.y.-old (K-Ar ages, Rex, 1976; 

British Antarctic Survey, 1979) Mount Reece 

Granite and the Trinity Peninsula Formation (locality 39, fig. 21). At the contacts between Andean 

plutons and rocks of the Trinity Peninsula Formation in the Oscar II Coast (locality 40, fig. 21), 

Fleet (1968) observed metallic minerals, including 

pyrite, chalcopyrite, bornite, and secondary copper minerals. Pyritic hornfels within rocks of the 

Antarctic Peninsula Volcanic Group occur in the 

southern Biscoe Islands (locality 41, fig. 21; Goldring, 1962). Numerous scattered areas of copper 

and iron minerals occur within or adjacent to Andean plutonic rocks farther south along the east 

coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, in the Foyn and 

Bowman Coasts (locality 42, fig. 21; British Antarctic Survey, 1981); Rb-Sr whole-rock and K-Ar 

ages of plutonic rocks just north and south of this 

area range from 209 to 174 m.y. (Rex, 1976; Pankhurst, 1982). Chalcopyrite and secondary copper 

minerals in an Andean(?) hornblendite at "Cape 

Eielson" (now Cape Boggs, locality 43, fig. 21) on 

the northern Black Coast were discovered by 

Knowles (1945). Skinner (1973) and the British 

Antarctic Survey (1982) noted several localities 

containing copper and iron minerals in rocks of 

the Antarctic Peninsula Volcanic Group near Andean plutonic rocks on the west coast of northern 

Palmer Land (locality 44, fig. 21). The British Antarctic Survey (1982) noted copper and iron minerals in or near plutonic rocks at localities in the 

Wilkins Coast (locality 45, fig. 21), northern Black 

Coast (locality 43, fig. 21), Batterbee Mountains 

(locality 46, fig. 21), and Journal Peaks (locality 

47, fig. 21). Of these, the localities in the Batterbee Mountains occur in plutonic rocks containing 

Rb-Sr mineral ages and K-Ar ages of 137 to 128 

m.y. (Rex, 1976; British Antarctic Survey, 1982). 

Small amounts of pyrite, molybdenite, and secondary copper minerals occur at the intrusive contact of an Andean pluton on an island just northwest of Alexander Island (locality 48, fig. 21; 

Care, 1980). Minor pyrite, hematite, magnetite, 

38 

and cassiterite occur in fractures near Andean plutons and dikes in southern Alexander Island (locality 49, fig. 21; Bell, 1973). 

these, the localities in the Batterbee Mountains 

occur in plutonic rocks containing Rb-Sr mineral 

ages and K-Ar ages of 137 to 128 m.y. (Rex, 1976; 

British Antarctic Survey, 1982). Small amounts of 

pyrite, molybdenite, and secondary copper minerals occur at the intrusive contact of an Andean 

pluton on an island just northwest of Alexander 

Island (locality 48, fig. 21; Care, 1980). Minor pyrite, hematite, magnetite, and cassiterite occur in 

fractures near Andean plutons and dikes in southern Alexander Island (locality 49, fig. 21; Bell, 

1973). 

Rowley and Pride (1982) and the British Antarctic Survey (1981) summarized reports of small 

amounts of metallic (mostly copper and iron) minerals in numerous places in and north of the Marguerite Bay area of the west-central Antarctic 

Peninsula. Most rocks here consist of the Antarctic Peninsula Volcanic Group and a high-grade 

metamorphic complex of uncertain age and origin 

(Dalziel, 1982; Pankhurst, 1983), all of which are 

intruded by plutonic rocks. Rb-Sr whole-rock and 

mineral ages and K-Ar ages range from 207 to 

83 m.y. for the metamorphic complex and from 

119 to 67 m.y. for the plutonic rocks (Grikurov 

and others, 1966; Halpern, 1972; Rex, 1976; 

British Antarctic Survey, 1981; Gledhill and 

others, 1982; Pankhurst, 1982). On the north side 

and north of Marguerite Bay (locality 50, fig. 21), 

for example, occurrences of iron and copper minerals were noted in several places by the British 

Antarctic Survey (1981). Stonington Island (locality 51, fig. 21), farther south, contains scattered 

pyrite, magnetite, molybdenite, chalcopyrite, and 

secondary copper, iron, and manganese minerals 

(Knowles, 1945; Nichols, 1955; Fraser, 1965; Grimley, 1966). South of Stonington Island, in the central Marguerite Bay area (locality 52, fig. 21), 

minor amounts of pyrite, magnetite, molybdenite, 

secondary copper and iron minerals, and other 

metallic minerals have been reported at about 10 

localities (Knowles, 1945; Nichols, 1955; Adie, 

1955; British Antarctic Survey, 1981). Minor pyrite and secondary copper minerals have been 

noted at two localities (locality 53, fig. 21) in the 

southern Marguerite Bay area (Knowles, 1945; 

Nichols, 1955). Most of these areas were subject 

to only insignificant mineralization; a few, however, should be mapped in detail before their re-
source potential can be determined. 

Elsewhere in West Antarctica, "copper shows" 

are reported by Wade (1976) along joints on nearly 

all mountains and nunataks in Marie Byrd Land 

(fig. 20), where calc-alkaline plutons of late Paleozoic through Cretaceous age have intruded Paleozoic and Mesozoic metamorphic and sedimentary 

rocks. Vennum and Nishi (1981) noted secondary 

copper minerals in the southern Ellsworth Mountains (fig. 20). 

In the Transantarctic Mountains, copper and related base and precious metals define the Ross 

subprovince of the Transantarctic metallogenic 

province (Rowley, Ford, and others, 1983). For 

example, minor amounts of disseminated copper 

sulfides and "blue and green copper stains" were 

noted in and adjacent to middle Paleozoic plutonic 

rocks at Copper Cove (locality 54, fig. 20), near 

Hallett Station (New Zealand-U.S.A.) in northern 

Victoria Land (Harrington and others, 1964). Bornite in the Douglas Conglomerate was found near 

a lower Paleozoic pluton about 30 km south of the 

mouth of the Byrd Glacier (locality 55, fig. 20; Edmund Stump, oral commun., 1982). Copper minerals also have been seen near other plutons in the 

central Transantarctic Mountains (S. G. Borg and 

Edmund Stump, oral communs., 1982). Sparse 

metallic minerals in shield rocks of eastern Wilkes 

Land (fig. 20), adjacent to the Transantarctic 

Mountains, may be related to mineralization in the 

subprovince. For example, minor concentrations 

of pyrite, chalcopyrite, and arsenopyrite occur in 

quartz-albite veins in Precambrian phyllite in the 

"Lev Berg Mountains" (locality 56, fig. 20) of the 

Oates Coast (Ravich and others, 1965). 

In East Antarctica, disseminated chalcopyrite 

occurs scattered in metamorphic rocks and quartzfeldspar veins in Precambrian crystalline basement rocks of Queen Maud Land (Ravich and 

others, 1965). In the Ahlmann Ridge area (locality 

57, fig. 20) of western Queen Maud Land, Neethling (1964, 1969) mapped intensely hydrothermally 

altered rocks and c·opper, iron, and lead sulfides 

within intrusive rocks having K-Ar ages of 1.0 to 

0.8 b.y. He also mapped altered rocks and thin 

layers and disseminations of pyrite, chalcopyrite, 

specularite, siderite, and secondary iron and copper minerals in older Precambrian sedimentary 

rocks in this area. Secondary minerals of copper 

and genetically related metals have been noted in 

many parts of Enderby Land (Crohn, 1959; Trail 

and others, 1967; Lovering and Prescott, 1979). 

39 

These same minerals also were observed in highgrade Precambrian rocks in many places near 

Casey Station (Australia) and the nearby Windmill 

Islands (locality 11, fig. 20; Lovering and Prescott, 

1979). 

Copper minerals have been found in some 

stratiform mafic intrusions in Antarctica, but they 

generally are of minor importance. Minor chalcopyrite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, bornite(?), and atacamite occur scattered in the Dufek intrusion (locality 16, fig. 20), especially in layers containing 

abundant iron-titanium oxide minerals (Ford, this 

volume). Copper minerals occur within cumulus 

layers in Andean stratiform intrusions in the 

Argentine Islands (locality 17, fig. 21; Fraser, 

1964; Elliot, 1964). A lithologically similar occurrence is about 45 to 60 m above a magnetite-limonite cumulate layer in an Andean pluton in the 

Terra Firma Islands (locality 18, fig. 21; Adie, 

1955; Nichols, 1955). 

MOLYBDENUM 

In addition to the occurrences of molybdenite 

associated with copper mineralization, molybdenite is widespread in Precambrian pegmatite and 

granite dikes in the Mirny Station (U.S.S.R.) area 

(locality 58, fig. 20), the Bunger Hills (locality 10, 

fig. 20), and Queen Maud Land. Molybdenite also 

occurs in Precambrian(?) granite near Ainsworth 

Bay (locality 59, fig. 20; Ravich and others, 1965). 

Molybdenite is associated with pyrite, sphalerite, 

and arsenopyrite in quartz veins that cut gneiss 

at Cape Denison, Adelie Coast (locality 12, fig. 

20; Mawson, 1940). None of these molybdenum occurrences contain economic concentrations. 

NICKEL, CHROMIUM, AND COBALT 

Chromite is present in disseminated form and 

in thin cumulus or tectonic (schist) layers in a dunite intrusion on Gibbs Island (locality 60, fig. 21), 

South Shetland Islands (Tyrrel, 1945; Matthews, 

1959; Cox, 1964; Dalziel and Elliot, 1973; Dalziel, 

1972, 1975; de Wit and others, 1977; I. W. D. Dalziel, oral commun., 1977). The intrusion apparently is related to an upper Paleozoic or lower 

Mesozoic subduction complex (de Wit and others, 

1977). The dunite was originally reported (Kosack, 

1955) from Aspland Island, about 10 km west of 

Gibbs Island, but no intrusion is shown on the 

geologic map of Aspland Island (British Antarctic 

Survey, 1979). The intrusion may contain nickel 
and cobalt minerals and perhaps graphite and asbestos. The chromite occurrence is not believed 

to be of commercial value (1. W. D. Dalziel, oral 

commun., 1977). 

Disseminated chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite occur 

near Precambrian or Paleozoic gabbroic intrusions 

and dolerite dikes in Queen Maud Land (Ravich 

and others, 1965). Anomalous trace amounts 

(Ford, this volume) of cobalt, chromium, and nickel show up in some rock analyses of the Dufek 

intrusion (locality 16, fig. 20). Large concentrations of minerals containing these elements have 

not been found, although Ford (this volume) 

suggested that the lower unexposed parts of the 

intrusion may contain sizable concentrations of 

chromium and nickel. Hamilton (1964) reported 

that rocks from the base of a stratiform sill of 

Ferrar Dolerite in the dry valleys area (locality 

61, fig. 20) are enriched in cobalt, chromium, nickel, vanadium, copper, and phosphorus. 

URANIUM AND THORIUM 

Euxenite occurs as an accessory mineral in an 

Ordovician(?) pegmatite in the Lutzow-Holm Bay 

area (locality 62, fig. 20; Saito and Sato, 1964; 

McLeod, 1965). Crohn (1959) reported anomalous 

amounts of radioactivity at several places in Enderby Land; most of these amounts apparently 

emanate from monazite in pegmatite veins. 

French geologists have noted anomalous amounts 

of radioactivity in the Adelie Coast (fig. 20; 

Wright and Williams, 1974). Airborne gamma-ray 

surveys of parts of the Transantarctic Mountains 

and Marie Byrd Land (Dreschhoff and Zeller, 

1979; Dreschhoff and others, 1981, 1983; Zeller 

and others, 1979, 1982) have disclosed small 

radioactivity anomalies over pegmatite dikes and 

plutonic rocks of the Mount Dromedary igneous 

complex (locality 61, fig. 20) of Cambrian-Ordovician age (Warren, 1969) and in nearby fluorite 

veins in the dry valleys area of southern Victoria 

Land (locality 61, fig. 20). These airborne surveys 

also found radioactivity anomalies that proved, on 

field inspection, to be underlain by thorium- and 

uranium-bearing minerals as well as rare-earthand tin-bearing minerals within sandstone of the 

basal (Devonian) parts of the Beacon Supergroup 

in the Darwin Glacier area (locality 63, fig. 20) 

of the Transantarctic Mountains. Stump and 

others (1981) noted uranium minerals in a pegmatite vein in the upper Scott Glacier area of the 

Transantarctic Mountains (locality 64, fig. 20). No 

40 

occurrences in Antarctica contain commercial 

quantities of radioactive minerals. 

PRECIOUS METALS 

Significant concentrations of precious metals 

have not been recorded in Antarctica. Minor gold 

and silver have been noted in assays of sulfide 

minerals found near Andean plutonic rocks from 

several places in the Antarctic Peninsula 

(Knowles, 1945). These are at Stonington Island 

(locality 51, fig. 21), central Marguerite Bay area 

(locality 52, fig. 21), Welch Mountains (locality 65, 

fig. 21; "Eternity Range" of Knowles, 1945; Singleton, 1980b) of the Black Coast, and Cape Eielson 

(now Cape Boggs, locality 19, fig. 21). Semiquantitative spectrographic analyses reveal anomalous 

amounts of silver in the Lassiter Coast copper deposit (as much as 300 ppm; locality 30, fig. 21; 

Rowley and others, 1977), the Sky-Hi Nunataks 

copper deposit (as much as 4 ppm, not including 

the values from the nearby quartz veins; locality 

31, fig. 21), and from the Merrick Mountains stock 

(as much as 50 ppm; locality 32, fig. 21). Silver 

values reported by Alarcon and others (1976) from 

Brooklyn Island and Pelseneer Island in the 

Wilhelmina Bay area (locality 24, fig. 21) of the 

Danco Coast are as much as 35 ppm and 32 ppm, 

respectively. 

