Your search

The Ferrar Large Igneous Province forms a linear outcrop belt for 3250 km across Antarctica, which then diverges into SE Australia and New Zealand. The province comprises numerous sills, a layered mafic intrusion, remnants of extensive lava fields and minor pyroclastic deposits. High-precision zircon geochronology demonstrates a restricted emplacement duration ( < 0.4 myr) at c. 182.7 Ma, and geochemistry demonstrates marked coherence for most of the Ferrar province. Dyke swarms forming magma feeders have not been recognized, but locally have been inferred geophysically. The emplacement order of the various components of the magmatic system at supracrustal levels has been inferred to be from the top-down lavas first, followed by progressively deeper emplacement of sills. This order was primarily controlled by magma density, and the emptying of large differentiated magma bodies from depth. An alternative proposal is that the magma transport paths were through sills, with magmas moving upwards to eventually reach the surface to be erupted as extrusive rocks. These two hypotheses are evaluated in terms of field relationships and geochemistry in the five regional areas where both lavas and sills crop out. Either scenario is possible in one or more instances, but neither hypothesis applies on a province-wide basis. © 2018 The Author(s).

The Ferrar Large Igneous Province forms a linear belt for 3500 km along the Transantarctic Mountains, and as a geochemical province extends into southeastern Australasia. The principal components of the Ferrar are: intrusive - Ferrar Dolerite sills and dikes, and Dufek intrusion; pyroclastic - the Prebble, Mawson and Exposure Hill Formations; effusive - the Kirkpatrick Basalt. In terms of the three dimensional architecture of the Ferrar, a range of "facies" can be recognized in each of the principal components. The Ferrar province was initiated with a major episode of phreatomagmatism leading to formation of tephra cones and associated deposits, and near-surface vent structures. Activity switched to predominantly quiet effusion of alternating thick flood basalt flows and thin pahoehoe lobes and flows. Intrusive bodies were emplaced early, given the occurrence of dolerite clasts in tuff-breccias, but most sills were probably intruded after accumulation of extrusive rocks. Pre-existing rift structures played a major role in controlling the transport and distribution of the Ferrar magmas and the apparent centers of extrusive activity. The associated paleohydrology controlled the eruption styles. © 2008.

Tholeiitic rocks of the Ferrar Large Igneous Province (FLIP) occur in a linear belt from the Theron Mountains to Horn Bluff in the Transantarctic Mountains and extend into southeastern Australasia. The FLIP was emplaced during the initial stages of Gondwana break-up from a source suggested to be in the proto-Weddell Sea region. Magma transport from its source (Weddell triple junction) was controlled by an Early Jurassic zone of extension. The FLIP comprises the Dufek intrusion, Ferrar Dolerite sills and dykes (sheet intrusions), and extrusive rocks consisting of pyroclastic strata overlain by Kirkpatrick Basalt lavas. The Dufek intrusion occurs in deformed supracrustal rocks of the foldbelt along the paleo-Pacific Gondwana margin. A few sills were emplaced in basement rocks, but the majority of the sheet intrusions occur in flat-lying Devonian to Triassic Beacon strata. Only in the central Transantarctic Mountains (CTM) and south and north Victoria Land (SVL, NVL) are extrusive rocks preserved overlying Beacon strata. The greatest cumulative thicknesses of magmatic rocks (ca. 2 km) occur in areas where lavas are preserved (CTM and SVL). Sheet intrusions have complex relationships. Dyke swarms (sensu stricto) are unknown and dykes cutting basement rocks are uncommon. Nevertheless, these dykes, including a 30-m-wide dyke in SVL, suggest that some magmas locally migrated up through basement rocks. In CTM and NVL the outcrop belt has a width of about 160 km. Sills originally extended farther toward the plate margin but have been cut out by erosion and Cenozoic faulting, most clearly in CTM; geophysical data suggest extension under the East Antarctic ice sheet for at least 100 km. Although Early Jurassic extension is documented in CTM, major rift-bounding faults have not been observed. Models for magma emplacement include transport along the axis of the Transantarctic Mountains and off-axis transport from major rift-bounding faults. Contrasts in geochemistry between lavas of NVL (MgO=6-7%) and CTM (MgO=2-4%) and the presence of massive dolerite bodies (CTM, SVL) suggest discrete episodes and locations of magma emplacement, and that there was no long range interconnection along the mountain range in supracrustal rocks.

The Lower Jurassic Ferrar Large Igneous Province consists predominantly of intrusive rocks, which crop out over a distance of 3500 km. In comparison, extrusive rocks are more restricted geographically. Geochemically, the province is divided into the Mount Fazio Chemical Type, forming more than 99% of the exposed province, and the Scarab Peak Chemical Type, which in the Ross Sea sector is restricted to the uppermost lava. The former exhibits a range of compositions (SiO2 = 52–59%; MgO = 9.2–2.6%; Zr = 60–175 ppm; Sri = 0.7081– 0.7138; εNd = −6.0 to −3.8), whereas the latter has a restricted composition (SiO2 = c. 58%; MgO = c. 2.3%; Zr = c. 230 ppm; Sri = 0.7090–0.7097; εNd = −4.4 to −4.1). Both chemical types are characterized by enriched initial isotope compositions of neodymium and strontium, low abundances of high field strength elements, and crust-like trace element patterns. The most basic rocks, olivine-bearing dolerites, indicate that these geochemical characteristics were inherited from a mantle source modified by subduction processes, possibly the incorporation of sediment. In one model, magmas were derived from a linear source having multiple sites of generation each of which evolved to yield, in sum, the province-wide coherent geochemistry. The preferred interpretation is that the remarkably coherent geochemistry and short duration of emplacement demonstrate derivation from a single source inferred to have been located in the proto-Weddell Sea region. The spatial variation in geochemical characteristics of the lavas suggests distinct magma batches erupted at the surface, whereas no clear geographical pattern is evident for intrusive rocks. © 2021. The Author(s).

