Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-tsvsl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-30T00:44:31.648Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The occurrence of Mesozoic oceanic floor and ancient continental crust on South Georgia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

B. C. Storey ,
B. F. Mair  and
C. M. Bell
B. C. Storey
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survery, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OET, England
B. F. Mair
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survery, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OET, England
C. M. Bell
Affiliation:
Geology Department, University of Port Elizabeth, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The Larsen Harbour Formation of southern South Georgia is part of an ophiolite sequence of submarine lavas and sheeted dykes emplaced into metasedimentary country rocks. The metasediments are remnants of a pre-Cretaceous continental crust which had been subject to regional metamorphism and polyphase deformation prior to intrusion by a variety of acid and basic igneous rocks (roots of the ophiolitic sequence). It is proposed that the segment of continental crust and the Larsen Harbour Formation formed the floor of a back-arc basin which was infilled during Early Cretaceous time by a thick sequence of volcaniclastic sediments (Cumberland Bay Formation).

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 114 , Issue 3 , May 1977 , pp. 203 - 208
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barker, P. F. & Griffiths, D. H. 1972. The evolution of the Scotia Ridge and Scotia Sea. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 274, 151–83.Google Scholar
Barth, T. F. W. & Holmsen, P. 1939. Rocks from the Antarctandes and Southern Antilles. Sci. Res. Norweg. antarct. exped., Oslo, 18, 64 pp.Google Scholar
Bell, C. M., Mair, B. F. & Storey, B. C. (in the press). The geology of part of an island arc-marginal basin system in southern South Georgia. Bull. Br. antarct. Surv.Google Scholar
Dalziel, I. W. D., Dott, R. H. Jr., Winn, R. D. Jr. & Bruhn, R. L. 1975. Tectonic relations of South Georgia Island to the southernmost Andes. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 86, 1034–40.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalziel, I. W. D. & Elliot, D. H. 1971. Evolution of the Scotia Arc. Nature, Lond. 233, 246–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dalziel, I. W. D., de Wit, M. J. & Palmer, K. F. 1974. Fossil marginal basin in the southern Andes. Nature, Lond. 250, 291–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mair, B. F. (in the press). The Larsen Harbour Formation and associated rocks of southern South Georgia. Bull. Br. antarct. Surv.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, T. H. (in the press). The geology of Annenkov Island. Bull. Br. antarct. Surv.Google Scholar
Stone, P. (in the press). The geology of South Georgia. IV. Barff Peninsula and Royal Bay areas. Scient. Rep. Br. antarct. Surv.Google Scholar
Stone, P. & Willey, L. E. 1973. Belemnite fragments from the Cumberland Bay type sediments of South Georgia. Bull. Br. antarct. Surv. 36, 129–32.Google Scholar
Suarez, M. & Pettigrew, R. H. 1976. An Upper Mesozoic island-arc — back-arc system in the southern Andes and South Georgia. Geol. Mag. 133, 305–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trendall, A. F. 1959. The geology of South Georgia: II. Scient. Rep. Falkld Isl. Depend. Surv. 19.Google Scholar