Traces of gold and silver occur in pyrite-quartz 

veins in the Cape Denison area of the the Adelie 

Coast (locality 12, fig. 20; Mawson, 1940; Ravich 

and others, 1965). Traces of these metals also have 

been noted in Victoria Land (fig. 20; Fairbridge, 

1952). 

Platinum-group metals may be present within 

the Dufek layered gabbro, especially within the 

unexposed basal parts of the intrusion. To date, 

however, none have been identified from the intrusion, although anomalous trace amounts of 

these metals show up in some rock analyses (Ford, 

this volume). 

OTHER METALLIC MINERALS 

Lead and zinc minerals have been noted above, 

in the section on copper minerals, within basemetal veins in the Hurd Peninsula area of 

Livingston Island (locality 22, fig. 21; Caminos and 

others, 1973; del Valle and others, 1974; Cox and 

others, 1980). Anomalous trace values of lead and 

zinc also occur in rocks from the Lassiter Coast 

copper deposit (as much as 7,000 ppm lead and 

700 ppm zinc; locality 30, fig. 21; Rowley and 
others, 1977), Sky-Hi copper deposit (as much as 

80 ppm lead and 700 ppm zinc, not including the 

values from the nearby quartz veins; locality 31, 

fig. 21), Merrick Mountains stock (as much as 300 

ppm lead and 700 ppm zinc; locality 32, fig. 21), 

and the Wilhelmina Bay area (as much as 900 ppm 

lead and 150 ppm zinc; locality 24, fig. 21; Alarcon 

and others, 1976). Lead and iron sulfides have 

been reported from the Haines Mountains (locality 

66, fig. 20) of the Edsel Ford Ranges of Marie 

Byrd Land (Fairbridge, 1952; Kosack, 1955). 

Here, the mineralization was localized where Cretaceous plutons intruded Cretaceous or older 

metasedimentary rocks. Lead and zinc sulfides 

and related minerals were noted by Mawson (1940) 

from the Cape Denison area (locality 12, fig. 20). 

Manganese stains at several places in the Antarctic Peninsula were noted earlier in this report. 

Small lenses containing tephroite and rhodonite 

and small amounts of barite, secondary copper 

minerals, and other manganese minerals occur in 

chemical and clastic metasedimentary rocks of amphibolite facies and in garnet-bearing gneiss near 

Casey Station (locality 11, fig. 21; Mason, 1959; 

Lovering and Prescott, 1979; Lovering and 

Plimer, 1983). Rocks analyzed from some of these 

lenses contained 39 percent manganese (Mason, 

1959; McLeod, 1965). Ages of metamorphism are 

Early to Middle Proterozoic, whereas the source 

area for the clastic material in the sedimentary 

rocks is of Archean age (Lovering and Plimer, 

1983). 

Trace amounts of tin, as cassiterite, occur in an 

erratic from the Terra Nova Bay area (locality 67, 

fig. 20) of Victoria Land (Stewart, 1939); Cambrian-Ordovician plutons and sedimentary rocks of 

the Beacon Supergroup constitute the nearest 

rocks exposed on land. Cassiterite also was found 

in the heavy-mineral fraction of a Paleozoic sandstone in the Beacon Supergroup from Horn Bluff 

(locality 68, fig. 20), George V Coast (Mawson, 

1940). Bell (1973) reported cassiterite near an Andean pluton in southwestern Alexander Island 

(locality 49, fig. 21). A tin-bearing mineral was 

noted by Zeller and others (1979) in the Darwin 

Glacier area (locality 63, fig. 20) of the Transantarctic Mountains. 

Bismuthinite, spodumene, and related bismuthand lithium-bearing minerals were found by 

Gunter Faure (oral commun., 1982) in lower Paleozoic pegmatite dikes and veins in the Shackleton 

Limestone south of Byrd Glacier (locality 55, fig. 

20). 

41 

MICA 

Phlogopite occurs in Precambrian rocks in Enderby Land and in the Humboldt Mountains (locality 15, fig. 20) of Queen Maud Land (Ravich and 

Solov'ev, 1969). Crystals as much as 5 em in diameter occur in pockets about 6 to 10 em long, mostly 

in diopside layers or lenses in silicate marble or 

in veins in migmatite. Phlogopite also is present 

within diopside boudins near pegmatite dikes in 

the Humboldt Mountains (Ravich and Solov'ev, 

1969; Ravich and Kamenev, 1975). Here, phlogopite crystals as long as 20 em and as thick as 4 

em occur in pockets as much as 60 em in diameter. 

Phlogopite constitutes 2 to 4 percent of the 

boudins. Most commercial phlogopite deposits are 

of this type, and for this reason Ravich and 

Kamenev (1975) consider the deposits to be of 

some potential value. 

Ravich and others (1965) and Ravich and 

Kamenev (1975) reported that muscovite crystals 

as much as 10 em in diameter and 5 em thick are 

widespread in Precambrian(?) pegmatites in the 

Humboldt Mountains (locality 15, fig. 20), in Enderby Land (fig. 20), and along the Prince Olav 

Coast (fig. 20). 

GRAPHITE 

Graphite is present within Precambrian biotitegarnet gneiss in central Queen Maud Land. It occurs as flakes 1 to 4 mm long, forming 2 to 10 

percent of some gneiss layers; layers are as much 

as 100 m long and 7 m thick (Ravich and others ' 1965; Ravich and Solov'ev, 1969). Graphite also occurs in pegmatite dikes, in coarse-grained marble, 

and in calcite veins cutting the gneiss. Larger but 

less abundant flakes, 2 to 3 em in diameter occur . ' 

m 1- to 2-m-wide pegmatite dikes (Ravich and 

Solov'ev, 1969). Clasts of graphite-bearing gneiss 

also are abundant in moraine deposits in many 

parts of East Antarctica, and Ravich and others 

~1965) considered large deposits to be quite likely 

m these parts of the shield. 

PHOSPHATE 

Primary sedimentary phosphorite occurs in middle Paleozoic strata of the Elbow Formation and 

Dover Sandstone of the Beacon Supergroup in the 

Neptune Range, Pensacola Mountains (locality 16, 

fig. 20; Cathcart and Schmidt, 1977). It is found 

in individual beds rarely exceeding 0.5 min thickness; although the beds underlie an area about 90 
km by 30 km, they are not considered to be an 

economic source of phosphate. Primary sedimentary phosphate also is present as sparse phosphate 

pebbles within the Triassic Fremouw Formation 

in the Beardmore Glacier area (locality 69, fig. 20), 

central Transantarctic Mountains (Barrett, 1969). 

COAL 

Coal is widespread in Permian through Triassic 

rocks in Antarctica. Thick beds of coal are known 

in the Devonian through Jurassic Beacon Supergroup of the Transantarctic Mountains and of the 

Beaver Lake area in the Prince Charles Mountains 

(locality 2, fig. 20). None of the deposits are 

economically recoverable; ones near coastal areas 

may have the greatest potential for development. 

The deposits in the Prince Charles Mountains 

(Bennett and Taylor, 1972), in a Permian part of 

the Beacon Supergroup, might be somewhat more 

favorable for development because of their proximity to promising iron deposits and to the coast. 

Mining of coal to supply local energy needs is a 

distinct possibility. Summaries of coal occurrences 

were made by Wright and Williams (1974) and 

Splettstoesser (1979, 1980, in press). 

OTHER NONMETALLIC MINERALS 

Green translucent beryl crystals as long as 8 

em have been noted in pegmatites in many parts 

of the crystalline basement of East Antarctica. 

The largest known occurrence is in the "Marble 

Nunataks" northwest of the Humboldt Mountains 

(locality 15, fig. 20; Ravich and Kamenev, 1975) 

of central Queen Maud Land, where crystals as 

long as 7 em occur in pockets as long as 30 em. 

According to Ravich and Solov'ev (1969), one to 

two beryl pockets are present in each 10 square 

meters of pegmatite exposure. 

Rock crystal (clear quartz) occurs in cavities 

within zoned pegmatites at 10 localities in the 

Humboldt Mountains (locality 15, fig. 20; Ravich 

and Solov'ev, 1969; Ravich and Kamenev, 1975). 

Smoky and violet crystals as much as 0. 7 m long 

are most common. In some places the crystals 

form as much as 5 percent of the volume of talus 

debris, as for example, at "Mount Titov" (locality 

70, fig. 20), south of the Humboldt Mountains. 

Gemstone localities are rare: the few occurrences reported include minor aquamarine crystals 

in pegmatite in the "Mount Titov" area (locality 

42 

70, fig. 20; Ravich and Solov'ev, 1969), topaz and 

tourmaline elsewhere in Queen Maud Land 

(Ravich and others, 1965), and topaz (with fluorite) near Cretaceous plutons in the Rockefeller 

Mountains (locality 71, fig. 20) of Marie Byrd Land 

(Wade, 1945). All occurrences are of unknown 

grade. Garnet is abundant in Antarctica but no 

reports of gem-grade garnet are known, with the 

possible exception of green garnet in calc-silicate 

inclusions in the Dufek intrusion (Aughenbaugh, 

1961; Walker, 1961; A. B. Ford, written commun., 

1981). 

Upper Permian or Triassic nepheline syenite 

plutons in Queen Maud Land (Ravich and 

Solov'ev, 1969) are enriched in zirconium and the 

rare-earth elements niobium, lanthanum, and cerium. 

Two veins of radioactive fluorite, each about 1 

m thick and more than 100 m long, occur in Cambrian marble (Warren, 1969) adjacent to a granite 

dike in the dry valleys area of South Victoria Land 

(locality 61, fig. 20; Zeller and others, 1981). 

Native sulfur occurs at Zavodovski Island (locality 72, fig. 20; Kosack, 1955) and in small amounts 

near fumaroles on Bellingshausen Island (locality 

73, fig. 20; Holdgate and Baker, 1979). Both islands are in the South Sandwich Islands and contain active volcanoes (Gass and others, 1963; 

Holdgate and Baker, 1979). Minor amounts of native sulfur (Roobol, 1980) occur at Deception Island (locality 74, fig. 21), an active volcano in the 

South Shetland Islands. Sulfur also was reported 

from Castle Rock (Ferrar, 1907) and Mount 

Erebus (Kyle and others, 1982) near McMurdo 

Station (U.S.A.) on Ross Island (locality 75, fig. 

20), sites of Quaternary volcanism. 

Evaporite salts are forming in many places in 

Antarctica, generally on sea ice, on rocks, and 

even within lakes along coastal areas. In the Vestfold Hills (locality 8, fig. 20), for example, salt deposits contain as much as 30 percent total dissolved solids, mostly of sodium and chloride 

(McLeod, 1965). 

Pure coarse-grained white marble occupies a 200 

m by 100 m area in the Hektoria Glacier area (locality 76, fig. 21) of Graham Land (Fleet, 1968). 

Marble doubtless also occurs in many other 

metamorphic areas of Antarctica, especially in 

Proterozoic and lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks 

of the Transantarctic Mountains, Marie Byrd 

Land, and Ellsworth Land (McLeod, 1965). 
CONCLUSIONS 

Metallic and nonmetallic minerals are widespread throughout most of Antarctica, especially 

in Precambrian rocks, in rocks of the Beacon 

Supergroup of East Antarctica, and in Mesozoic 

and Cenozoic rocks of the Antarctic Peninsula. 

The deposits are similar to those in other Gondwana continents. Nearly all mineral occurrences 

are small and isolated, and presently have no commercial importance. Mineral concentrations at 

some localities, however, are great enough that 

additional study or exploratory drilling would be 

warranted if they were situated on a continent 

more favorable for development. Of the deposits 

that have been discovered in Antarctica, only iron 

in the Prince Charles Mountains and coal in the 

Prince Charles Mountains and Transantarctic 

Mountains might be mined if located on another 

continent. The iron, copper, and coal deposits 

probably can be considered "conditional resources", as defined by Brobst and Pratt (1973); 

huge rises in unit prices are necessary before they 

could become commercial. The remaining metallic 

and nonmetallic occurrences in Antarctica probably fall under the heading "hypothetical resources" 

(Brobst and Pratt, 1973); they are either too 

poorly studied or require huge rises in unit prices 

before they could be commercially exploited. 

Additional discoveries of metallic and nonmetallic resources are probable in Antarctica as knowledge of the geology, geochemistry, and geophysics 

of the landmass and its offshore areas increases. 

It is doubtful, however, that any metallic or nonmetallic mineral resources in Antarctica will be 

exploited for many years, unless world economic 

or political conditions change drastically. 

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Island: Royal Society of Edinburgh Transactions, v. 53, 

pt. 1, p. 81-90. 

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Tingey, R. J., 1982a, The geologic evolution of the Prince 

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in Craddock, Campbell, ed., Antarctic geoscience: Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, p. 455--464. 

---comp., 1982b, Geology of the southern Prince Charles 

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48 

Geologic maps of Antarctica, Antarctic Map Folio Series: 

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scale 1:1,000,000. 

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of Antarctica: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 705, 29 p. 

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1982, Resource and radioactivity survey in Antarctica by 

49 

airborne gamma-ray spectrometry, in Craddock, 

Campbell, ed., Antarctic geoscience: Madison, U niveristy 

of Wisconsin Press, p. 143--148. 

Zeller, Edward, Dreschhoff, Gisela, Thoste, Volker, and 

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Zumberge, J. H., 1979a, Mineral resources and geopolitics in 

Antarctica: American Scientist, v. 67, p. 68-77. 

