Full‐fit, palinspastic reconstruction of the conjugate Australian‐Antarctic margins
Despite decades of study the prerift configuration and early rifting history betweenAustralia and Antarctica is not well established. The plate boundary system during theCretaceous includes the evolving KerguelenBroken Ridge Large Igneous Province in thewest as well as the conjugate passive and tran...
Published in: | Tectonics |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.
2011
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2011TC002912 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/84436 |
id |
ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:84436 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:84436 2023-05-15T14:02:31+02:00 Full‐fit, palinspastic reconstruction of the conjugate Australian‐Antarctic margins Williams, SE Whittaker, J Muller, RD 2011 https://doi.org/10.1029/2011TC002912 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/84436 en eng Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011TC002912 Williams, SE and Whittaker, J and Muller, RD, Full‐fit, palinspastic reconstruction of the conjugate Australian‐Antarctic margins, Tectonics, 30, (6) Article TC6012. ISSN 0278-7407 (2011) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/84436 Earth Sciences Geology Marine Geoscience Refereed Article PeerReviewed 2011 ftunivtasecite https://doi.org/10.1029/2011TC002912 2019-12-13T21:48:52Z Despite decades of study the prerift configuration and early rifting history betweenAustralia and Antarctica is not well established. The plate boundary system during theCretaceous includes the evolving KerguelenBroken Ridge Large Igneous Province in thewest as well as the conjugate passive and transform margin segments of the Australianand Antarctic continents. Previous rigid plate reconstruction models have highlightedthe difficulty in satisfying all the available observations within a single coherentreconstruction history. We investigate a range of scenarios for the early rifting historyof these plates by developing a deforming plate model for this conjugate margin pair.Potential field data are used to define the boundaries of stretched continental crust on aregional scale. Integrating crustal thickness along tectonic flow lines provides an estimateof the prerift location of the continental plate boundary. We then use the prerift plateboundary positions, along with additional constraints from geological structures and largeigneous provinces within the same Australian and Antarctic plate system, to computefull‐fit poles of rotation for Australia relative to Antarctica. Our preferred modelimplies that the Leeuwin and Vincennes Fracture Zones are conjugate features withinGondwana, but that the direction of initial opening between Australia and Antarcticadoes not follow the orientation of these features; rather, the geometry of these featuresis likely related to the earlier rifting of India away from Australia‐Antarctica. Previousfull‐fit reconstructions, based on qualitative estimates of continental margin overlaps,generally yield a tighter fit than our preferred reconstruction based on palinspasticmargin restoration. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) Antarctic Tectonics 30 6 n/a n/a |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasecite |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth Sciences Geology Marine Geoscience |
spellingShingle |
Earth Sciences Geology Marine Geoscience Williams, SE Whittaker, J Muller, RD Full‐fit, palinspastic reconstruction of the conjugate Australian‐Antarctic margins |
topic_facet |
Earth Sciences Geology Marine Geoscience |
description |
Despite decades of study the prerift configuration and early rifting history betweenAustralia and Antarctica is not well established. The plate boundary system during theCretaceous includes the evolving KerguelenBroken Ridge Large Igneous Province in thewest as well as the conjugate passive and transform margin segments of the Australianand Antarctic continents. Previous rigid plate reconstruction models have highlightedthe difficulty in satisfying all the available observations within a single coherentreconstruction history. We investigate a range of scenarios for the early rifting historyof these plates by developing a deforming plate model for this conjugate margin pair.Potential field data are used to define the boundaries of stretched continental crust on aregional scale. Integrating crustal thickness along tectonic flow lines provides an estimateof the prerift location of the continental plate boundary. We then use the prerift plateboundary positions, along with additional constraints from geological structures and largeigneous provinces within the same Australian and Antarctic plate system, to computefull‐fit poles of rotation for Australia relative to Antarctica. Our preferred modelimplies that the Leeuwin and Vincennes Fracture Zones are conjugate features withinGondwana, but that the direction of initial opening between Australia and Antarcticadoes not follow the orientation of these features; rather, the geometry of these featuresis likely related to the earlier rifting of India away from Australia‐Antarctica. Previousfull‐fit reconstructions, based on qualitative estimates of continental margin overlaps,generally yield a tighter fit than our preferred reconstruction based on palinspasticmargin restoration. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Williams, SE Whittaker, J Muller, RD |
author_facet |
Williams, SE Whittaker, J Muller, RD |
author_sort |
Williams, SE |
title |
Full‐fit, palinspastic reconstruction of the conjugate Australian‐Antarctic margins |
title_short |
Full‐fit, palinspastic reconstruction of the conjugate Australian‐Antarctic margins |
title_full |
Full‐fit, palinspastic reconstruction of the conjugate Australian‐Antarctic margins |
title_fullStr |
Full‐fit, palinspastic reconstruction of the conjugate Australian‐Antarctic margins |
title_full_unstemmed |
Full‐fit, palinspastic reconstruction of the conjugate Australian‐Antarctic margins |
title_sort |
full‐fit, palinspastic reconstruction of the conjugate australian‐antarctic margins |
publisher |
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc. |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2011TC002912 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/84436 |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
op_relation |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011TC002912 Williams, SE and Whittaker, J and Muller, RD, Full‐fit, palinspastic reconstruction of the conjugate Australian‐Antarctic margins, Tectonics, 30, (6) Article TC6012. ISSN 0278-7407 (2011) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/84436 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2011TC002912 |
container_title |
Tectonics |
container_volume |
30 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
n/a |
op_container_end_page |
n/a |
_version_ |
1766272824950915072 |