Mid-Jurassic age for the Botany Bay Group: Implications for Weddell Sea Basin creation and southern hemisphere biostratigraphy
New U-Pb zircon ion-microprobe ages from the alluvial conglomerates and flood plain sediments of the Botany Bay Group demonstrate that sedimentation occurred at c. 167 Ma, coeval with rift-related silicic volcanism in the northern Antarctic Pensula. In contrast, rift-related volcanism and sedimentation in the southern Antarctic Peninsula (Latady Basin) occurred at c. 183 Ma. The new data indicate that syn-rift sedimentation and volcanism was diachronous from south to north, consistent with early opening of the Weddell Sea embayment by anti-clockwise rotation of the Antarctic Peninsula in the Mid-Jurassic. A definitive date for the Botany Bay Group floras has important implications for Southern Hemisphere biostratigraphic correlations.
Publication Details
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Type
Journal Article -
Title
Mid-Jurassic age for the Botany Bay Group: Implications for Weddell Sea Basin creation and southern hemisphere biostratigraphy -
Year
2005 -
Author(s)
Hunter, M.A., Cantrill, D.J., Flowerdew, M.J. and Millar, I.L. -
Journal
Journal of the Geological Society -
Volume
162 -
Issue
5 -
Page(s)
745-748 -
URL
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