---1979b, Possible environmental effects of mineral exploration and exploitation in Antarctica: Cambridge, Scientific 

Committee on Antarctic Research, 59 p. 

The Dufek Intrusion of Antarctica and a Survey of its 

Minor Metals and Possible Resources 

By Arthur B. Ford 

The Dufek intrusion, in the northern Pensacola 

Mountains of Antarctica (figs. 22 and 23), is one 

of the world's largest differentiated, layered mafic 

igneous complexes. It approaches South Africa's 

Bushveld Complex in size and is an order of magnitude larger than any other known body of this 

type (table 1). The intrusion is mostly covered by 

ice. However, reconnaissance geophysical surveys 

that incompletely define its perimeter indicate an 

extent greater than 50,000 km2 (Behrendt and 

others, 1980). The intrusion was discovered in 

1957 during IGY (International Geophysical Year) 

explorations of ice shelves bordering the southern 

Weddell Sea (Aughenbaugh, 1961; Walker, 1961). 

Layered cumulates of chiefly gabbroic composition, but including pyroxenitic and anorthositic 

compositions, constitute most of the limited areas 

of outcrop. The basal part of the body is not exposed; the uppermost part consists of late 

granophyric differentiates that cap the layered 

cumulate sequence. The body intrudes rocks as 

young as Permian, and K-Ar (potassium-argon) 

dating indicates it is coeval with Middle Jurassic 

tholeiitic basalt magmatism of the Ferrar Group 

that occurred throughout the Transantarctic 

Mountains. 

Magmatic ore deposits and mineral occurrences 

of great variety occur in mafic igneous complexes 

of the stratiform type, nearly all major examples 

of which contain economically significant resources 

of one or more metals (Wilson, 1969). Deposits are 

notably concentrated in lower parts of the bodies 

in association with early-formed ultramafic and 

51 

mafic rocks, but they are also known in upper 

parts. South Africa's Bushveld Complex is an exceptional example, both in size (table 1) and in 

wealth of known resources, which include the 

world's largest economically important reserves of 

chromite, platinum-group elements, and vanadiferous iron ore (Willemse, 1969a). 

The great size of the Dufek intrusion and its 

overall similarity with other stratiform mafic complexes have prompted considerable speculation regarding mineral resources (for example, Runnells, 

1970; Wright and Williams, 1974; Wade, 1976; 

Turner, 1978; Lovering and Prescott, 1979; and 

Zumberge, 1979a, b). Interest in the Dufek's resource potential was early aroused by mention of 

ultramafic rock, chromite, and copper minerals in 

first reports on the body by Aughenbaugh (1961) 

and Walker (1961) and by a then-possible correlation in age with the Precambrian Bushveld Complex (Harrington, 1965, p. 18), before later 

fieldwork on the Dufek (Ford and Boyd, 1968) 

demonstrated its post-Permian age. 

Geologic field studies on the intrusion, following 

its 1957 discovery, have been carried out by the 

U.S. Geological Survey during three brief summer 

seasons: 1965-66 (2 months), using helicopters, all 

major outcrop areas were sampled and mapped at 

1:250,000 scale (Ford and others, 1978a, b); 1976--

77 (1 month), detailed sampling and 1:50,000-scale 

geologic mapping was carried out in the area of 

Dufek Massif (Ford and others, 1977); and 1978-79 

(1 month), detailed sampling and 1:50,000-scale 

geologic mapping was concentrated in the south-
ern Forrestal Range (Ford and others, 1979). A 

1965--66 reconnaissance geophysical study of the 

entire Pensacola Mountains (Behrendt and others, 

1974), including the areas of Dufek Massif 

(Behrendt and others, 1973a) and the southern 

Forrestal Range (Behrendt and others, 1973b), 

was extended northward in 1978--79 aeromagnetic 

surveys made in order to determine the extent 

of the intrusion under ice near the southern margins of Ronne and Filchner Ice Shelves (Behrendt 

and others, 1980). Geologic and geophysical 

studies also have been carried out, since 1975-76, 

by Soviet parties working from Druzhnaya Base 

on Filchner Ice Shelf, but the exact nature and 

results of this work are not known to the author. 

Only a few percent of the area of the intrusion 

is exposed. Even this small part cannot be considered as having been "explored" or even "prospected" in the mining sense. As is generally the 

case in present studies in Antarctica (Splettstoesser, 1976), the scientific goals of geologic work to 

date (1983) on the intrusion have resulted in only 

limited knowledge of resources. For example, 

chemical analysis of mineral suites for investigaI 

( 

' I 

I 

I 

I 

' 

I 

I ' ........ , 

................ ........ 

' \ 

\ 

\ 

Filchner 

Ice Shelf. \ . \ : 

I \~ 

Ronne : f'\. · · · ·.. \ /": 

1 ~~~~- · \ Argentina Ice Shelf 'Qo... ..... \ 

\ .· ,. ' 

\ ~e\··· ,.. ,. \ Range ,.t; ..• · r ,. ,.. I 

\ \<J~/ ,. ,. - ... l \ 

I ..... ,e_.· .· .· - (I) - - I ~v - C::,..,.. 

\ .i-' _... --~ ....... ..._I .o ... · ~ ..... ""'~~> ..-v .<-. : ~r~ - 1 y· •• •• , ... A, ,... ...,._,. ,.. 

.·· ' - ·v .S ... :""1'\--:-... I 

\r A ~-,.<:) ,...,.. l 

:, ,~ ~:. Dufe~ 'Y C ,. ;~ .... ,.. ... _ 

(' r r r ....._,. ~ A '",."C);:. ,.. \ r r' ,.,. r Sa lee 'Y ::: -,..."' ~,." 

( r ,..., MaSSI') 0/ ...... ~~'"' l 

,... r r r (' "-,. <:::\,., ---

,. r ~ r (; c r ~,~·,··•·?····•· ':.~·'""' -'\ ,... ,. Cordiner\.~ Snow- ~ ,.Cb"'" .. 

- ,.-,.. Peaks 1' \field ~ ,.F:;:. .-" stal ', ,.,. r • \ : orre r ,.. ,.. .. , ' \ \ Range .... I ,.. ,.. ,.. .. • I ... ,...,.._ r \.' • r1fo / ....... •.,. - v / ....... "'"" -~ ~-

1 DO KILOMETERS 

----- r-<1 /"' .s 

180° 

FIGURE 22.-Location of Dufek intrusion in Antarctica and its approximate outline under ice 

(dashed line), as inferred from geophysical surveys of Behrendt and others (1980). Major 

areas of rock outcrop shown in black lie in northern one-third of the Pensacola Mountains. 

Dotted line near Forrestal Range shows contact of the intrusion mapped by Ford and others 

(1978b); queries indicate uncertainty. 

52 
TABLE I.-Comparison ofareas of selected mafic stratzfor·m intr·nsions, modifiedfrom Willernse (1969a) 

Intrusion 

Skaergaard intrusion (Greenland) 

Stillwater Complex (Montana) 1 

Area (km2) 

Sudbury Complex (Ontario) 

Ingeli-Insizwa Complex (South Africa) 2 

100 

200 

1340 

1800 

Great Dyke (Zimbabwe) 

Duluth Complex (Minnesota) 

Dufek intrusion (Antarctica)3 

Bushveld Complex (South Africa) 

3260 

4710 

50,000+ 

67,000 

1original area much larger: now greatly deformed and 

tilted vertically. 2willemse (1969a) gave smaller areas for separate bodies at 

Insizwa and Ingeli Mountain: size from Wager and Brown (1967), 

who consider them parts of same original sheet. 

3From Behrendt and others (1980). 

tion of differentiation trends (Himmelberg and 

Ford, 1976, 1977) shows variations in minor-metal 

abundances that may be useful for interpreting 

geochemical resource data. 

For the present study, selected minor metals 

in a reconnaissance suite of 24 mostly typical-appearing rocks were analyzed to investigate ranges 

of concentrations in a variety of lithologies and 

of differing stratigraphic level. Most samples approximately represent major layers from which 

they were obtained; a few contain visible sulfides 

or more than about 20 percent iron-titanium oxide 

minerals. Thus, the data contribute only indirectly 

to a resource study by providing (1) a preliminary 

survey of normal ranges of element concentration, 

or "background" values, needed for recognizing 

anomalous ones that may be found in the future; 

and (2) information on element associations that 

may be useful in identifying geochemical tracers, 

or "pathfinders," as in Levinson's (1974) use of 

easily analyzed copper, nickel, and chromium as 

tracers for platinum. Present data, however, are 

considered inadequate to define accurate 

background values for principal lithologies or for 

different stratigraphic levels. For a body of such 

immense size and lithologic variety, a much larger 

data base is necessary for accurate definition of 

normal ranges of element concentrations. 

The question of whether the Dufek intrusion 

contains mineral resources has no clear answer at 

the present time. Many factors contribute to difficulty in assessing its resource potential. A chief 

one is the entirely unknown nature of the unex53 

posed basal part of the body (fig. 23), equivalent 

parts of which in similar bodies contain economically significant deposits of metals (Wilson, 1969). 

If planned diamond drilling of the body (Turner, 

1978) is someday accomplished, though designed 

primarily for scientific purpose, direct or indirect 

information may be furnished to aid in evaluating 

the resource potential of this now unknown part 

of the intrusion. Other factors include the reconnaissance nature of present work and the lack of 

opportunity for detailed restudy in the field or 

sample recollection based on laboratory results. 

An adequate appraisal of resources requires extensive geochemical surveys of the type recommended and described by Levinson (1974). 

All potentially economically useful materials of 

the intrusion belong to the class "speculative resources," defined by Brobst and Pratt (1973) as 

being undiscovered resources that may exist in an 

unknown district in either a known form or an 

as-yet-to-be recognized form of deposit. This report describes the Dufek intrusion and a variety 

of resources that might occur in its various parts. 

However, the extremely limited amount of 

geochemical data and lack of resource-oriented 

field study prevent estimation of either potential 

abundances or probability of occurrence of such 

resources at the present time. Factors relating to 

economics and logistics, environmental concerns, 

and politics of mineral exploitation in Antarctica 

are treated elsewhere (Potter, 1969; Zumberge, 

1979a, b). 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Work by the U.S. Geological Survey on the 

Dufek intrusion has been carried out as part of 

the U.S. Antarctic Research Program and funded 

by the National Science Foundation. The author 

gratefully acknowledges help of coinvestigators in 

fieldwork, particularly Walter W. Boyd, Willis H. 

Nelson, and Dwight L. Schmidt; and in laboratory 

studies by G. R. Himmelberg. 

GEOLOGY 

AGE AND CORRELATION 

The Dufek intrusion is dated on the basis of conventional K-Ar age determinations on plagioclase, 

averaging 172±4 m.y. (million years), as having 

formed near the beginning of the Middle Jurassic 

(Ford and Kistler, 1980). The age is within experimental error of a 179±5 m.y. K-Ar age for diabase 

sills in Permian siltstone of the Pecora Formation 

in the southernmost Pensacola Mountains and of 

a 169±4 m.y. K-Ar minimum age for basalt and 

diabase dikes in the Devonian Dover Sandstone 

and the Permian(?) and Carboniferous(?) Gale 

Mudstone in the Cordiner Peaks (Ford and Kistler, 1980). The ages closely compare with the 175 

m.y. age of the dominant phase of diabase sill 

emplacement and flood basalt eruptions of the 

Ferrar Group elsewhere in the Transantarctic 

Mountains (Elliot and others, in press). The Ferrar Group of the Transantarctic Mountains consists of tholeiite characterized by unusually high 

Si02 content and high 87Sr/86Sr ratios (about 

0. 711) that distinguish it from other Jurassic 

tholeiite in Antarctica. The dikes and sills in the 

Pensacola Mountains are considered to be comagmatic with the Ferrar Group of the Transantarctic 

Mountains on the basis of closely comparable 

chemistry and age (Ford and Kistler, 1980). The 

Dufek intrusion correlates with this major episode 

of voluminous tholeiitic magmatism in Antarctica. 

TECTONIC SETTING 

The Dufek intrusion lies in a recurrently activated mobile belt adjoining the Precambrian craton of East Antarctica, in which major compressive deformation occurred near the end of the Precambrian, in the Beardmore orogeny; in the early 

Paleozoic Ross orogeny; and again in the Trias54 

sic(?) Weddell orogeny1 (Ford, 1972). The latest 

folding event can be dated only as having occurred 

during or after the Late Permian and before the 

early Middle Jurassic emplacement of the Dufek 

intrusion. Comparison with events elsewhere 

suggests a Triassic age of the deformation. 

The Dufek intrusion is orders of magnitude 

larger than any other known intrusive member of 

the Ferrar Group, and thus an explanation for its 

origin and location seems to call for uniqueness 

in setting, and deep crustal or mantle processes 

related to rifting and magma generation. Transantarctic Mountains rifting related to Ferrar magmatism generally followed the line of Paleozoic or 

older tectonic mobility across the continent, on the 

Pacific side of the Precambrian craton. Ford and 

Kistler (1980) suggested that the rift belt may be 

an intracontinental failed arm of a Jurassic radial 

rift system centered near the present Weddell Sea 

and related to initial breaks in the fragmentation 

of Gondwana. The Dufek intrusion lies at the Weddell Sea end of the rift belt and thus may not be 

far from the inferred Jurassic rift intersection and 

related triple junction in the present southernmost 

Atlantic Ocean. If so, mantle processes associated 

with such a system may account for the mafic 

magmatism of the immense scale represented by 

this igneous intrusion. The tectonic setting of the 

intrusion is unique in the Ferrar igneous province 

in that the Pensacola Mountains are the only part 

of the Transantarctic Mountains showing evidence 

of strong compression near the beginning of the 

Mesozoic. Elsewhere, mobility ceased by Devonian time and was followed into the Jurassic by deposition of the sedimentary platform cover of the 

Beacon Supergroup. Considerable difference in 

the grain of crustal structure, therefore, obviously 

existed between the Pensacola Mountains and 

elsewhere in the rift belt at the time of the Jurassic magmatism. 

The mobile-belt setting of the intrusion appears 

to differ greatly from the nonorogenic, cratonic 

setting of large Precambrian stratiform intrusions 

such as the Bush veld Complex (Naldrett and 

Cabri, 1976), though all are probably related to 

rift-type crustal structures. As tectonic setting 

and, perhaps more importantly, age may be important factors in mineralization (Naldrett and 

Cabri, 1976), differences in those factors may be 

1 Local name for a poorly dated orogeny probably correlative with some phase 

of the Triassic Gondwanide orogeny that was widespread in the Southern Hemisphere. 
of significance in making comparisons for the purpose of evaluating the resource potential of the 

Dufek intrusion. 

LITHOLOGY AND STRATIGRAPHY 

Rocks of gabbroic composition make up 90 percent or more of exposed parts of the intrusion. 

They are interlain in many areas with rocks of 

pyroxenitic or anorthositic composition. Except in 

dikes and the capping layer of granophyre, textures and structures are like those in other 

layered intrusions that are interpreted in terms 

of cumulus processes of crystal movement and accumulation on the floor of a magma chamber 

(Wager and Brown, 1967; Jackson, 1971). Transport mechanisms of crystals may be varied and 

complex, involving currents of varied nature (Irvine, 1980), and many aspects of cumulus theory 

may be questioned (McBirney and Noyes, 1979). 

Rocks of this sedimentlike origin are termed 

"cumulates" and consist of primary depositional 

(cumulus) phases in a cementing (postcumulus) 

matrix of phases formed in whole or part from 

intercumulus liquid (Jackson, 1971). The chief 

cumulus phases in the lower exposed part of the 

intrusion (Dufek Massif) are plagioclase and calcium-rich and calcium-poor pyroxenes; and iron-titanium oxides are additional major cumulus phases 

in the upper exposed part (Forrestal Range), as 

shown in figure 23. Cumulus apatite and iron-rich 

olivine occur in trace amounts only in upper parts 

of the body, except for local apatite concentrations 

of as much as several volume percent in the uppermost cumulates. 

Individual cumulus minerals show marked concentration at many different stratigraphic levels, 

forming nearly single-mineral cumulates that are 

conspicuous, but volumetrically minor, in the overall gabbroic lithology. Such rocks include pyroxene 

cumulates of the Neuburg and Frost Pyroxenite 

Members of the Aughenbaugh Gabbro and plagioclase cumulates of the Walker Anorthosite, the 

Spear Anorthosite Member of the Aughenbaugh, 

and the Stephens Anorthosite Member of the 

Saratoga Gabbro (fig. 23). Additionally, iron-titanium oxide cumulate (magnetitite) forms numerous, generally thin layers and lenses as much as 

about 1m thick in the Saratoga Gabbro. 

The stratigraphic thickness of the body near its 

south end is estimated to be 8-9 km, of which 

only about 1.8 km of a lower (not lowest) part 

is exposed in Dufek Massif and about 1. 7 km of 

55 

the upper part is exposed in the Forrestal Range 

(Ford, 1976). The entire exposed sequence consists of cumulates, except for a 240 + m-thick, apparently conformable, capping layer of the 

Lexington Granophyre. Major unexposed parts in 

this area are a basal section, estimated from 

geophysical evidence to be 1. 8-3. 5 km thick 

(Behrendt and others, 1974), and an inferred intermediate interval estimated to be 2-3 km thick concealed by Sallee Snowfield. 

STRUCTURE 

LAYERING 

The most conspicuous primary structure is compositional layering (fig. 24) that occurs on various 

scales throughout the body. Layers reflect variable proportions with stratigraphic level of the 

cumulus minerals. Though individually of generally uniform lateral thickness, different layers 

range widely in thickness from a few centimeters 

or less to tens of meters or more. Tabular plagioclase is generally alined ("igneous lamination" of 

Wager and Brown, 1967), but is randomly oriented 

in the layering plane. 

Major layers having meter-scale thickness of 

generally 1-15 m show marked contrast in form 

with the more characteristically present minor 

layers having millimeter- or centimeter-scale 

thickness. Major layers are generally of uniform 

thickness and show extremely great lateral continuity, with ratios of lateral extent to thickness 

on the order of 103:1 or greater. Ratios of extent 

to thickness are probably at least as high as those 

(104:1 to 105:1) characteristic of other stratiform 

intrusions (Jackson, 1971), considering their continued extent under ice cover. Most major layers 

of single-mineral cumulate show sharp basal contacts and gradation upward into gabbroic cumulates; a few show both lower and upper contacts 

as being sharp. Those with gradational tops are 

termed "modally graded" (Irvine, 1982) and those 

having uniform proportions of cumulus minerals 

with stratigraphic level, up to a sharp top contact, 

are termed "isomodal" (Jackson, 1971). The 

Neuburg and Frost Pyroxenite Members each consist of one or more modally graded major layers 

of pyroxene cumulate. The Spear and Stephens 

Anorthosite Members each consist of several such 

layers of plagioclase cumulate. Isomodal major 

layers of plagioclase cumulate occur within gabbroic cumulates at several stratigraphic levels. 
Eroded section 

,---1 

I I 

I ---------------------- c. 

:::J 

0 

(5 

0 

..c 

..0 

co 

(.9 

co 

Cl 

B 

co 

ro 

(/) 

Lexington Granophyre 

Upper inclusion member 

Lower inclusion member 

Stephens Anorthosite 

Member 

I I 1 

I ~------------------

Q) 

(J) 

co 

u 

0 

"01 

co 

0:::: 

T 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

c 

0 

·.::; 

(.) 

Q) 

(J) 

Q) 

Cl 

c 

co 

a: 

2 

(J) 

~ 

0 

LL 

t--"" Sallee Snowfield section 0 I . 2-3? km thick ..C 1---, (hidden) 

-{5 I l...------------------ (.9 1 I Spear Anorthosite Member I 

0 

..c 

..0 

co 

(.9 

.r::. 

Cl 

:::J 

co Frost Pyroxenite Member ..0 

c 

Q) 

.r::. 

Cl 

:::J 

<( 

Neuburg Pyroxenite Member 

Lower anorthosite member 

.:g 

(J) Walker Anorthosite ~ 

0 

LL ~--------------------J 

c 

0 

·.::; 

(.) 

Q) 

(J) 

"Cii 

(J) 

co 

~ 

..1<: 

~ :::J 

0 

I Basal section (hidden) 1.8-3.5? km thick 

I 

!__j 

ro 

c. 

(J) 

"C 

Qi 

.., 

~ 

T 

? 

1 km 

0 

..... Q) Q) 

0 c .r::. c Q) (J) 

t! Q) 0 Q) .g Q) :::J Q) .l!:l c c. X X 0"'0 ·.::; ro ~ ' 0 

"" 

0 CO·- co :::J l1l ..... u> u> C. X c. 0 0 c. c. 0 0 <( 

T T T T I I I I I I 

? I I 

I I I 

T I ..l 

? I I 

I I 

I I 

? 

I I I 

I I I 

I I I 

I I I ..Y ,Y .Y 

;( ..-( ~ 

I I I 

I I I 

1 

Pig+ 

I I 

I I 

I I 

I I 

,)' .)' 

FIGURE 23.-Rock-stratigraphic nomenclature of Dufek intrusion and generalized range of minerals. Solid vertical lines 

show cumulus minerals; dashed lines, noncumulus or postcumulus minerals; queries indicate uncertainty. Pig+, lowest 

occurrence of cumulus (inverted) pigeonite. (Modified from Ford, 1976 and Himmelberg and Ford, 1976.) 

56 
FIGURE 24.-Summit of Aughenbaugh Peak showing layers of pyroxenite (dark bands) of Frost Pyroxenite Member of 

Aughenbaugh Gabbro. 

57 
The sharp upper contact of the Walker Anorthosite suggests that this unit is probably also of 

isomodal type, but with an exceptional thickness 

of greater than 240 m. Contrasting with major 

layers, millimeter- and centimeter-scale layers 

generally are discontinuous and rarely traceable 

for more than a few tens of meters, have gradational upper and lower contacts, and commonly 

show rhythmic-appearing repetition. Whereas 

modally graded major layers may have formed by 

deposition from crystal-laden currents, thinly 

layered to uniform cumulates probably originate 

by other mechanisms such as bottom crystallization (Irvine, 1980). 

TROUGH STRUCTURE 

Large channel-like structures possibly resembling the "trough banding" in the Skaergaard intrusion, Greenland (Wager and Brown, 1967), are 

known to be associated with several modally 

graded major layers: those in Frost Pyroxenite 

Member are filled with pyroxene cumulate, and 

those in Stephens Anorthosite Member are filled 

with plagioclase cumulate (fig. 25). Trough axes 

approximately parallel the layering plane. The 

truncation of laminae in underlying cumulates indicates erosion by currents along the floor, possibly 

related to convection or density flow (Irvine, 1980) 

analogous to cut-and-fill channels in sedimentary 

rocks. Smaller troughs of as much as about 1 m 

depth in the iron-enriched upper part of the intru~ 

sion are filled with iron-titanium oxide cumulate. 

Current activity was probably common (Irvine, 

1980) during formation of most of the layered sequence and obviously was an important process 

in locally concentrating some of the minerals. 

INTRUSIVE FORM 

The large ratio of inferred area to thickness 1 

approximately 5x 103:1, suggests an overall: 

sheetlike form of the body. Naldrett and Cabrii I 

(1976) classified the Dufek in a category "sills and/ 

sheets equivalent to flood basalts," along with thej 

much smaller Palisades sill of New Jersey and! 

the Ingeli-Insizwa intrusion of Natal, South Africa. A body of such enormous dimensions andi 

apparent volume ( ~400,000 km3?) doubtless musti 

have a far more complex structure than the simple, broad synclinal sheet of lopolithlike form apparent in its small area of exposure (Ford and 

others, 1978a, b). 

Although neither floor nor roof is exposed, dis~ 

i 58 

cordancy is shown at the single small exposure 

of the contact, in the Forrestal Range, where a 

steep wall of noncumulus gabbro, marginal to the 

layered cumulate sequence, cuts folded Devonian 

quartzite at high angle. General discordancy of the 

body is shown by the regional truncation of northnortheast-trending folds in Precambrian to Permian country rocks across the entire breadth of the 

northern Pensacola Mountains. Thus, the intrusion 

obviously lacks the concordancy of a classic 

lopolith, a form originally proposed but no longer 

held for the Bushveld Complex (Willemse, 1969a). 

How a body of this size could be related to only 

a single intrusive center, if it is, is difficult to conceive. No center has yet been geophysically identified. The approximate outline of the intrusion, 

determined by geophysical surveys of Behrendt 

and others (1974, 1980), includes a large, lobate 

extension southeast of the Forrestal Range, under 

the Support Force Glacier and adjoining ice sheet 

(fig. 22). Other lobes conceivably exist, though 

have not been identified in the reconnaissance surveys. In the Bushveld Complex, a pronounced, 

multiple lobate outline reflects presence of five adioining basin-shaped bodies with inferred intrusive 

centers (Willemse, 1969a). It seems possible, if not 

likely in view of a size comparable to the 

Bushveld, that the Dufek intrusion similarly consists of more than a single body, even though all 

its exposed rocks are apparently related to but 

one. 

SYNCLINAL STRUCTURE 

The overall structure is that of a broad syncline, 

or elongate funnel(?), with a N. 20°-25° E.-trending subhorizontal axis centered in the Forrestal 

Range. Latest silicic differentiates (Lexington 

Granophyre) occupy the axial belt and are underlain by mostly well layered, iron-enriched gabbroic 

cumulates (Saratoga Gabbro). A 5°-10° southeastdipping homoclinal sequence of layered cumulates 

(Walker Anorthosite and Aughenbaugh Gabbro) of 

Dufek Massif forms the apparent west limb of the 

syncline. Rocks of the Dufek Massif section are 

therefore believed to extend beneath and beyond 

Sallee Snowfield and to underlie those of the Forrestal Range section (fig. 23). 

The synclinal structure was originally considered to be of possible tectonic origin on the basis 

of comparable structural geometry in folded country rocks (Ford and Boyd, 1968). However, a distinct, though slight, regional angular discordance 

of as much as about 10° has since been found with-
in the cumulate sequence near the synclinal axis 

and about 1 km from the top of the body (Ford 

and others, 1979). The discordance is postulated 

to be the result of rather sudden subsidence at 

a late stage of consolidation. Downward movements in solidified cumulates may in part have 

FIGURE 25.-Cross section of anorthosite-filled channel structure of at least 10 m thickness in dark, iron-rich layered gabbro 

in southern Forrestal Range. 

59 
been distributed along a pervasive system of subvertical microshears generally paralleling the axial 

plane of the syncline. An abundance of large anorthosite and leucogabbro inclusions showing chaotic 

array in the gabbro layer above the discordance 

(fig. 16 in Ford, 1976) suggests that subsidence 

was associated with considerable disruption within 

the chamber. 

FAULTS 

Layered cumulates on the northwest side of 

Dufek Massif show northwestward downdropping 

along several strands of the Enchanted Valley 

fault (Ford and others, 1978a). Although exposed 

displacements are small, the faults are probably 

surface expressions of part of a major high-angle 

fault zone along the west side of the Pensacola 

Mountains that shows about 4 km west-side 

downdropping based on geophysical evidence 

(Behrendt and others, 197 4). Behrendt and others 

(1980) suggested occurrence of a major fault, also 

along the southeast side of the Forrestal Range, 

on the basis of about 2 km local relief, but this 

fault is not exposed. Other concealed faults in the 

vicinity are inferred to be older than the intrusion 

(Ford and others, 1978b). 

