Cretaceous and Cenozoic episodic denudation of the Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica: New constraints from apatite fission track thermochronology in the Scott Glacier region

The evolution of the subglacial landscape of Antarctica

“…Fluvial denudation along the uplifted rim of the Transantarctic Mountains is of the order of 4-6 km since early rifting in the Cretaceous (Fitzgerald and Stump, 1997).…”

Apophyllite 40Ar/39Ar and Rb‐Sr geochronology: Potential utility and application to the timing of secondary mineralization of the Kirkpatrick Basalt, Antarctica

“…However, previous geochronologic work on apophyllite [Chukhrov et al, 1973] Other than Upper Cenozoic glacial deposits, the only rocks younger than the Ferrar Group in the Transantarctic Mountains are sparsely distributed Upper Cenozoic (<25 Ma) alkaline volcanic and plutonic rocks [Kyle, 1990]. Uplift and denudation in the Transantarctic Mountains has been episodic at least since the Early Cretaceous [Fitzgerald and Stump, 1997]. The earliest recorded phases were initiated at about 115-125 Ma, and the principal phase of uplift, which produced 4-6 km of denudation, was initiated at 50-55 Ma.…”

Tectonic and denudational history of the Rennick Graben (North Victoria Land): Implications for the evolution of rifting between East and West Antarctica

“…These contrasting interpretations suffer the lack of both structural and age constraints on the brittle deformation history in north Victoria Land. Moreover, in spite of numerous fission track studies in the Ross Embayment [e.g., Balestrieri et al, 1997;Fitzgerald and Stump, 1997;Lisker, 2002], indicating Early Cretaceous, Late Cretaceous, and Cenozoic denudational episodes of the immediate front of the Transantarctic Mountains, almost no geochronological data exists yet from the interior of northern Victoria Land.…”

“…The Transantarctic Mountains, a highelevation mountain chain extending for over 2500 km on the East Antarctic craton, terminate the West Antarctic rift system to the west [Fitzgerald et al, 1986;Tessensohn and Wörner, 1991]. They are considered to form an asymmetric rift shoulder segmented by transverse fault systems [e.g., Fitzgerald et al, 1986;Davey, 1987;Behrendt et al, 1991;Salvini et al, 1997;Wilson, 1999] that has undergone phases of uplift and denudation since the Cretaceous, with a major episode at about 50 Ma [e.g., Fitzgerald, 1992Fitzgerald, , 1994Balestrieri et al, 1994Balestrieri et al, , 1997Fitzgerald and Stump, 1997;Lisker, 2002].…”