Abstract
Twelve whole-rock samples of volcanic rocks and a composite of 11 basanitoid samples from Ross Island and vicinity, Antarctica show a narrow range of 87Sr/86Sr ratios from 0.70305 to 0.70339. This range is consistent with a model of differentiation from a single parent magma, but the data allow a 30% variation in the 87Rb/86Sr ratio in the source region if the average ratio is less than 0.057 and if the source region has existed as a closed system for 1.5 b.y. Megacrysts of titaniferous augite, kaersutite, and anorthoclase are isotopically indistinguishable from the host volcanic rocks and therefore are probably cogenetic with the volcanic sequence. A single trachyte sample is isotopically distinct from the rest of the volcanic rocks and probably was contaminated with crustal strontium.
Ultramafic and mafic nodules found in association with basanitoids and trachybasalts have 87Sr/86Sr ratios ranging from 0.70275 to 0.70575. Several of these nodules exhibit evidence of reaction with the melt and are isotopically indistinguishable from their hosts, but data for seven granulite-facies nodules show an apparent isochronal relationship. Although this isochron may be fortuitous, the resulting age of 158±22 m.y. is similar to ages reported for the voluminous Ferrar Dolerites, and suggests isotopic re-equilibration within the lower crust and upper mantle. These nodules are not genetically related to the Ferrar Dolerites, as evidenced by their lower initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios.
Three ultramafic nodules are texturally and isotopically distinct from the rest of the analyzed nodules. These are friable, have larger 87Sr/86Sr ratios, and may represent a deeper sampling of mantle rock than the granulite-facies nodules. They were, however, derived at a shallower depth than the alkalic magma. Thus they are not genetically related to either the magma or the granulite-facies nodules.
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Stuckless, J.S., Ericksen, R.L. Strontium isotopic geochemistry of the volcanic rocks and associated megacrysts and inclusions from Ross Island and vicinity, Antarctica. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 58, 111–126 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382180
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382180