GENERAL MAJOR-ELEMENT 

CHEMICAL TRENDS 

LAYERED ROCKS 

Layered bodies of this type show similarities 

with sedimentary sequences, and therefore relative ages of layers are generally inferrable by 

superposition (Jackson, 1971). Using stratigraphic 

levels, results of magma differentiation can generally be tied to an age sequence of chemical variation of rocks and minerals. Owing to mineral sorting, however, chemistry of rocks may differ great-: 

ly from that of magma from which they formed, 

as in the extreme cases of single-mineral cumulates such as those of the Frost Pyroxenite and 

Stephens Anorthosite Members. If many uniform 

cumulates, even though thinly layered, form by 

in-place crystallization on the floor (Irvine, 1980), , 

their compositions may approach magma composi- 1 

tions, but some movement of intercumulus liquid · 

into overlying magma would be expected. The 

compositions of such "average" rocks-those in 

which proportions of cumulus crystals approximate proportions of primocrysts precipitating 

from coexisting liquid (Wager and Brown, 1967)-

in the Dufek intrusion show trends similar to 

chemical trends of cumulus minerals (fig. 26). 

In the Dufek intrusion, gabbroic rocks of average-appearing mineralogy and lacking evidence of 

sorting exhibit a pattern of compositional change 

with stratigraphic level generally similar to that 

in other mafic stratiform intrusions. Stratigraphically related changes include a slight upward decrease in Si02; a strong upward increase in Ti02; 

a slight upward increase in K20; and a slight upward increase in P20 5 until just below the 

granophyre layer where a sharp, nearly tenfold 

increase to about 2.0 weight percent occurs (Ford, 

unpublished data). The most conspicuous variation 

is in strong enrichment in iron relative to magnesium, as shown by the mafic index (fig. 26A). Average-appParing cumulates of Dufek Massif have 

mafic index values between about 50 and 65, 

whereas those of the Forrestal Range, representing a later stage of differentiation, have mafic 

index values between about 75 and 90. The lateststage rocks (Lexington Granophyre) have mafic indexes of about 90 or greater. Rocks of the hidden 

Sallee Snowfield section are inferred to have 

characteristics intermediate between those of adioining parts of the exposed sections. The hidden 

basal section can only be inferred as possibly having characteristics similar to basal parts of other 

stratiform mafic intrusions. 

CUMULUS MINERALS 

Coexisting cumulus pyroxenes in the series augite-ferroaugite and bronzite-inverted pigeonite 

also show general iron enrichment with higher 

stratigraphic level in the layered sequence (fig. 

26B). Cumulus plagioclase varies upward from 

about An80 in Walker Anorthosite to An50 in uppermost cumulates below the Lexington 

Granophyre (Abel and others, 1979). Compositional ranges and the generally systematic variations with stratigraphic level more or less parallel 

those of pyroxenes and plagioclase in other 

layered intrusions (Wager and Brown, 1967), 

though differences also exist. On the other hand, 

except for decrease upward in the minor constituents Al20 3 and V 20 3 in ilmeno-magnetite, 

compositions of cumulus iron-titanium oxides show 

no systematic variation, owing to subsolidus recrystallization and lower temperature equilibration (Himmelberg and Ford, 1977). 

INFERRED ORIGINAL MAGMA 

Bulk metal content of a stratiform complex obviously relates in some degree to physical-chemical 

characteristics of an original magma or magmas, 
section ~~--------------.·-

___ G_r_an-'--ophyre ... ~:-"'--

.... ... ... . 

... . .. . --~--------

0 

..0 

.0 

<3 

"' Ol 

U1 

~ 

Sallee Snowfield section (hidden) 

"\_ "-· 

------~~--~-~---- ------..------ ~ /:· ~ •/• I / ,., 

.:1;•. ~Felsic rocks 

Mafic-;\ 1 

.... .0 

<3 

.I: 

Ol 

~ 

"' rocks /.• / 0 

-·~·· /"_/_,/ ______ ___ <__--o 0 

~c;o Walker Anorthosite 

.... .... --.. -.: 

t 

<t: 

,~ 

- _..:::.___ ~0---- -------- ~-·~-~------

Basal section (hidden) 

~-L--~---~--~---L---~ 

40 60 

A MAFIC INDEX 

• Mafic rocks 

o Fels1c rocks 

80 100 0.2 

B 

0.4 0.6 

CATION RATIO Fe/(Fe + Mg) 

.. Ca-r1ch pyroxene 

• Ca-poor pyroxene 

0.8 

FIGURE 26.-Chemical variation in Dufek intrusion. A, mafic index (FeO + 

Fe203 :x 100/(FeO + Fe20 3 + MgO) of rocks (queries indicate uncertainty); B, cation 

ratio, Fe/(Fe + Mg) in pyroxenes. (From Ford, 1976 and Himmelberg and 

Ford, 1976.) 

though concentration into usable deposits depends 

on many additional factors. Determination of an 

original magma composition for such a differentiated body is difficult, and any approach can be 

questioned. Compositions have been inferred from 

those of little-differentiated rocks from chilled 

margins or satellitic dikes and sills (Jackson, 

1971), or by using weighted-average bulk composition of the entire differentiated-rock sequence 

(Maske, 1966). Possibility of multiple emplacement, magma inhomogeneity, and chemical interchange with wall rocks or other chemical gain or 

loss make either approach uncertain, though an 

average bulk composition might provide a useful 

test for a composition inferred from other evidence 

(Gunn, 1966). 

Evidence for estimating an original Dufek 

magma composition is lacking from the intrusion 

itself: the iron-enriched composition of the only exposed contact rocks shows chilling of differentiated 

magma (Ford, 1970), and lack of exposure of major 

parts of the layered sequence precludes use of an 

average bulk composition. Lacking better evidence, an original composition is tentatively inferred to be represented by the average composition 

61 

of the little-differentiated satellitic dikes in the 

Cordiner Peaks (Ford and Kistler, 1980). The 

dikes are the hypabyssal bodies of the Ferrar 

Group nearest to the Dufek intrusion. Their average composition is that of a quartz-normative hypersthene tholeiite not greatly unlike compositions 

inferred for other stratiform complexes, except 

chiefly for the far more magnesian Great Dyke 

of Zimbabwe (table 2). Higher Si02 content than 

in the other inferred magmas may account for an 

absence of cumulus magnesian olivine in all known 

parts of the Dufek's layered sequence, in contrast 

to its occurrence in mafic lower parts of the other 

bodies, even at stratigraphic levels having comparable plagioclase compositions (Wager and 

Brown, 1967). However, as discussed later, rocks 

of the lower-exposed Dufek Massif section are believed to lie stratigraphically higher than comparable parts containing cumulus olivine (and chromite) of other layered intrusions (fig. 27). A siliceous nature of the magma may also account for 

the high average Si02 content (about 52 percent) 

of the entire lower exposed section of the intrusion, in which traces of postcumulus quartz are 

common (Ford, 1970). 
TABLE 2.-Chemical analyses, in weight percent, of little-differentiated rocks inferred to 

represent original magmas of selected mafic stratiform intrusions 

[Dufek intrusion (Cordiner Peaks dikes) from Ford and Kistler (1980); others (chilled border rocks) from Jackson (1971)] 

Dufek Bushveld Stillwater Great Dyke 

1 2 1 2 

Si02 53.3 51.45 50.55 50.68 49.41 48.68 

A12o3 15.5 18.67 15.23 17.64 15.78 9.89 

Fe2

o3 1.5 .28 1.04 .26 2.11 1.15 

FeO 8.0 9.04 10.07 9.88 10.25 9.43 

MgO 6.6 6.84 8.30 7. 71 7.36 19.96 

CaO 10.3 10.95 11.30 10.47 10.88 7.54 

Na2o3 1.9 1.58 2.24 1.87 2.19 1.33 

K2o .72 .14 .19 .24 .16 .43 

Ti02 .65 .34 .66 .45 1.20 .57 

P2o5 .15 .09 .12 .09 .11 .04 

MnO .13 .47 .23 .15 .20 .17 

H2o+ .89 .34 .24 .42 .23 .39 

Total-- 99.7 100.22 100.18 99.92 99.95 99.92 

THE QUESTION OF MULTIPLE EMPLACEMENT 

The formation of a magma chamber of the apparently immense volume of this intrusion by 

input of a single batch of magma is difficult to 

envision. However, the generally regular compositional variation shown by progressive iron enrichment of pyroxenes (fig. 26) and albite enrichment 

of plagioclase (Abel and others, 1979) up to a 

stratigraphic level about 1 km below the top of 

the body provides no evidence otherwise for the 

major part of the stratigraphic sequence. 

A strong reversal in chemical trends of rocks 

and all investigated cumulus minerals, including 

trends of some minor elements in ilmeno-magnetite (Himmelberg and Ford, 1977), occurs at about 

1 km depth in the layered sequence (fig. 26; Abel 

and others, 1979). As trends of all major cumulus 

minerals are involved, the reversal is probably 

best explained as being the result of an influx of 

new magma following a long period of differentiation. A marked reversal in the upper part of the 

Bushveld Complex is interpreted similarly (von 

Gruenewaldt, 1979). The added magma probably 

mixed to a large extent with residual differentiated magma, and further differentiation led to 

renewed iron enrichment and eventual develop62 

ment of the granophyre layer that caps the cumulate sequence (fig. 26). The reversal occurs at or 

near the previously described leucocrati<.: inclusion-rich layer lying on the regional angular discordance within the cumulate sequence. This association suggests that introduction of new magma 

was somehow related to the subsidence event inferred from the discordancy, perhaps in part by 

the withdrawal of magma from depth. 

Major chemical-trend reversals may also exist 

in unknown parts of the body. However, the apparent mergence of trends leading up to and up 

from the hidden Sallee Snowfield section (fig. 26) 

shows no evidence for one in that section. Even 

less is inferrable about the nature of the hidden 

basal section. For the Bushveld Complex, von 

Gruenewaldt (1979) questioned whether a tholeiitic magma could have produced the large volume 

of ultramafic rock present, and therefore postulated an initial emplacement of magma of ultramafic 

composition. Emplacement of early ultramafic 

magma is also postulated for the Stillwater Complex (Todd and others, 1982). A similar occurrence 

must be considered possible in the unexposed 

basal part of the Dufek intrusion. 

Distinct reversals in plagioclase trends, with 

stratigraphic level, occur in or near major modally 
Q) 

c 

0 

N 

c: 

0 

:E 

0 (I) 

(J Q) 

:;:: ·~ 

-~ Q) 

(.) (/) 

- U) 0 Q) 

(I) "\: 

0 Q) 

CD U> 

Frost Pyroxenite 

Member 

Neuburg Pyroxenite 

Member1--- LOWEST PIGEONITE--

ILl 

~ILl 

~ ... ...J0~ 

I~ (!)X 

zu 

I · - Merensky Reef 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

! 

I 

I 

I 

A--

c: 

.2 

0 

Q) 

U) 

-·u; 

(I) 

0 

~ 

~ 

Q) 

-::::s 

0 

c 

0 

0 

C) 

Cl) 

0 

1/) 

.8 

"'0 

Q) 

0 

Q) 

0 

c 

0 

(.) 

B-L ___ I 

Bushveld Dufek 

FIGURE 27.-Possible comparison between lower parts of 

the Bushveld Complex and the Dufek intrusion based 

on lowest occurrence of cumulus (inverted) pigeonite as 

a correlation marker. A and B show minimum and 

maximum thickness estimates of the concealed basal 

section of the Dufek intrusion, from Behrendt and 

others (1974). (Modified from Ford and others, in 

press.) 

graded layers of the N euberg and Frost Pyroxenite Members and the Stephens Anorthosite Member (Abel and others, 1979), where they are not 

accompanied by pyroxene reversals. The presence 

of such marked difference in fractionation trends 

of different coexisting mineral series at these 

localities seems to require some mechanism other 

than addition of magma from either an external 

source or by shifting in the chamber, both of which 

should be reflected in trends of all coexisting 

cumulus minerals. Irvine's (1980) explanation for 

the origin of included blocks of leucocratic rock 

in layered gabbro by the accumulation of some pla63 

gioclase near the chamber roof at the same time 

that other plagioclase is deposited along with 

mafic minerals at the floor may have a bearing 

on the origin of the single-mineral (plagioclase) reversals in the Dufek intrusion. If plagioclase resides in a cloud of crystals near the roof for some 

time while other plagioclase and pyroxenes crystallize from differentiating magma near the floor, 

an episode of current downflow would deposit earlier formed crystals on later ones, which might 

account for the differences in fractionation trends 

of plagioclase and pyroxene in the intrusion. Reversals marked by only plagioclase, therefore, are 

not believed to be indicative of multiple emplacement. 

SULFIDE-MINERAL OCCURRENCES 

Minor amounts of sulfide minerals are scattered 

widely throughout the layered sequence and in all 

lithologies. Their distribution is highly sporadic 

along as well as across layering. Concentrations 

of more than a few percent are not known. Walker 

(1961) reported occurrences of bornite(?), chalcopyrite, and pyrite along the northern base of 

Dufek Massif. Green efflorescences of atacamite 

are common and conspicuous, in many places 

where parent copper sulfide is not visible. Sulfide 

mineralogy has not been studied in detail, but 

chalcopyrite and pyrite or pyrrhotite megascopically appear to be the chief primary phases. Occurrences are much more numerous in the Forrestal Range than in the Dufek Massif, with greatest 

frequency being in iron-titanium oxide-rich layers. 