Preserved rocks in the Jurassic Ferrar Large Igneous Province consist mainly of intrusions, and extrusive rocks, the topic of this chapter, comprise the remaining small component. They crop out in a limited number of areas in the Transantarctic Mountains and southeastern Australia. They consist of thick sequences of lavas and sporadic occurrences of volcaniclastic rocks. The latter occur mainly beneath the lavas and represent the initial eruptive activity, but also are present within the lava sequence. The majority are basaltic phreatomagmatic deposits and in at least two locations form immense phreatocauldrons filled with structureless tuff breccias and lapilli tuffs with thicknesses of as much as 400 m. Stratified sequences of tuff breccias, lapilli tuffs and tuffs are up to 200 m thick. Thin tuff beds are sparsely distributed in the lava sequences. Lava successions are mainly 400–500 m thick, and comprise individual lavas ranging from 1 to 230 m thick, although most are in the range of 10–100 m. Well-defined colonnade and entablature are seldom displayed. Lava sequences were confined topographically and locally ponded. Water played a prominent role in eruptive activity, as exhibited by phreatomagmatism, hyaloclastites, pillow lava and quenching of lavas. Vents for lavas have yet to be identified. © 2021. The Author(s).

Apparent synchrony between eruption/emplacement of large igneous province (LIP) magmas and mass extinction has led to the implication of magmatism as a primary trigger of global scale environmental change. Evaluating the efficacy of magmatism as a driver of global change depends on the relative timing of magmatism and environmental change, and the magma effusion/intrusion rate, both of which can be constrained by high-precision geochronology. Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian-Toarcian) global ocean anoxia and acidification, carbon isotope perturbations, and biotic crisis have been linked to "synchronous" eruption and emplacement of the Karoo and Ferrar LIPs. To better constrain the timing and duration of Ferrar magmatism, we apply the single crystal, chemical abrasion U-Pb ID-TIMS method to zircon crystals isolated from twenty Ferrar LIP sills and lavas, and the Dufek intrusion. Dates suggest that both intrusive and extrusive Ferrar magmatism occurred over an interval of 349. ±. 49 kyr, beginning with intrusive magmatism as early as 182.779. ±. 0.033 Ma. Lava eruption was synchronous with, and in some cases postdates intrusion. When coupled with existing geochronology on the Karoo province, our dates confirm broad synchrony between Karoo and Ferrar magmatism, though Karoo magmatism began demonstrably prior to Ferrar magmatism, starting as early as 183.246. ±. 0.045 Ma. The short-lived magmatic history of the Ferrar LIP makes it a plausible trigger for early-Jurassic environmental change. © 2015.

Mantle plumes provide an attractive mechanism for generating short-duration, voluminous magmas in large igneous provinces (LIPs) while at the same time providing an explanation for the frequently associated break-up of supercontinents. This model has also been invoked for the Ferrar large igneous province (FLIP) in Antarctica, which zircon and baddeleyite U–Pb dating shows was emplaced over a short duration at 182.7 ± 0.5 Ma, contemporaneously with fragmentation of the supercontinent Gondwanaland. Here, we present platinum-group-element (PGE) and Os-isotopic data for the Basement Sill in the McMurdo Dry Valleys – a part of the FLIP – that challenge the plume interpretation. The Basement Sill samples studied are cumulate-textured gabbro to norite, and pyroxenite with minor ferro- or leuco-lithofacies with MgO ranging from 2 to 19 wt%. The 187Os/188Os values range from 0.1609 ± 0.003 (2σ) to 8.100 ± 1.600 (2σ); the minimum value overlaps with a previously published estimated initial 187Os/188Os ratio for Ferrar magmas of 0.145 ± 0.049 (2σ). The PGE abundance patterns for the Basement Sill define positive, convex-shaped slopes between the IPGE (Os, Ir and Ru) and PPGE (Pt, Pd and Rh). The most significant feature of the entire data set is the extreme sub-chondritic Os/Ir ratios (&lt;0.33), values which are atypical of plume-derived magmas. These low Os/Ir ratios are more consistent with the alternative view that FLIP resulted from the decompression melting of mantle with a fossil subduction zone signature along the proto-Pacific margin of Gondwanaland, disaggregated by rifting related to plate rearrangements during supercontinent break-up. We propose that hydrated fossil subduction zones elsewhere on Earth might account for other short-lived voluminous magmatic events that form LIPs. The remarkably short duration of these events may be due to rapid decompression of hydrated mantle allowing instantaneous large-volume melting which then peters out quickly (&lt;1 Myr) as H2O is expelled from the source rocks and into the melt. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.