Absence of evidence for Palaeoproterozoic eclogite-facies metamorphism in East Antarctica: no record of subduction orogenesis during Nuna development
Abstract The cratonic elements of proto-Australia, East Antarctica, and Laurentia constitute the nucleus of the Palaeo-Mesoproterozoic supercontinent Nuna, with the eastern margin of the Mawson Continent (South Australia and East Antarctica) positioned adjacent to the western margin of Laurentia. Su...
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crspringernat:10.1038/s41598-021-86184-4 2023-05-15T14:13:14+02:00 Absence of evidence for Palaeoproterozoic eclogite-facies metamorphism in East Antarctica: no record of subduction orogenesis during Nuna development Brown, Dillon A. Morrissey, Laura J. Goodge, John W. Hand, Martin 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86184-4 http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-86184-4.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-86184-4 en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Scientific Reports volume 11, issue 1 ISSN 2045-2322 Multidisciplinary journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86184-4 2022-01-04T08:18:53Z Abstract The cratonic elements of proto-Australia, East Antarctica, and Laurentia constitute the nucleus of the Palaeo-Mesoproterozoic supercontinent Nuna, with the eastern margin of the Mawson Continent (South Australia and East Antarctica) positioned adjacent to the western margin of Laurentia. Such reconstructions of Nuna fundamentally rely on palaeomagnetic and geological evidence. In the geological record, eclogite-facies rocks are irrefutable indicators of subduction and collisional orogenesis, yet occurrences of eclogites in the ancient Earth (> 1.5 Ga) are rare. Models for Palaeoproterozoic amalgamation between Australia, East Antarctica, and Laurentia are based in part on an interpretation that eclogite-facies metamorphism and, therefore, collisional orogenesis, occurred in the Nimrod Complex of the central Transantarctic Mountains at c. 1.7 Ga. However, new zircon petrochronological data from relict eclogite preserved in the Nimrod Complex indicate that high-pressure metamorphism did not occur in the Palaeoproterozoic, but instead occurred during early Palaeozoic Ross orogenesis along the active convergent margin of East Gondwana. Relict c. 1.7 Ga zircons from the eclogites have trace-element characteristics reflecting the original igneous precursor, thereby casting doubt on evidence for a Palaeoproterozoic convergent plate boundary along the current eastern margin of the Mawson Continent. Therefore, rather than a Palaeoproterozoic (c. 1.7 Ga) history involving subduction-related continental collision, a pattern of crustal shortening, magmatism, and high thermal gradient metamorphism connected cratons in Australia, East Antarctica, and western Laurentia at that time, leading eventually to amalgamation of Nuna at c. 1.6 Ga. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica East Antarctica Springer Nature (via Crossref) East Antarctica Nimrod ENVELOPE(165.750,165.750,-85.417,-85.417) Transantarctic Mountains Scientific Reports 11 1 |
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Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
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crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
Multidisciplinary |
spellingShingle |
Multidisciplinary Brown, Dillon A. Morrissey, Laura J. Goodge, John W. Hand, Martin Absence of evidence for Palaeoproterozoic eclogite-facies metamorphism in East Antarctica: no record of subduction orogenesis during Nuna development |
topic_facet |
Multidisciplinary |
description |
Abstract The cratonic elements of proto-Australia, East Antarctica, and Laurentia constitute the nucleus of the Palaeo-Mesoproterozoic supercontinent Nuna, with the eastern margin of the Mawson Continent (South Australia and East Antarctica) positioned adjacent to the western margin of Laurentia. Such reconstructions of Nuna fundamentally rely on palaeomagnetic and geological evidence. In the geological record, eclogite-facies rocks are irrefutable indicators of subduction and collisional orogenesis, yet occurrences of eclogites in the ancient Earth (> 1.5 Ga) are rare. Models for Palaeoproterozoic amalgamation between Australia, East Antarctica, and Laurentia are based in part on an interpretation that eclogite-facies metamorphism and, therefore, collisional orogenesis, occurred in the Nimrod Complex of the central Transantarctic Mountains at c. 1.7 Ga. However, new zircon petrochronological data from relict eclogite preserved in the Nimrod Complex indicate that high-pressure metamorphism did not occur in the Palaeoproterozoic, but instead occurred during early Palaeozoic Ross orogenesis along the active convergent margin of East Gondwana. Relict c. 1.7 Ga zircons from the eclogites have trace-element characteristics reflecting the original igneous precursor, thereby casting doubt on evidence for a Palaeoproterozoic convergent plate boundary along the current eastern margin of the Mawson Continent. Therefore, rather than a Palaeoproterozoic (c. 1.7 Ga) history involving subduction-related continental collision, a pattern of crustal shortening, magmatism, and high thermal gradient metamorphism connected cratons in Australia, East Antarctica, and western Laurentia at that time, leading eventually to amalgamation of Nuna at c. 1.6 Ga. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Brown, Dillon A. Morrissey, Laura J. Goodge, John W. Hand, Martin |
author_facet |
Brown, Dillon A. Morrissey, Laura J. Goodge, John W. Hand, Martin |
author_sort |
Brown, Dillon A. |
title |
Absence of evidence for Palaeoproterozoic eclogite-facies metamorphism in East Antarctica: no record of subduction orogenesis during Nuna development |
title_short |
Absence of evidence for Palaeoproterozoic eclogite-facies metamorphism in East Antarctica: no record of subduction orogenesis during Nuna development |
title_full |
Absence of evidence for Palaeoproterozoic eclogite-facies metamorphism in East Antarctica: no record of subduction orogenesis during Nuna development |
title_fullStr |
Absence of evidence for Palaeoproterozoic eclogite-facies metamorphism in East Antarctica: no record of subduction orogenesis during Nuna development |
title_full_unstemmed |
Absence of evidence for Palaeoproterozoic eclogite-facies metamorphism in East Antarctica: no record of subduction orogenesis during Nuna development |
title_sort |
absence of evidence for palaeoproterozoic eclogite-facies metamorphism in east antarctica: no record of subduction orogenesis during nuna development |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86184-4 http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-86184-4.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-86184-4 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(165.750,165.750,-85.417,-85.417) |
geographic |
East Antarctica Nimrod Transantarctic Mountains |
geographic_facet |
East Antarctica Nimrod Transantarctic Mountains |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica East Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica East Antarctica |
op_source |
Scientific Reports volume 11, issue 1 ISSN 2045-2322 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86184-4 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766285654702948352 |