In Dufek Massif, their typical association with 

hornfels xenoliths suggests an origin related to 

reaction and magma contamination. Occurrences 

in iron-rich layers in the Forrestal Range appear 

similar to those in the upper part of the Bushveld 

Complex, in which sulfide precipitation is related 

to magnetite crystallization (von Gruenewaldt, 

1976). 

MINOR METALS IN THE INTRUSION 

This report summarizes results of a reconnaissance geochemical survey of abundances of titanium, nickel, chromium, cobalt, vanadium, copper, 

platinum, palladium, rhodium, and sulfur in rocks 

of the Dufek intrusion (Ford and others, 1983). 

Platinum-group elements were analyzed by the 

method of Haffty and others (1977), which has 

lower determination limits of 10 ppb (parts per 

billion) for platinum, 4 ppb for palladium, and 5 
ppb for rhodium. Titanium was determined, along 

with major elements, by the method of Shapiro 

(1975). Total sulfur was determined by X-ray 

fluorescence, and other elements by quantitative 

spectrographic methods. 

Twenty-four samples were analyzed in this 

study, most selected on the basis of representing 

typical lithologies at a variety of stratigraphic 

levels. From the highly variable distribution of 

sulfide minerals along layering, it is obvious that 

there must be considerable lateral variation in 

minor-metal abundances. Significant lateral variation in platinum-group element abundance, for example, is known to occur in the Stillwater Complex of Montana (Page and others, 1972). 

INFERRED ORIGINAL MAGMA 

As inferred from compositions of little-differentiated satellitic mafic dikes of the Cordiner Peaks, 

the original magma apparently contained about 

normal amounts of most analyzed metals for a 

magma of quartz tholeiitic composition. The dike 

rocks contain an average (nine analyses) of 11 ppb 

platinum, 8 ppb palladium, 5 ppb rhodium, 112 

ppm (parts per million) copper, 252 ppm vanadium, 44 ppm cobalt, 168 ppm chromium, 89 ppm 

nickel, and 0.65 percent Ti02 (Ford, unpublished 

data). In comparison, the inferred original basaltic 

magma of the Stillwater Complex contained 12 

ppb platinum, 55 ppb palladium, and 5 ppb rhodium (Page and others, 1976). 

VARIATION WITH STRATIGRAPHIC LEVEL 

The nonparametric Spearman's rank correlation 

coefficient, r 8 , is used in this study for determining 

degree of correlation of element abundances with 

stratigraphic level owing to smallness of the sample set, an apparent non-normal distribution, the 

presence of censored data, and the unknown thickness of concealed intervals. The strongest positive 

correlations with stratigraphic level are shown by 

Fe20 3 and Ti02 , followed closely by copper (table 

3). Vanadium and cobalt show moderate positive 

correlation, and chromium and Si02 show moderate negative correlation with stratigraphic level. 

The statistic r 8 , however, only shows degree of 

linear correlation. The correlations of table 3 are 

generally consistent with overall variations in element abundances with stratigraphic level in the 

Skaergaard intrusion that Wager and Brown 

(1967) showed to be nonlinear for most elements. 

Elements such as nickel and those of the platinum 

64 

group show no statistically close correlation with 

stratigraphic level (table 3), but comparison of average abundances between the lower and upper 

parts of the body (table 4) indicates presence of 

broad variations with stratigraphic level. For convenience of reference, arbitrary terms for the sequence of solidification of the intrusion are used 

in the following discussion as shown in table 4. 

PLATINUM-GROUP ELEMENTS 

Rhodium is below limits of determination in all 

samples, except for a single sample of melagabbroic cumulate from near the base of the Forrestal 

Range section that contains 12 ppb rhodium. The 

sample contains a trace of visible sulfides and an 

abundance (34 percent) of iron-titanium oxide minerals. Platinum or palladium contents are determinable in five of 13 (38 percent) analyzed earlystage cumulates and in six of nine (67 percent) 

analyzed late-stage cumulates. The high percentage of samples with platinum-group element concentrations below limits of determination precludes calculation of exact averages. Table 4, accordingly, shows ranges of possible averages 

based on possible concentration ranges for samples 

below limits of determination. The maximum 

analyzed platinum content of 35 ppb is in the 

above-mentioned sample containing 12 ppb rhodium. The maximum analyzed palladium content of 

44 ppb is in a gabbroic cumulate from about 350 

m height in the Forrestal Range section that contains 9 percent iron-titanium oxide minerals and 

is free of visible sulfides. No platinum-group minerals have yet been identified, but a detailed 

search for them has not been made. 

The platinum-group elements show no statistical 

correlation with stratigraphic level (table 3). Latestage cumulates are obviously enriched in the elements compared to early-stage cumulates, as 

shown by their greater percentage of platinumgroup element occurrences above determination 

limits and by greater average abundances, which 

suggests enrichment during differentiation periods 

represented by the two exposed sections. 

COPPER AND SULFUR 

Copper correlates strongly with stratigraphic 

level (table 3), which, along with its more than sixfold increase in average abundance from early- to 

late-stage cumulates (table 4), suggests marked 

enrichment during differentiation. Copper enrich-
TABLE 3.-Speannan rank cm·relation coefficients for chemical constituents with 

stratigraphic leuel and mineral content (~nodal v~lwrne percent) in 22 analyzed 

cumulates ofthe Dufek intrusion 

Height Minerals 

Iron-titanium Pyroxenes 

oxides 

Si02 -o.55 -o.60 0.01 

Fe2o3 .93 .89 .19 

FeO .63 .27 .78 

MgO -.06 -.18 .91 

Tio2 .88 .87 .26 

MnO .33 .21 .92 

Ni -.20 -.15 .62 

Cr -.47 -.45 .33 

Co .51 .44 .74 

v .62 .61 .28 

Cu .81 .83 .18 

Pt + Pd .29 .53 .oo 

s .37 .56 .21 

Ni/Co -.84 -.52 .11 

Mafic index .84 .89 -.17 

ment is accompanied by sulfur enrichment, though TITANIUM, VANADIUM, AND COBALT 

to a much lesser degree. Both elements show 

strong depletion upward from late-stage cumulates to latest-stage granophyre, but average 

abundances in the granophyre are somewhat 

greater than in early-stage cumulates. 

An increase in titanium, vanadium, and cobalt 

by differentiation is shown by correlations with 

stratigraphic level in table 3. Ti02 has an approximate tenfold, vanadium a more than threefold, and 

TABLE 4.--Summary of rninor-element content of typical rocks from the layered sequence of the Dufek intrusion, from data 

in Ford and others (in press) 

[If parentheses are shown, all values are below limit of determination. Where a range in average is shown, true value lies between indicated limits, based on limits 

of determination. Analyzed samples of cumulates include rocks of gabbroic, anorthositic, and pyroxenitic composition that contain only traces of, or no, visible 

sulfides. See text for analysis of sample containing 2 percent visible sulfides) 

Solidification Number of Pt Pd Rh s Cu v Co Cr Ni Ti02 

stage samples (ppb) (ppm) (wt.pct) 

Latest (granophyre 2 range: (<10) (<4) ( <S) 130-140 32-36 6-15 7-8 <2-2 (<2) 0.68-1.6 

of Forrestal Range). average: o-9 0-3 0-4 135 34 11 8 2 <2 1.2 

Late (cumulates of 8 range: <10-35 <4-44 <S-12 20-800 90-460 80-2,000 38-120 2-65 2-190 1. 2-8.6 

Forrestal Range). average: 9-17 9-11 2-5 226 195 698 70 20 49 3.9 

Middle (concealed) 

Early (cumulates of 13 range: <10-15 <4-10 (<S) 40-190 12-40 55-460 8-90 14-480 12-150 .06-.87 

Dufek Massif). average: 3-10 1-4 0-4 101 29 198 so 174 76 .34 

Earliest (concealed) 

65 
cobalt only a slight increase in average abundance 

upward from early- to late-stage cumulates. 

Farther upward, all show a large decrease into 

the granophyre layer. The granophyre, however, 

is significantly enriched in Ti02 compared with 

early-stage cumulates, in contrast to cobalt and, 

particularly, vanadium. 

CHROMIUM AND NICKEL 

An approximate eightfold upward decrease in 

average abundance of chromium shows significant 

depletion of the element with differentiation from 

early- to late-stage cumulates (table 4), a depletion 

shown much less markedly by chromium correlation with stratigraphic level (table 3). The average 

nickel abundance in late-stage cumulates is 

strongly weighted by a single sample of iron-titanium oxide-rich cumulate (the same previously described sample having exceptional abundances of 

rhodium and platinum) that contains 190 ppm nickel. Excluding that sample, nickel would average 

34 ppm and have a range of 2 ppm-65 ppm in latestage cumulates. Although nickel shows only 

slight negative correlation with stratigraphic level 

its approximate twofold decrease from early- to 

late-stage cumulates suggests slight to moderate 

depletion during differentiation. The granophyre 

is markedly depleted in both elements compared 

to all the underlying cumulates. The strong negative correlation of the ratio nickel/cobalt with 

stratigraphic level and average values of 1.12 and 

0. 70, respectively, in early- and late-stage cumulates show a variation similar to those in other 

differentiated mafic bodies (Wager and Brown, 

1967; Fleisher, 1968). 

MINERAL ASSOCIATIONS 

52.3 percent in ilmenite. Cr20 3 occurs in the 

ranges 0.01 to 0.64 percent in magnetite and 0.04 

to 0.47 percent in ilmenite. Neither Ti02 nor 

Cr20 3 in oxide minerals shows systematic variation with stratigraphic level, owing to subsolidus 

recrystallization. On the other hand, V 20 3 content 

of ilmeno-magnetite in composite grains with ferrian ilmenite shows rather systematic upward decrease from 2.21 percent in a cumulate from near 

the top of the Dufek Massif section to 0.11 percent 

in one of the uppermost cumulates of the Forrestal 

Range section. The upward decreasing V 20 3 in ilmeno-magnetite is inferred to result from differentiation (Himmelberg and Ford, 1977). The V20 3 

trend with stratigraphic level shows a marked reversal at or near the strong reversals found in 

compositional trends of other minerals that are inferred to be related to a late-stage addition of 

magma. 

Correlations in table 3 and figure 28 show relations that may or may not be meaningful in terms 

of host mineralogy. Oxide phases are obviously the 

principal hosts for titanium (Himmelberg and 

Ford, 1977) and accordingly show high correlation 

(rs= +0.87) with Ti02• Their nearly-as-high correlation with copper (r8 = +0.83) reflects the common 

field observance of copper-sulfide traces in iron-ti-

.~ ID .r:. Q) 

0. "0 ID 

~ ·;c Q) 

0 c: C> ID 

-- .... >C 

0 Q) I e LLJ .... > Q) >. t!) :I 0 

(/)_ - Q) LL. a.. a.. (/) u > u u z 

Ti e e • • e e • ~ 1/ 

Ni • A • e 1/ 

<> 0 0 1/ 

• • e A • • / ..!!. 

• • • • e v e > 70 

e e A • / • 69-55 

A + A I/ • 54-50 

PGE • • 49-44 

A 43-36 

Except for a reconnaissance survey of titanium cr 

and chromium in pyroxenes, and of titanium, chro- co 

mium, and vanadium in iron-titanium oxides (Himmelberg and Ford, 1976, 1977), data are unavaila- v 

ble for minor-metal contents of individual miner- cu 

als. In both the calcium-rich and calcium-poor 

series of pyroxenes, Ti02 shows no systematic 5 

variation with stratigraphic level whereas Cr20 3 

occurs in amounts as much as 0.2 percent in calcium-rich pyroxene and 0.08 percent in calcium-poor 

pyroxene in cumulates of the Dufek Massif section, but Cr20 3 is not detected in the minerals in FIGURE 28.-Correlation of analyzed elements in 22 cumulates 

of the Dufek intrusion. Open symbols indicate negative 

rs (Spearman rank correlation coefficient)· solid positive. 

PGE, platinum-group elements. (Modified- from' Ford and 

others, in press.) 

the Forrestal Range section. Ti02 occurs in the 

ranges of 1.06 to 11.3 percent in magnetite, 11.1 

to 18.8 percent in ilmeno-magnetite, and 49.0 to 

66 
tanium oxide-rich layers. Platinum-group elements 

and vanadium also have much stronger positive 

correlation with oxides than pyroxenes, in contrast to chromium, nickel, and cobalt. In a study 

of inter-element correlations, platinum is found to 

have much greater correlation with Ti02 and vanadium (rs= +0.64 for both) than any other element 

(Ford, unpublished data). Though of uncertain 

genetic significance, the correlations may have 

practical value for indicating possible mineralogical tracers in a search for resources. For example, 

iron-titanium oxide-rich layers would seem to be 

more likely hosts for a deposit of platinum-group 

metals than pyroxenitic layers, at least in exposed 

parts of this body. 

SPECULATIVE RESOURCES 

Available reconnaissance data are inadequate 

for a resource appraisal of even the small parts 

of the intrusion exposed in Dufek Massif and the 

Forrestal Range. The nature of the great extent 

of perhaps 95 percent or more of the body under 

cover of ice is open to almost any speculation. 

