Queen Maud Batholith

Wade and Cathey (1986) also reported isotopic age determinations of feldspar and biotite of the Hope Granite by the K-Ar and Rb-Sr methods. However, feldspars do not retain radiogenic Ar and the initial Sr/ Sr ratios used to calculate the Rb-Sr dates were not provided. Therefore, the reliability of these dates is uncertain. However, two Rb-Sr dates of biotite from Longhorn Spurs (84°40 S, 174°4LW) and Den Hartog Peak (84°20 S, 178°52 E) indicate that the granitic rocks at these locations cooled sufficiently to retain radiogenic Sr at 470 25 Ma during the Ordovician Period. 

These pioneers were followed by a second group of geologists who benefitted from the use of snowmobiles and helicopters and who were able to build on the foundation that had been established by their predecessors. The improved logistical support enabled specialized studies to be carried out by experts working in 

The insights gained by these specialized studies of the central Transantarctic Mountains must be examined critically to determine whether the master hypothesis concerning the formation of the Ross orogen presented by Stump (1995) is still valid and still explains satisfactorily the deposition of detrital sediment along a passive rift margin which later evolved into an active subduction zone that caused the deformation and regional metamorphism of the rocks that now form the basement complex of the central Transantarctic Mountains. 

Adams CJ, Gabites JE, Grindley GW (1982) Orogenic history of the central Transantarctic Mountains New K-Ar age data on the Precambrian-lower Paleozoic basement. In Craddock C (ed) Antarctic geoscience. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI, pp 817-826 

Bennett VC, Fanning CM (1993) A glimpse of the cryptic Gondwana shield Archean and Proterozoic ages from the central Transantarctic Mountains. Abstract, Geol Soc Amer. Abstracts with Programs 25(5) 49 

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Fig. 5.17 The plutons of Hope Granite that intruded the metasedimentary basement rocks of the Shackleton-Glacier area are collectively referred to as the Queen Maud batholith. The modal concentrations of Quartz (Q), alkali feldspar (A), and plagioclase (P) are used to classify a representative collection of the Hope Granite from this area (see also Fig. 3.21, Appendix 3.6.1). The distribution of data points indicates that the Hope Granite consists of granite (field 3), granodiorite (field 4), and quartz diorite (field 5) (Data by Wade and Cathey (1986) and classification of plutonic igneous rocks by Streckeisen (1967))...

McGregor and Wade (1969) and of Mirsky (1969) indicate that the Queen Maud Mountains consist primarily of metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks of the basement complex which were intruded by the Granite Harbor Inirusives of the Queen Maud batholith. 

The exposures of metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks, which occur extensively and almost continuously in the coastal mountains of the central Transantarctic Mountains, are more scattered in the Queen Maud Mountains except adjacent to the Scott Glacier and in the Harold Byrd Mountains along the Leverett Glacier. However, when viewed as a whole, the geology of the Queen Maud Mountains is dominated by the Granite Harbor Intrusives of the Queen Maud batholith that extends for about 220 km from the eastern side of the Scott Glacier to the Reedy Glacier (Mirsky 1969). 

Table 6.6 Range of chemical composition of 31 granitoids in the Queen Maud batholith between the Scott and Reedy glaciers (Data from Borg 1983)...

Borg SG (1983) Petrology and geochemistry of the Queen Maud batholith, central Transantarctic Mountains, with implications for the Ross Orogeny. In Oliver RL, James PR, Jago JB (eds) Antarctic earth science. Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, pp 165-169... 

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