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1. Outboard Onset of Ross Orogen Magmatism and Subsequent Igneous and Metamorphic Cooling Linked to Slab Rollback during Late-Stage Gondwana Assembly

   https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences13040126  

   Paulsen, Timothy; Encarnación, John; Grunow, Anne; Benowitz, Jeffrey; Layer, Paul; Deering, Chad; Sliwinski, Jakub (April 2023, Geosciences)

   Changes in magmatism and sedimentation along the late Neoproterozoic-early Paleozoic Ross orogenic belt in Antarctica have been linked to the cessation of convergence along the Mozambique belt during the assembly of East-West Gondwana. However, these interpretations are non-unique and are based, in part, on limited thermochronological data sets spread out along large sectors of the East Antarctic margin. We report new 40Ar/39Ar hornblende, muscovite, and biotite age data for plutonic (n = 13) and metasedimentary (n = 3) samples from the Shackleton–Liv Glacier sector of the Queen Maud Mountains in Antarctica. Cumulative 40Ar/39Ar age data show polymodal age peaks (510 Ma, 491 Ma, 475 Ma) that lag peaks in U-Pb igneous crystallization ages, suggesting igneous and metamorphic cooling following magmatism within the region. The 40Ar/39Ar ages are similar to ages in other sectors of the Ross orogen, but younger than detrital mineral 40Ar/39Ar cooling ages indicative of older magmatism and cooling of unexposed inboard areas along the margin. Detrital zircon trace element abundances suggest that the widespread onset of magmatism in outboard localities of the orogen correlates with a ~560–530 Ma decrease in crustal thickness. The timing of crustal thinning recorded by zircon in magmas overlaps with other evidence for the timing of crustal extension, suggesting that the regional onset of magmatism with subsequent igneous and metamorphic cooling probably reflects slab rollback that coincided with possible global plate motion changes induced during the final assembly of Gondwana. 

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2. Metamorphic ages constrain the timing and nature of heat flow into the lower crust of a magmatic arc, Fiordland, New Zealand

   Stowell, H. H.; Schwartz, J.; Klepeis, K.A.; Odom-Parker, K.; Hout, C.; Bollen, E.; Yelverton, J. (December 2017, Transactions - American Geophysical Union)

   Garnet ages for eclogite and granulite from the Western Fiordland Orthogneiss (WFO) provide a precise age for high-grade metamorphism and partial melting of the lower crust in a Cretaceous magmatic arc currently exposed in Fiordland, New Zealand. U/Pb zircon ages and pluton areas indicate that a high magmatic flux event between 118 and 115 Ma added >3,000 km2 of mid- to lower-crustal plutons. The high flux event was followed by high temperature metamorphism and partial melting which resulted in pervasive leucosomes, and trondhjemite layers and veins. At least 1,800 km2 of the newly added crust was metamorphosed to garnet granulite facies orthogneiss. Thermobarometry and phase diagram models indicate that garnet grew at 850 to 1,000°C and 12 to 14 kbar in this monzodiorite and diorite gneiss of the Misty, Malaspina, and Breaksea plutons. Sm-Nd garnet-rock isochrons for these three plutons of the WFO (>700 km2of lower crust) indicate that peak temperatures were reached at 111.7±1.0 Ma (N=16). The isotopic and chemical composition of zircon indicate that the Cretaceous arc flare-up was most likely triggered by partial melting and hybridization of subducted oceanic crust and enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle directly prior to cessation of arc magmatism. The driving mechanism for the terminal magmatic surge is inferred to be propagation of a discontinuous slab tear beneath the arc, or a ridge-trench collision event between 136 and 128 Ma. The lack of ca. 112 Ma plutons in the western part of Fiordland negates a magmatic heat source for garnet granulite metamorphism. Therefore, we infer that high heat flow associated with mantle advection at the base of the arc after the magmatic surge continued for several m.y., heating the lower crust to granulite facies temperatures 

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3. Site U1563

   Parnell-Turner, RE; Briais, A; LeVay, LJ; Cui, Y; Di_Chiara, A; Dodd, JP; Dunkley_Jones, T; Dwyer, D; Eason, DE; Friedman, SA; et al (January 2025, Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition reports)