Lacking direct information on such a large part 

of it, inferences on possible resources might be 

made using the concept of "unit regional value," 

based on known resources in better studied equivalent geologic terranes (Griffiths, 1978). This approach was used by Wright and Williams (1974) 

to predict the number of mineral deposits expected to occur in Antarctica. For the Dufek intrusion, an estimation of possible resources might 

similarly be based on the known resources in the 

similar layered mafic intrusions of table 1. Many 

factors, however, can complicate probability estimates for resource occurrence by this method, 

even for comparatively well known areas (Singer 

and Ovenshine, 1979). For intrusive complexes, 

factors bearing on differences such as age, compositions of mantle source terrane and derived 

magma, crystallization sequences, reaction and assimilation of wall rock, emplacement style, and 

tectonic setting are largely unknown and can 

greatly limit estimation of resource potential by 

analogy. Each of the possible models in table 1 

has unique petrologic and resource characteristics: 

some contain highly economic deposits, others 

have marginally or submarginally economic deposits, and others appear barren. Among them, 

the Bushveld Complex is the leader by far in 

terms of its variety and abundance of recoverable 

resources. 

67 

RESOURCES IN SIMILAR COMPLEXES 

BUSHVELD COMPLEX 

After an initial description of the complex in 

1872, an early and long overlooked report in 1907 

of platinum in chromite bands, and much scientific 

study and prospecting for obvious mineral deposits 

through the 1920's, it was not until 1923 that a 

chance discovery of platinum was made during 

gold panning in the material of a termite mounda discovery that stimulated a thorough exploration 

and soon led alluvial panners, in 1924, to the richly 

platiniferous "mother lode" of the Merensky Reef 

(Hall, 1932). The Merensky has since become one 

of the world's leading producers of platinum-group 

metals (Page and others, 1973). 

The complex has little rival for its diversity and 

wealth of economic minerals (von Gruenewaldt, 

1977). Reserves of chromite, platinum-group metals, and vanadiferous iron ore are the largest of 

their kind in the world; but the registry of 

economic materials also includes copper and nickel 

in the Merensky Reef, and gold, tin, tungsten, molybdenum, copper, lead, zinc, and fluorite in hydrothermal or contact-metamorphic deposits (Willemse, 1969a). Hall's (1932) list additionally includes vanadium, silver, bismuth, arsenic, and cobalt; and Cameron (1971) mentioned titanium as 

an additional possible resource. Resources of platinum-group metals are believed to total about 656 

million troy oz (Page and others, 1973). Probable 

reserves of chromite exceed 1 billion tons, according to Cameron and Desborough's (1969) estimate. 

More recently, Thayer (1973) estimated reserves 

of high-chromium ore (Cr20 3>46 percent) at 50 

million tons and a total potential chromite resource 

exceeding 6.1 billion tons. 

SUDBURY INTRUSION 

The Sudbury intrusion of Ontario, commonly 

termed the "Sudbury Nickel Irruptive," is best 

known for its highly productive sulfide ores that 

have yielded more than one half of the total world 

nickel supply since about 1905 (Cornwall, 1973). 

Sudbury deposits have produced approximately 

$12 billion worth of nickel, copper, cobalt, selenium, tellurium, platinum-group metals, gold, silver, iron, and sulfur in the 85 years preceding 

1972 (Card and others, 1972). Identified nickel resources are believed to total 400 million tons at 

a grade of 1.5 percent nickel (Cornwall, 1973). 

Some uncertainty exists on the cumulate origin of 
Sudbury rocks and, thus, on comparability of the 

body with other stratiform intrusions (Wager and 

Brown, 1967). Moreover, in the possibility of its 

origin by meteorite impact, the Sudbury may be 

unique, and the combination of events needed to 

form its type of deposits may be so uncommon 

as to make occurrence of similar deposits unlikely 

(Foose and others, 1980). 

GREAT DYKE 

The Great Dyke, Zimbabwe, has no close rival 

for its immense identified resources of high-chromium ore, estimated by Thayer (1973) to total 

about 1 billion tons. Thayer estimated total chromium resources as exceeding 1.6 billion tons. A 

widespread but thin layer of disseminated platinum metal is also known, though of subeconomic 

grade (Worst, 1960). 

DULUTH COMPLEX 

Enormous identified resources of low-grade 

(0.21 percent nickel) nickel-sulfide ore in the 

Duluth Complex of Minnesota are estimated to 

total 6.5 million tons (Cornwall, 1973). Copper sulfides are also of potential economic significance 

(Cox and others, 1973). Exploration has been recently undertaken, but no major mining development has yet occurred. 

STILLWATER COMPLEX 

Chromite and copper-nickel sulfide deposits in 

the basal part of the Stillwater Complex, Montana, were known, prospected, and locally mined 

by the 1930's (Howland and others, 1936). Scientific reconnaissances by H. H. Hess (1960) and 

others starting in the 1930's, and the early reporting of platinum-group metals higher in the complex as well as in basal units (Howland and others, 

1936) eventually attracted the mining company exploration in 1967 that led to discovery in 1973 of 

significant platinum-group metal resources in the 

upper part of the complex (Conn, 1979). The 

metal-rich zone termed the "J-M Reef," which is 

as much as several meters thick and extends 

nearly the entire length of the intrusion, is a counterpart of the Merensky Reef of the Bushveld 

Complex and is one of the richest known deposits 

of platinum and palladium in the world (Todd and 

others, 1979, 1982). 

The complex contains the largest potential chromite and platinum-group metal resources and second largest nickel resources in the United States 

68 

(Page and Dohrenwend, 1973). According to Page 

and Dohrenwend, the ultramafic zone has produced about 90p,OOO tons of chromite concentrate 

and contains unmined reserves of 2. 5 million tons 

of Cr20 3, with total potential resources of 10.7 million tons of Cr20 3 . They estimated that potential 

platinum-group metal resources probably exceed 

150 million troy oz, an estimate made prior to 

availability of data on deposits of the metals now 

known in the J-M Reef in sulfide-bearing anorthositic layers above the ultramafic zone. Grades 

of mineralization in the newly discovered platinum-group element deposits are reportedly two to 

four times those typical of the Bushveld's 

Merensky Reef (Conn, 1979). One section of the 

deposit, 5.5 km in length, has an average grade 

of 0. 65 troy oz of platinum and palladium per short 

ton through a thickness of 2.1 m (Todd and others, 

1979). The nickel and copper potential of sulfide 

deposits in the basal zone also appears significant. 

Resources of 150 million tons of 0.25 percent nickel 

and 0.25 percent copper ore are identified 

(Cornwall, 1973) and speculative resources are 

much greater. 

INGELI-INSIZWA COMPLEX 

The Ingeli-Insizwa Complex, South Africa, is a 

600- to 900-m-thick layered gabbroic intrusion correlative with the Jurassic Karroo Dolerite (Maske, 

1966). The olivine-rich basal zone of the basinshaped, sill-like body contains local concentrations 

of copper-nickel sulfides and platinum-group minerals (Scholtz, 1936; Mertie, 1969). Extensive exploration, including diamond drilling, has not revealed presence of deposits of economic significance (Dowsett and Reid, 1967). 

SPECULATIVE RESOURCES IN THE 

DUFEK INTRUSION 

The preceding examples show clearly that 

stratiform mafic intrusions similar to the Dufek 

contain many types of materials that are economical to exploit in the areas in which they occur. 

Deposits vary greatly in form, type, and grade: 

some are of enormous size and almost inestimable 

value, particularly those of platinum-group metals; 

and others are only marginally or submarginally 

economic. The precipitation of metals from magmas and their concentration into usable deposits 

involve many factors (Naldrett and Cabri, 1976; 

von Gruenewaldt, 1979; Cameron, 1971) that are 

presently little known or entirely unknown for the 
Dufek intrusion. Although significant metal deposits have not been found, considering the immense size of the unexposed parts of the body, 

and the many evident similarities with other 

stratiform intrusions known to be economic, it is 

probably safe only to conclude that there is little 

likelihood that no significant resources exist in the 

body. 

In view of the limited data, speculations as to 

the nature of possible resources must at present 

primarily be based on comparisons with other intrusions of similar type. Many similarities and 

many obvious differences exist in making comparisons. Except for the noneconomic (as now known) 

Skaergaard intrusion of Tertiary age and the subeconomic Jurassic Ingeli-Insizwa Complex, unifying themes seen in the other possible models of 

table 1 are that (1) all are of Precambrian age; 

(2) all are located in present-day midcontinental 

cratons; (3) all formed from basaltic magma, in 

most cases inferred to be tholeiitic; (4) all are 

stratiform bodies of cumulates apparently formed 

by crystal accumulation, with the possible exception of the Sudbury Complex; and (5) all contain 

significant resources, though of variable form and 

grade. 

Questions that can be raised about the significance of similarities and differences between the 

Dufek and other stratiform mafic intrusions have 

no clear answers. Similarities with other intrusions in textures, structures, and general differentiation patterns are indicative of overall similarity 

in processes of magma consolidation. To what extent have compositions and geotherms of mantle 

sources of magmas varied with time in the 

geochemical evolution of the Earth, and thus of 

what resource significance is the much younger 

age (Jurassic) of the Dufek? Findings that oreforming processes have not operated uniformly 

throughout time, leading to the concept of "metallogenic epochs" (Craig, 1979), might indicate that 

the Dufek should only be compared with the Ingeli-Insizwa Complex of similar age. Derivation of 

sulfur-rich magmas and sulfide mineralization may 

be a function of depth of mantle melting (Naldrett 

and Cabri, 1976). If so, and in view of possible 

mantle heterogeneity for the Jurassic in Antarctica (Kyle, 1980) and the possible origin of Ferrar 

Group magmatism by Pacific margin subduction 

(Elliot, 1976), of what significance is the mobilebelt setting of the Dufek intrusion, rather than 

a craton setting, in terms of mantle dynamics and 

69 

composition of mantle-derived magmas? Are the 

generally minor-appearing differences in the 

tholeiitic compositions of inferred original magmas 

relevant in terms of resources, particularly in the 

more siliceous apparent nature of the Dufek 

magma, and how accurately do those compositions 

correspond with actual original magmas? Do concealed parts of the Dufek contain ultramafic cumulates or evidence, as in the Bushveld and Stillwater Complexes, for an early ultramafic phase of 

magmatism? Might Irvine's (1975) mechanism relating magmatic sulfide and chromite ores in some 

layered intrusions to sudden contamination of 

magma with felsic material also have operated in 

the Dufek intrusion, though effects of such a 

mechanism might be questioned (Naldrett and 

Cabri, 1976)? Those and many other possible questions make comparison with any model highly uncertain. Although comparison with the Ingeli-Insizwa intrusion seems attractive in the aspect of 

age similarity, the significant size difference 

makes other models more attractive. 

At the present preliminary stage of investigation, probably few if any types of deposits are 

known in similar bodies that arbitrarily can be 

excluded as occurring in the Dufek intrusion, particularly in view of the immense areas of concealed 

rock. Accordingly, nearly all types of deposits 

must be considered to be possible speculative resources in this body, though however unlikely for 

some. Resources of varied type might be encountered in almost any part of the body. In intrusions 

of this kind, certain metals typically show selective concentration by differentiation at certain 

stratigraphic levels, such as chromite near the 

base and iron, titanium, and vanadium in upper 

parts (Wager and Brown, 1967). Considerable differences exist in the type, size, and grade of metal 

deposits known in other comparatively well 

studied stratiform intrusions (Wilson, 1969). Even 

for those intrusions, factors controlling ore occurrence are uncertain and arguable, particularly for 

metals associated with sulfide mineralization (Naldrett and Cabri, 1976; von Gruenewaldt, 1979). 

The scarcity of data for the Dufek intrusion obviously restricts predictability for occurrence of possible resources. 

CONCEALED SECTIONS 

There is probably little question that of the two 

concealed sections in the southern part of the intrusion (fig. 23) the basal one has more resource 
significance. Whereas general characteristics of 

the Sallee Snowfield section can probably be inferred to be similar to those of middle parts of other 

intrusions, and intermediate between those of the 

two exposed Dufek sections, the basal section may 

be comparable to lower parts of other complexes. 

Early-stage mafic or ultramafic cumulates in other 

complexes are associated with a variety of metal 

deposits, particularly chromium, platinum-group 

metals, nickel, and copper (Wilson, 1969; Naldrett 

and Cabri, 1976; Page and Dohrenwend, 1973). 

Whether ultramafic layers occur in the concealed basal section is one of the major questions 

in a resource appraisal of the intrusion. Preliminary interpretation of geophysical data suggests 

their possible presence (Behrendt and others, 

1974). The Si02 content of the inferred original 

tholeiitic magma is only 2-3 percent higher than 

in inferred Bushveld and Stillwater magmas (table 

2). Whether such a magma could have produced 

any early ultramafic cumulates is unknown. As in 

the Bushveld Complex (von Gruenewaldt, 1979) 

and the Stillwater Complex (Todd and others, 

1982), a possibility exists for an early ultramafic 

phase of magmatism, though no evidence for it 

has yet been found. 

Cumulus magnesian olivine and chromite have 

not been found in any exposed part of the Dufek 

intrusion. However, Himmelberg and Ford (in 

press) presented indirect evidence that olivine 

may be a member of the mineral-crystallization sequence of the magma. The cumulus mineralogy of 

lowest-exposed gabbroic cumulates (plagioclase + 

calcium-rich pyroxene + calcium-poor pyroxene) 

is the same as in the Bushveld and Stillwater 

Complexes at stratigraphic levels above their 

upper limits of magnesian olivine and chromite. 

