Sedimentary protolith and high-P metamorphism of oxidized manganiferous quartzite from the Lanterman Range, northern Victoria Land, Antarctica

• Published in: European Journal of Mineralogy
• Main Authors: Kim, Taehwan, Kim, Yoonsup, Tumiati, Simone, Kim, Daeyeong, Yi, Keewook, Lee, Mi Jung
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica; Victoria Land
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-36-323-2024; https://ejm.copernicus.org/articles/36/323/2024/

We investigated the mineral assemblage, mineral and bulk-rock chemistry, and zircon U–Pb age of a manganiferous quartzite layer in the Lanterman Range, northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. The mineral assemblage consists primarily of phengite and quartz, along with spessartine-rich garnet, Mn 3+ and rare earth element–yttrium (REY)-zoned epidote-group minerals, and titanohematite. Mineral inclusions such as tephroite, rutile and pyrophanite are hosted in porphyroblasts of the latter three minerals and suggest prograde blueschist-facies to low- T eclogite-facies metamorphism (M 1 ). Epidote-group minerals commonly exhibit multiple growth zones of piemontite and/or epidote (M 1 ), REY-rich piemontite (M 2 ), REY-rich epidote (M 3 ), and epidote (M 4 ) from core to rim. Pseudobinary f O 2 – X diagrams at constant P – T support the stability of an epidote-group mineral-bearing assemblage under highly oxidized conditions during prograde M 2 to peak M 3 metamorphism. In marked contrast, tephroite-bearing assemblages (M 1 ) are limited to relatively reduced environments and Mn-rich, silica-deficient bulk-rock compositions. Mn nodules have such characteristics, and the contribution of this hydrogenous component is inferred from bulk-rock chemical features such as a strong positive Ce anomaly. The major-element composition of the manganiferous quartzite suggests a protolith primarily consisting of a mixture of chert and pelagic clay. The presence of rare detrital zircons supports terrigenous input from a craton and constrains the maximum time of deposition to be ca. 546 Ma. The lack of arc-derived detrital zircons in the quartzite and the predominance of siliciclastic metasedimentary rocks among the surrounding rocks suggest that the deep-sea protolith was most likely deposited in an arc/back-arc setting at a continental margin. High- P metamorphism associated with terrane accretion during the Ross orogeny took place in the middle Cambrian (ca. 506 Ma), broadly coeval with the metamorphic peak recorded in the associated ...