The South Shetland Islands, Antarctica: Lithostratigraphy and geological map
Over the last few decades, numerous geological studies have been carried out in the South Shetland Islands, which have greatly contributed to a better understanding of its geological evolution. However, few attempts have been conducted to correlate the geological units throughout this archipelago. W...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.1002760 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.1002760/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/feart.2022.1002760 2024-05-19T07:31:33+00:00 The South Shetland Islands, Antarctica: Lithostratigraphy and geological map Bastías, Joaquín Chew, David Villanueva, Camila Riley, Teal Manfroi, Joseline Trevisan, Cristine Leppe, Marcelo Castillo, Paula Poblete, Fernando Tetzner, Dieter Giuliani, Gregory López, Bastián Chen, Hong Zheng, Guang-Gao Zhao, Yue Gao, Liang Rauch, Anna Jaña, Ricardo 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.1002760 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.1002760/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Earth Science volume 10 ISSN 2296-6463 journal-article 2023 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.1002760 2024-04-24T07:12:43Z Over the last few decades, numerous geological studies have been carried out in the South Shetland Islands, which have greatly contributed to a better understanding of its geological evolution. However, few attempts have been conducted to correlate the geological units throughout this archipelago. We present herein a review of the literature available in the South Shetland Islands, which we use to propose a lithostratigraphical correlation that constitutes a coherent stratigraphy for the main Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks of the South Shetland Islands along with a new geological map. The lithostratigraphical correlation shows that the geological and environmental evolution comprises three main stages: 1) deep marine sedimentation from ∼164 to 140 Ma, 2) subaerial volcanism and sedimentation with a proliferation of plants and fauna from ∼140 to 35 Ma and 3) glacial and interglacial deposits from ∼35 Ma. The lithostratigraphical correlation also shows a broad geographical trend of decreasing age of volcanism from southwest to northeast, which has been previously suggested. However, this spatial age trend is disrupted by the presence of Eocene magmatism in Livingston Island, located in the centre of the archipelago. We suggest that the migration of volcanism occurred from the Late Cretaceous until the early Eocene. Subsequently, enhanced magmatic activity took place from the mid-Eocene until the Miocene, which we associate with processes related with the waning of subduction. Constraining the protolith age of the metamorphic complex of Smith Island remains challenging, yet holds key implications for the tectonic and accretionary evolution of the Antarctic Peninsula. The rocks recording the glaciation of this sector of Antarctica are well exposed in the northern South Shetland Islands and hold critical information for understanding the timings and processes that lead to the greenhouse to icehouse transition at the end of the Eocene. Finally, contemporaneous rocks to the breakup of Antarctic Peninsula from Patagonia ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Livingston Island Smith Island South Shetland Islands Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Earth Science 10 |
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Over the last few decades, numerous geological studies have been carried out in the South Shetland Islands, which have greatly contributed to a better understanding of its geological evolution. However, few attempts have been conducted to correlate the geological units throughout this archipelago. We present herein a review of the literature available in the South Shetland Islands, which we use to propose a lithostratigraphical correlation that constitutes a coherent stratigraphy for the main Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks of the South Shetland Islands along with a new geological map. The lithostratigraphical correlation shows that the geological and environmental evolution comprises three main stages: 1) deep marine sedimentation from ∼164 to 140 Ma, 2) subaerial volcanism and sedimentation with a proliferation of plants and fauna from ∼140 to 35 Ma and 3) glacial and interglacial deposits from ∼35 Ma. The lithostratigraphical correlation also shows a broad geographical trend of decreasing age of volcanism from southwest to northeast, which has been previously suggested. However, this spatial age trend is disrupted by the presence of Eocene magmatism in Livingston Island, located in the centre of the archipelago. We suggest that the migration of volcanism occurred from the Late Cretaceous until the early Eocene. Subsequently, enhanced magmatic activity took place from the mid-Eocene until the Miocene, which we associate with processes related with the waning of subduction. Constraining the protolith age of the metamorphic complex of Smith Island remains challenging, yet holds key implications for the tectonic and accretionary evolution of the Antarctic Peninsula. The rocks recording the glaciation of this sector of Antarctica are well exposed in the northern South Shetland Islands and hold critical information for understanding the timings and processes that lead to the greenhouse to icehouse transition at the end of the Eocene. Finally, contemporaneous rocks to the breakup of Antarctic Peninsula from Patagonia ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bastías, Joaquín Chew, David Villanueva, Camila Riley, Teal Manfroi, Joseline Trevisan, Cristine Leppe, Marcelo Castillo, Paula Poblete, Fernando Tetzner, Dieter Giuliani, Gregory López, Bastián Chen, Hong Zheng, Guang-Gao Zhao, Yue Gao, Liang Rauch, Anna Jaña, Ricardo |
spellingShingle |
Bastías, Joaquín Chew, David Villanueva, Camila Riley, Teal Manfroi, Joseline Trevisan, Cristine Leppe, Marcelo Castillo, Paula Poblete, Fernando Tetzner, Dieter Giuliani, Gregory López, Bastián Chen, Hong Zheng, Guang-Gao Zhao, Yue Gao, Liang Rauch, Anna Jaña, Ricardo The South Shetland Islands, Antarctica: Lithostratigraphy and geological map |
author_facet |
Bastías, Joaquín Chew, David Villanueva, Camila Riley, Teal Manfroi, Joseline Trevisan, Cristine Leppe, Marcelo Castillo, Paula Poblete, Fernando Tetzner, Dieter Giuliani, Gregory López, Bastián Chen, Hong Zheng, Guang-Gao Zhao, Yue Gao, Liang Rauch, Anna Jaña, Ricardo |
author_sort |
Bastías, Joaquín |
title |
The South Shetland Islands, Antarctica: Lithostratigraphy and geological map |
title_short |
The South Shetland Islands, Antarctica: Lithostratigraphy and geological map |
title_full |
The South Shetland Islands, Antarctica: Lithostratigraphy and geological map |
title_fullStr |
The South Shetland Islands, Antarctica: Lithostratigraphy and geological map |
title_full_unstemmed |
The South Shetland Islands, Antarctica: Lithostratigraphy and geological map |
title_sort |
south shetland islands, antarctica: lithostratigraphy and geological map |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.1002760 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.1002760/full |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Livingston Island Smith Island South Shetland Islands |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Livingston Island Smith Island South Shetland Islands |
op_source |
Frontiers in Earth Science volume 10 ISSN 2296-6463 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.1002760 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Earth Science |
container_volume |
10 |
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1799469413810831360 |