If those minerals are present in the concealed 

basal section, prediction of their stratigraphic occurrence can at present only be based, uncertainly, on stratigraphic comparison with other 

minerals known in similar intrusions. In the 

Bushveld Complex, cumulus (inverted) pigeonite 

first occurs at a stratigraphic level of about 3.6 

km, where plagioclase has a composition of An60--69 

(Wager and Brown, 1967). In the Dufek intrusion, 

cumulus pigeonite (also inverted) first occurs just 

above the Walker Anorthosite (Himmel berg and 

Ford, 1976), at an exposed height of about 300 

m and where plagioclase composition is An63 (Abel 

and others, 1979). The occurrence is about 2.1-3.8 

70 

km above the base, using Behrendt's and others 

(1974) 1.8-3.5 km thickness estimate for the concealed basal section. Thus, the first occurrence of 

cumulus pigeonite may be at comparable stratigraphic levels in the two intrusions and where compositions of coexisting plagioclase are about the 

same. In the Bushveld Complex, cumulus magnesian olivine and chromite occur up to the level of 

the platiniferous Merensky Reef, about 2.3 km 

above the floor and about 1.3 km below the first 

occurrence of cumulus pigeonite (Wager and 

Brown, 1967). Thus, as inferred by comparing 

depths below respective cumulus pigeonite arrival 

"markers," the economically important Merensky 

would have an equivalent stratigraphic position in 

the Dufek intrusion somewhere in the middle or 

upper part of the hidden basal section (fig. 27). 

In the Stillwater Complex, the platinum-group 

metal-rich deposits of the J-M Reef occur about 

425 m above the ultramafic zone (Todd and others, 

1979). The top of the ultramafic zone is about 1.2 

km above the floor (Wager and Brown, 1967), and 

thus the economically significant deposits of platinum-group metals and chromite in the complex 

would have an equivalent position in the Dufek 

intrusion somewhere in the lower or middle part 

of the concealed basal section. In view of such possible comparisons, speculative resources of the 

basal section must be considered to include metals 

in deposits known in equivalent parts of similar 

intrusions, namely chromium, platinum-group 

metals, and possibly copper and nickel. 

DUFEK MASSIF SECTION 

Only traces of disseminated sulfide minerals 

have been found in Dufek Massif. Amounts of 

analyzed minor metals are generally low (table 4) 

and about normal for the host lithologies, including 

pyroxene-rich cumulates of the Neuburg and 

Frost Pyroxenite Members of the Aughenbaugh 

Gabbro. The correlations of figure 27 suggest that 

the pyroxenitic units lie considerably higher in the 

stratigraphy than does the pyroxenitic Merensky 

Reef in the Bush veld Complex. Unusually high 

amounts of chromium ( 480 ppm) and vanadium 

(460 ppm) occur only in samples from thin layers 

containing cumulus iron-titanium oxides near the 

top of the section. As now known, they have little 

resource significance, and therefore this exposed 

part of the intrusion shows no evidence for occurrence of possible resources. 
FORRESTAL RANGE SECTION 

Trace or minor amounts of sulfide minerals, as 

much as a maximum known of only 2-3 percent, 

are common in cumulates of this upper part of the 

intrusion. Among typical cumulates containing no 

or only traces of visible sulfides (table 4), the 

maximum analyzed amounts of copper ( 460 ppm) 

and sulfur (800 ppm) occur in a gabbroic cumulate 

containing abundant (11 modal percent) iron-titanium oxide minerals, from about 1150 m height in 

the section. The same sample contains a higher 

than average content (25 ppb) of platinum (Ford 

and others, 1983). One atypical cumulate (not included in table 4 averages) containing 2 percent 

visible sulfides, 18 percent oxide minerals, and 70 

percent pyroxenes, from about 1080(?) m height 

in the section, was also analyzed and found to contain 13 ppb platinum, 6 ppb palladium, 4, 700 ppm 

sulfur, 2,000 ppm copper, 2,000 ppm vanadium, 

100 ppm cobalt, 44 ppm chromium, 65 ppm nickel, 

and 7.5 percent Ti02 • Concentrations of the 

analyzed platinum-group elements in this section 

and the Dufek Massif section are generally similar 

to those in typical rocks of the Bushveld Complex 

above its Merensky Reef (Page and others, 1982). 

Occurrences of sulfide minerals and secondary 

copper-bearing efflorescences are most commonly 

found in cumulates with abundant iron-titanium 

oxide minerals. In a correiation study of major and 

minor elements, copper and sulfur were determined to have strongest correlation (r8= +0.85 and 

+ 0.84, respectively) with Fe20 3 (Ford, unpublished data) and with Fe-Ti oxide minerals (fig. 

28). Sulfide occurrences appear to be similar to 

those in the iron-enriched upper part of the 

Bushveld Complex, for which von Gruenewaldt 

(1976) postulated the precipitation of sulfides as 

a result of reduction of sulfur solubility in the 

magma due to lowering of iron content by the 

crystallization of magnetite. 

Although known sulfide occurrences in the Forrestal Range are of insignificant size, larger deposits conceivably exist in hidden equivalent parts 

of the body. Copper-nickel sulfide deposits of possible economic interest are known in comparable 

parts of the Bushveld Complex (von Gruenewaldt, 

1976), and therefore the possibility exists that 

similar deposits occur in the upper part of the 

Dufek intrusion. If present, however, they would 

probably have little potential resource significance 

by themselves, but might be of interest if they 

are found to be associated with other resources, 

71 

such as vanadium, titanium, or platinum-group 

metals. 

Seams and channel-like masses of magnetitite 

(iron-titanium oxide cumulate) are common in 

many parts of the Forrestal Range. Although 

many are present, most seams have a thickness 

of as much as only about 10 em. The largest channel-like mass observed is about 2 m thick. The 

larger and more abundant magnetitite seams in 

the upper Bushveld Complex are of economic interest chiefly for vanadium but have had some development for iron (Willemse, 1969b) and may also 

be of interest for titanium (Cameron, 1971). As 

in the Bush veld, layers of magnetitite in the Dufek 

intrusion are commonly associated with layers of 

plagioclase-rich cumulate (anorthosite and 

leucogabbro). Samples of Dufek magnetitite have 

not been chemically analyzed, but analyses of samples containing 18 and 34 modal percent oxide minerals show contents of 7.5 and 8.6 percent Ti02 ,respectively, and 0.2 percent vanadium. For comparison, magnetitite ore of the Bushveld contains 

14-20 percent Ti02 and 0.3-2 percent V 20 5 (Willemse, 1969b). The maximum known content of 

V20 3 in Dufek ilmeno-magnetite is 2.21 percent 

(2. 68 percent V 20 5); and eight analyzed grains of 

the mineral from different stratigraphic levels average 14.1 percent Ti02 , with a range of 11.1 to 

18.8 percent (Himmelberg and Ford, 1977). A deposit consisting entirely of ilmeno-magnetite in the 

Dufek intrusion, accordingly, might have vanadium and titanium contents approximating those of 

ore deposits in the Bushveld Complex. Vanadium 

content of Bushveld magnetitite ore decreases 

with increased stratigraphic level (T. G. Molyneux 

data, in Willemse, 1969b), and similarly, V20 3 content of ilmeno-magnetite shows systematic decrease with increased stratigraphic level in the 

Dufek intrusion (Himmelberg and Ford, 1977). 

The comparisons with the Bushveld suggest that 

vanadium and possibly titanium should be considered of potential resource interest in the Forrestal Range section, and particularly if associated 

with other types of resources. 

Platinum-group metals are probably of greatest 

potential resource interest in the Forrestal Range 

section, though no occurrence of significant size 

is known and no minerals of the group have been 

identified. The summary of reconnaissance 

geochemical data in table 4 shows a distinct increase in platinum and palladium abundances in 

this section compared to the Dufek Massif section, 
suggesting an enrichment with differentiation. Average sulfur content shows similar upward increase between sections, but sulfur and platinumgroup element abundances have little statistical 

correlation (fig. 28). Although platinum-group elements seem to be collected from magmas by crystallizing sulfides, in many cases they are redistributed by secondary processes (Naldrett and 

Cabri, 1976), which might account for lack of significant correlation. The previously mentioned correlations of platinum with vanadium and Ti02 

suggest that platinum occurrences might be expected in iron-titanium oxide-rich cumulates. If 

metal deposits, particularly those associated with 

sulfides, can be related to sudden contamination 

of magma by felsic materials (Irvine, 1975), deposits might be associated with the anorthosite 

and leucogabbro inclusion-rich layer about 1 km 

below the top of the Forrestal Range section. Although the section is stratigraphically higher in 

this intrusion than the platinum-group metal deposits are in the Bushveld and Stillwater Complexes, the apparent enrichment of the metals 

with differentiation suggests that they should be 

considered a speculative resource in this part of 

the intrusion. 

OUTLOOK 

Historically, as exemplified by economic developments in the Bushveld and Stillwater Complexes, many years can elapse even in nonpolar 

areas between discovery, early scientific study, 

and eventual commercialization of a stratiform 

complex, particularly for inconspicuous deposits 

such as platinum. A much greater lag can be expected for any exploitation of Antarctica's possible 

mineral resources, considering (1) economic factors of logistics (Potter, 1969); (2) difficulties in 

polar mining operations (Hall, 1975; Splettstoesser, 1976); (3) environmental requirements for 

safeguarding an unusually fragile ecosystem (Zumberge, 1979b); (4) the still unresolved matter of 

land ownership and problems in issuance of 

licenses or leases and sales of mineral rights (Zumberge, 1979a); (5) the small number of geologists 

who have worked in any particular area and with 

the primary objective of making reconnaissance 

scientific surveys, which greatly limits chances for 

accidental discoveries; and (6) lack of prospecting 

activity or other work focused on a search for minerals. 

Based principally on comparisons with similar 

72 

intrusions that contain economic deposits, speculative resources of the Dufek intrusion are considered to include chromium, copper, nickel, vanadium, titanium, iron, and platinum-group metals, 

however unlikely some may be in terms of any 

possible economic utility. In presently known or 

inferred world abundances (Brobst and Pratt, 

1973), only platinum-group metals would probably 

be of much future economic interest. However, recovery of those metals might make byproduct recovery of others also feasible. 

Prospecting for metals of the platinum group 

will be unusually difficult, requiring innovative 

and costly methods. As exemplified by the 

Bushveld's Merensky Reef, chance and intuition 

can be important factors in initial discoveries. 

Traditionally, the most successful prospecting 

technique seems to be a search for placer accumulations and the tracing of alluvial occurrences back 

to their lode source (Page and others, 1973). However, in Antarctica, an absence of any significant 

river or stream erosion since the probable early 

Cenozoic onset of continental glaciation, and the 

present ice cover of all lowland intermontane basins preclude that type of prospecting of the Dufek 

intrusion. As in the Stillwater Complex (Page and 

others, 1976), the metals probably have a highly 

sporadic occurrence, both along and across layering. A search will require extensive and detailed 

geochemical surveys, but might be aided by present findings that higher than average platinumgroup element values seem to be associated with 

layers rich in iron-titanium oxide minerals and 

that, as in the Stillwater Complex (Page and 

others, 1972), more easily analyzed vanadium 

seems to have potential for use as a geochemical 

tracer for platinum (fig. 28). 

Other continents have long histories of geologic 

and mining exploration by great numbers of prospectors, geologists, geochemists, and geophysicists, yet new mineral discoveries, often on old 

workings, are continually being made, generally 

using increasingly sophisticated methods. The 

probability of an accidental discovery obviously 

depends in great measure on the numbers of visitors to an area, even though engaged only in scientific studies. The probability should increase considerably if visitors were directing efforts toward 

a minerals search. The example of the Stillwater 

Complex shows the importance of concerted, 

large-scale prospecting efforts by companies in the 

discovery of inconspicuous platinum-group metal 
deposits. With little question, the Dufek intrusion 

would by now have been similarly explored if it 

were located nearly anywhere but in Antarctica, 

a continent which has not yet attracted any commercial mineral exploration. The short periods of 

work by only a few visitors to the body, only for 

geographic exploration and a variety of scientific 

studies, have provided little basis for the operation of chance in an accidental discovery of a mineral deposit. Until a directed search is made, any 

potential resource of the intrusion will doubtless 

remain in the "speculative" category. 

Although little likelihood is foreseen for near-future recovery of any conceivable resource, if marketable resources are someday identified, their 

transport would probably be 1 simpler than from 

many other inland parts of Antarctica. Ships supplying scientific stations now make regular summer visits along the north edge of Filchner Ice 

Shelf, about 600 km north of Dufek Massif, the 

route to which was long ago first traversed by 

oversnow tracked vehicles (Aughenbaugh, 1961). 

REFERENCES CITED 

Abel, K. D., Himmelberg, G. R., and Ford, A. B., 1979, Petrologic studies of the Dufek intrusion-Plagioclase variation: Antarctic Journal of the United States, v. 14, no. 

5, p. 6--8. 

Aughenbaugh, N. B., 1961, Preliminary report on the geology 

of the Dufek Massif: International Geophysical Year World 

Data Center A, Glaciology Report 4, p. 155--193. 

Behrendt, J. C., Drewry, D. J., Jankowski, Edward, and 

Grim, M. S., 1980, Aeromagnetic and radio echo ice-sounding measurements show much greater area of the Dufek 

intrusion, Antarctica: Science, v. 209, p. 1014-1017. 

Behrendt, J. C., Henderson, J. R., Meister, Laurent, and 

Rambo, W. L., 1974, Geophysical investigations of the 

Pensacola Mountains and adjacent glacierized areas of 

Antarctica: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 

844, 28 p. 

Behrendt, J. C., Rambo, W. L., Henderson, J. R., Wanous, 

R. E., and Meister, Laurent, 1973a, Simple Bouguer gravity and aeromagnetic maps of the Davis Valley quadrangle 

and part of the Cordiner Peaks quadrangle and vicinity, 

Antarctica: U.S. Geological Survey Geophysical Investigations Map GP-887, scale 1:250,000. 

--1973b, Simple Bouguer gravity and aeromagnetic maps 

of the Saratoga Table quadrangle, Antarctica: U.S. 

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