The Ross-orogenic Tiger Gabbro Complex (northern Victoria Land, Antarctica): insights into the lower crust of a Cambrian island arc

• Main Authors: Henjes-Kunst, Friedhelm, Koepke, Jürgen, Läufer, Andreas, Estrada, Solveig, Phillips, Glen, Piepjohn, Karsten, Kosanke, Dominique
• Other Authors: The University of Newcastle. Faculty of Science & Information Technology, School of Environmental and Life Sciences
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: German Society of Polar Research 2014
• Subjects: Ross-Orogenic Tiger Gabbro Complex; Antarctica; high temperatures; Bowers; Bowers Island; Pacific; Victoria Land; Antarc*; Polarforschung
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1294831

Subduction related mafic/ultramafic complexes marking the suture between the Wilson Terrane and the Bowers Terrane in northern Victoria Land (Antarctica) are well-suited for evaluating the magmatic and structural evolution at the Palaeo-Pacific continental margin of Gondwana. One of these intrusions is the "Tiger Gabbro Complex" (TGC), which is located at the southern end of the island-arc type Bowers Terrane. The TGC is an early Palaeozoic island-arc related layered igneous complex characterized by extraordinarly fresh sequences of ultramafic, mafic and evolved lithologies and extensive development of high-temperature high-strain zones. The goal of the present study is to establish the kinematic, petrogenetic and temporal development of the TGC in order to evaluate the magmatic and structural evolution of the deep crustal roots of this Cambrian-aged island-arc. Fieldwork during GANOVEX X was carried out to provide insight into: (i) the spatial relations between the different igneous lithologies of the TGC, (ii) the nature of the contact between the TGC and Bowers Terrane, and (iii) the high-temperature shear zones exposed in parts of the TGC. Here, we report the results of detailed field and petrological observations combined with new geochronological data. Based on these new data, we tentatively propose a petrogenetic-kinematic model for the TGC, which involves a two-phase evo lution during the Ross orogeny. These phases can be summarized as: (i) an early phase (maximum age c. 530 Ma) involving tectono-magmatic processes that were active at the deep crustal level represented by the TGC within the Bowers island arc and within a general NE-SW directed contractional regime and (ii) a late phase (maximum age c. 490 Ma) attributed to the late Ross orogenic intrusion of the TGC into the higher-crustal metasedimentary coun try rocks of the Bowers Terrane under NE-SW directed horizontal maximum stress and subsequent cooling.