   The Reykjanes Ridge flanks host a series of crustal V-shaped ridges (VSRs) and V-shaped troughs (VSTs) (Figure F1) whose origins are debated. Expedition 384, 395C, and 395 sites comprise a crustal flow line transect across the eastern flank of Reykjanes Ridge and one site on its western flank on the conjugate flow line. The sites sample two pairs of VSR/VST structures. Crustal ages at site locations on the eastern flank of the slow-spreading Reykjanes Ridge are estimated to range 2.8–32 Ma; the site located to the west, near the Greenland margin, has an estimated basement age of 49 Ma. This range of ages provides a unique opportunity to quantify the timing and extent of hydrothermal fluid–rock exchange on a slow-spreading ridge flank that experienced rapid sedimentation and variations in tectonic architecture. Finally, the rapidly accumulated contourite drift sediments at these sites have the potential to record variations in past climate and ocean circulation on millennial timescales. 

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4. Crustal Architecture of the Paleo‐Pacific Rift Margin of East Antarctica: Evidence From U‐Pb Ages and O‐Hf Isotope Compositions of Ross Orogen Granitoids

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GC011435  

   Goodge, John W.; Fanning, C. Mark; Fisher, Christopher M.; Vervoort, Jeffrey D. (April 2024, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems)

   Abstract Granitic batholiths of the ∼500 Ma Ross Orogen in Antarctica are voluminous in scale, reflecting prolific magmatism along the active early Paleozoic convergent margin of Gondwana. New age and isotopic analysis of zircons from a large suite of Ross granitoids spanning >2,000 km along the orogen provide a wealth of geochronologic, tracer, and inheritance information, enabling us to investigate the pace of magmatism, along‐strike temporal and geochemical trends, magmatic sources, and tectonic modes of convergence. Because granitoids penetrate the crust of the earlier Neoproterozoic rift margin, they also provide insight into the age and composition of the largely ice‐covered East Antarctic craton. Zircon U‐Pb ages from these and other samples indicate that active Ross magmatism spanned 475–590 Ma, much longer than generally regarded. Most samples have heavy zircon δ¹⁸O values between 6.5 and 11.5‰ and initial ε_Hfcompositions between 0 and −15; their isotopic co‐variations are independent of age, as in other contemporary continental arcs, and reflect largely crustal melt sources. Samples near Shackleton Glacier have distinctly more mantle‐like isotope composition (i.e., radiogenic ε_Hfand low δ¹⁸O) and separate two regions with distinctive isotopic properties and inheritance patterns—a more juvenile section of Mesoproterozoic crust underlying the southern TAM and an older, more evolved region of Paleoproterozoic and Archean crust in the central TAM. The isotopic discontinuity separating these regions indicates the presence of a cryptic crustal boundary of Grenvillian or younger age within the East Antarctic shield that may be traceable into the western Laurentian part of the Rodinia supercontinent. 

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5. Detrital isotopic record of a retreating accretionary orogen: An example from the Patagonian Andes

   https://doi.org/10.1130/G51918.1  

   Rey, F.M.; Malkowski, M.A.; Fosdick, J.C.; Dobbs, S.C.; Calderón, M.; Ghiglione, M.C.; Graham, S.A. (February 2024, Geology)

   U-Pb zircon geochronology and isotopic records have played an influential role in our understanding of convergent margin dynamics. Orogenic cyclicity models link tectonic regimes with magmatic isotopic signatures in advancing orogens, relating compressional regimes with evolved signatures and extension with juvenile signatures; however, such frameworks may not apply for retreating orogens, which commonly produce substantial crustal heterogeneities during backarc rifting and ocean spreading. We explore the Mesozoic to Cenozoic Patagonian Andes tectonic evolution, combining U-Pb zircon ages, bulk rock εNd, and new detrital zircon εHf from the retroarc basin to understand the associated magmatic arc evolution during retreat and advance of the margin. Our results reveal a protracted phase of isotopically juvenile magmatism between 150 and 80 Ma, which began during backarc extension and persisted long after the margin switched to a contractional regime. We propose that the prolonged juvenile isotopic trend started mainly due to trenchward migration of the arc during backarc extension (150−120 Ma) and persisted due to partial melting of underthrusted juvenile attenuated and oceanic crust during backarc basin closure (120−80 Ma). This interpretation implies that tectonic stress alone does not predict isotopic trends, and factors like assimilation or the composition of underthrusted crust are important controls on magmatic isotopic composition, especially in retreating and transitional orogens. 

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