Title Cambrian intra-oceanic arc accretion to the austral Gondwana margin; constraints on the location of proto-New Zealand
Author Bradshaw, J.D.; Gutjahr, M.; Weaver, S.D.; Bassett, K.N.
Author Affil Bradshaw, J.D., University of Canterbury, Department of Geological Sciences, Christchurch, New Zealand
Source Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 56(4), p.587-594, . Publisher: Blackwell Scientific Publications for the Geological Society of Australia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ISSN: 0812-0099
Publication Date 2009
Notes In English. 51 refs. GeoRef Acc. No: 297276
Index Terms Australia; New Zealand; Antarctica-- Victoria Land; accretion; Antarctica; Arthropoda; Australasia; back-arc basins; basins; Bowers Supergroup; Cambrian; Delamerian Orogeny; Gondwana; Invertebrata; lithostratigraphy; lower Paleozoic; paleogeography; Paleozoic; plate convergence; plate tectonics; Ross Orogeny; Takaka Terrane; tectonics; Trilobita; Trilobitomorpha; Victoria Land
Abstract Data from New Zealand and northern Victoria Land, Antarctica, indicate that the Cambrian Takaka Terrane intra-oceanic arc/backarc assemblage and the Bowers Terrane intra-oceanic arc/back-arc assemblage were accreted to the Gondwana margin by the Late Cambrian. Compelling similarities between the arc rocks and the immediate post-arc sediments firmly place the two regions in the same tectonic framework and imply close paleogeographic proximity. Currently, the Ross Orogen is thought to be the result of sinistral oblique convergence with west- directed subduction, and accretion of the arc assemblages is attributed to closure of backarc basins. Syntectonic fluvial conglomerates in both regions attest to the development of fluvial systems draining both the accreted arc and the contemporaneous continental margin arc. Trilobite faunas indicate that fluvial sedimentation commenced earlier in New Zealand than in northern Victoria Land. In the context of the widely accepted sinistral oblique convergence model, these data suggest an original position for New Zealand to the south of northern Victoria Land, probably in the region of the southern Ross Sea.
URL http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08120090902806339
Publication Type journal article
Record ID 87541