Flood Basalts of Vestfjella: Jurassic Magmatism Across an Archaean-Proterozoic Lithospheric Boundary in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

• Published in: Journal of Petrology
• Main Authors: LUTTINEN, ARTO V., FURNES, HARALD
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 2000
• Subjects: ARTICLES; Antarctic; Dronning Maud Land; Grunehogna; Vestfjella; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ocean Island
• Online Access: http://petrology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/41/8/1271; https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/41.8.1271

Continental flood basalts (CFBs) of Jurassic age make up the Vestfjella mountains of western Dronning Maud Land and demonstrate an Antarctic extension of the Karoo large igneous province. A detailed geochemical study of the 120-km-long Vestfjella range shows the CFB suite to consist mainly of three intercalated basaltic rock types designated CT1, CT2 and CT3 (chemical types 1, 2 and 3) that exhibit different incompatible trace element ratios. CT1 and CT2 of north Vestfjella record wide ranges of Nd and Sr isotopic compositions with initial ε Nd and ε Sr ranging from +7·6 to −16·0 and −16 to +65, respectively. The southern Vestfjella is dominated by CT3 with near-chondritic ε Nd (+2·0 to −4·1) and ε Sr (−11 to +19). A volumetrically minor suite of ocean island basalt (OIB-)like CT4 dykes (ε Nd +3·6, ε Sr +1) cuts the lava sequence in north Vestfjella. The pronounced isotopic differences suggest different magmatic plumbing systems for the heterogeneous CT1 and CT2 suites and the relatively homogeneous CT3 lavas. This is further supported by the palaeoflow directions, which point to major source regions to the north (CT1 and CT2) and east (CT3) of Vestfjella. These source regions can be associated with two contemporaneous major lithospheric thinning zones that permitted magma emplacement and controlled the melting of upper-mantle sources in the Jurassic Dronning Maud Land. The CT1 and CT2 magmas utilized the northern zone of thinning and were emplaced into the 3 Ga Grunehogna craton, whereas the CT3 magmas were emplaced through thinned Proterozoic Maud Belt lithosphere. Trace element and isotopic studies of the identified magma types reveal a complex history of fractionation and contamination at different lithospheric levels. All extrusive rock types show evidence of crustal contamination but this had rather small impact on their diagnostic trace element ratios. Much stronger overprint, in the CT1 and CT2 suites, resulted from contamination with veined Archaean lithospheric mantle, which produced wide ranges of ...