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Evolution of the Kerguelen plume and its impact upon the continental and oceanic magmatism of East Antarctica

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Abstract

Petrological–geochemical study showed that the alkaline-ultramafics of the Jetty Oasis (rift zone of the Lambert glacier, East Antarctica) are similar in the age (117–110 Ma) and geochemistry to the ultrapotassic alkali basalts of eastern India (Jharia and Raniganj intrusions). Alkaline magmatism in India and Antarctica is related to the activity of the Kerguelen plume, which significantly affected the evolution of the entire eastern Indian Ocean, in particular, determined geodynamic peculiarities of the ocean opening (existence of non-spreading blocks, fragments of the Gondwana lithosphere in oceanic areas) and geochemical characteristics of erupted tholeiitic magmas. Enriched magma sources related to the Kerguelen plume were formed by melting of ancient Gondwana-derived continental fragments, which experienced multiple transformations during its evolution up to the formation of metasomatized mantle under the impact of the Kerguelen plume on the Antarctic and India margins.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Kosygina 19, Moscow, 119991, Russia

    N. M. Sushchevskaya

  2. Center for Isotopic Research, Karpinskii All-Russia Research Institute of Geology, Srednii prosp. 74, St. Petersburg, 199106, Russia

    B. V. Belyatsky

  3. Geological Faculty, Moscow State University, Moscow, 119899, Russia

    E. P. Dubinin

  4. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovskii pr. 36, Moscow, 117997, Russia

    O. V. Levchenko

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  1. N. M. Sushchevskaya
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  2. B. V. Belyatsky
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  3. E. P. Dubinin
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  4. O. V. Levchenko
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Correspondence to N. M. Sushchevskaya.

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Original Russian Text © N.M. Sushchevskaya, B.V. Belyatsky, E.P. Dubinin, O.V. Levchenko, 2017, published in Geokhimiya, 2017, No. 9, pp. 782–799.

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Sushchevskaya, N.M., Belyatsky, B.V., Dubinin, E.P. et al. Evolution of the Kerguelen plume and its impact upon the continental and oceanic magmatism of East Antarctica. Geochem. Int. 55, 775–791 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016702917090099

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