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Kirwan Volcanics, Queen Maud Land

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The Transantarctic Mountains

Abstract

Western Queen (Dronning) Maud Land in Fig. 14.1 is not considered to be part of the Transantarctic Mountains because the basement rocks were not deformed and regionally metamorphosed by the Ross Orogeny. Nevertheless, some of the nunataks that project through the East Antarctic Ice Sheet in the area outlined in Fig. 14.1 and enlarged in Fig. 14.2 consist of Jurassic tholeiite basalt of the Kirwan Volcanics that superficially resemble the Kirkpatrick Basalt in the Transantarctic Mountains. In addition, flat-lying sedimentary rocks of the Permian Amelang Formation resemble the sandstones and shales of the Beacon Supergroup. The groups of nunataks in Fig. 14.2 where the Kirwan Volcanics are exposed include Vestfjella (including Plogen and Basen), Fossilryggen, Mannefallknausane, Heimefrontfjella, Bjőrnnutane, Sembberget, and the Kirwan Escarpment. The first information about the geology of the Kirwan Volcanics was published by Brunn (1964) and Blundell (1964). The latter collected oriented samples of dolerite in the southern part of Vestfjella for a study of paleomagnetism (see also Lövlie 1979, 1988). These samples were later described by Brown (1967) and dated by Rex (1967).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth Sciences and Byrd Polar Research Center, The Ohio State University, 275 Mendenhall Laboratory 125 South Oval Mall, Columbus, Ohio, 43210, USA

    Gunter Faure

  2. School of Earth Sciences and Byrd Polar Research Center, The Ohio State University, 313 Morrill Hall 1465 Mt. Vernon Ave., Marion, Ohio, 43302, USA

    Teresa M. Mensing

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  1. Gunter Faure
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  2. Teresa M. Mensing
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Correspondence to Gunter Faure .

Appendices

Appendices

1.1 K-Ar Age Determinations of Jurassic Basalt Flows and Dikes in Queen Maud Land

Table 1
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Faure, G., Mensing, T.M. (2011). Kirwan Volcanics, Queen Maud Land. In: The Transantarctic Mountains. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9390-5_14

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