Time constraints on the geological evolution of the main sedimentary basins and tectono-magmatic events on Livingston Island, South Shetland Archipelago, Antarctica: a review

Pages: 
pp. 61-72
Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
Department of Mineralogy, Petrology and Economic Geology, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
Department of Geology, Paleontology and Fossil Fuels, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
Department of Geology, Paleontology and Fossil Fuels, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
Department of Mineralogy, Petrology and Economic Geology, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
Department of Geology, Paleontology and Fossil Fuels, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
Abstract: 

The Lower Cretaceous to Miocene South Shetlands Islands’ volcanic arc is a result of the subduction of the Phoenix Oceanic Microplate (part of the Pacific Plate) beneath the Antarctic Peninsula. The magmatic activity on Livingston Island has been going on for a long time: since the Early Cretaceous to the present. The evolution of the volcanic arc resulted in the formation of various sedimentary basins and paleoenvironments (turbiditic to shallow marine and continental) that formed varied sedimentary successions and tholeiitic to potassium calc-alkaline subduction-related magmatic rocks. Considering the magmatic activity on Livingston Island, a general trend of rejuvenation can be observed from the WNW (Byers Peninsula) to the ESE (to Hannah Point, Point Williams and further to the Hurd Peninsula and the Tangra Mountain). The rejuvenation of the magmatic rocks in the direction of the thrust plate can be explained as an effect of a flattening subduction that was active from the Early Cretaceous (135 Ma) up to around 90–70 Ma. The mixed ages of the dikes and small intrusions in the Hurd Peninsula are most probably due to periods of rotation and probably beginning of а slab-roll back. A regional Paleocene–Eocene (65–47 Ma) compressional episode that caused a low temperature to high-pressure metamorphism is registered on Smith and Elephant islands. The regional metamorphism was followed by a vast extension between 50–30 Ma that culminated with the opening of the Drake Passage around 34–30 Ma. The magmatic response of that regional scale extension was the intrusion of the Eocene Barnard Point Pluton (46–40 Ma) and dikes with youngest ages of around 30 Ma. The major uplift phase and the exhumation of the Tangra Mountain happened between 22–16 Ma as indicated by the Ap FT thermochronology. The last magmatic event on the island produced the contrastingly different in composition Quaternary alkaline mafic rocks that occupy the area between Innot Point and Burdick Peak. This episode is interpreted as related to a process of crustal extension that culminated in asthenospheric upwelling and rifting along the Bransfield Strait. The latter is due to a slab roll-back that led to the break-up of the South Shetlands from the Antarctic Peninsula and consequent subduction termination.

Keywords: 

Antarctica, Livingston, Upper Jurassic–Lower Paleocene, sediments, igneous rocks

DOI: 
10.52321/GeolBalc.52.3.61

VOLUME 52 (3)/December 2023

Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria

Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria;
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Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria;

Department of Geology, Paleontology and Fossil Fuels, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria

Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd, 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Çukurova Üniversitesi, Mühendislik Fakültesi, Jeoloji Mühendisliği Bölümü, 01330, Adana, Turkey; Department of Geological Processes, Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 16500, Prague, Czech Republic
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Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd, 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Department of Geomatics Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul 34469, Turkey

Department of Geology, Paleontology and Fossil Fuels, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Department of Environmental Sciences, Basel University, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
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Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria

Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Department of Mineralogy, Petrology and Economic Geology, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Center of competency “Clean technologies for sustainable environment – water, waste, energy for circular economy”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria

Department of Geology, Paleontology and Fossil Fuels, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria

Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Department of Mineralogy, Petrology and Economic Geology, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Department of Geology, Paleontology and Fossil Fuels, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Department of Geology, Paleontology and Fossil Fuels, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Department of Mineralogy, Petrology and Economic Geology, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Department of Geology, Paleontology and Fossil Fuels, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria

Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria

Department of Geology, Paleontology and Fossil Fuels, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Department of Geology, Paleontology and Fossil Fuels, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria

National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy, and Geography – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 3, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
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National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy, and Geography – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 3, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 1 James Bourchier Blvd., 1264 Sofia; Centre of Archeometry with Laboratory of Conservation and Restoration, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 35 Galichitsa Str., 1264 Sofia

Institute of Mineralogy and Crystallography, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 107, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Institute of Mineralogy and Crystallography, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 107, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Aurubis Bulgaria AD, Research and Development, Industrial Zone Pirdop, Bulgaria
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Aurubis Bulgaria AD, Research and Development, Industrial Zone Pirdop, Bulgaria
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Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria