Kent Larsson

Early stages of Gondwana breakup: The Ar-40/Ar-39 geochronology of Jurassic basaltic rocks from western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, and implications for the timing of magmatic and hydrothermal events

[1] The timing of magmatic events forming Jurassic basaltic rocks in Dronning Maud Land (DML), Antarctica, and hydrothermal activity that affected them is addressed with detailed Ar-40/Ar-39 incremental heating dating of feldspars. Plagioclase from an Utpostane gabbro and from a Kirwanveggen dolerite dike yield indistinguishable plateau ages at 177 +/- 1.8 Ma. Because of geologic controls, this establishes the age of tholeiites in Vestfjella. These plateau ages demonstrate synchroneity of tholeiitic magmatism of both DML and the well-documented Ferrar Province of Antarctica, which together with the closely temporal Karoo constitute the Gondwana breakup magmatism. Vug-filling microclines from Vestfjella yield plateau ages of 150 and 139 Ma which are interpreted to give the ages of secondary mineralization events. These results suggest a lengthy period of extension, possibly accompanied by pervasive low-temperature hydrothermal activity, between flood basalt magmatism and inception of seafloor spreading (circa 160-165 Ma), with younger moderate temperature events recorded by K-feldspars and related to early stages of spreading and/or changes in plate motions. The majority of plagioclase samples yield discordant age spectra that reflect primarily overprinting by younger events and incorporation of excess Ar, and they illustrate the complexities that can be produced. (Less)

The 1997 core drilling through Ordovician and Silurian strata at Röstånga, S. Sweden: Preliminary stratigraphic assessment and regional comparison

Abstract A core drilling at Rostanga, the first such drilling ever undertaken in this classical Lower Paleozoic outcrop area in W-central Scania, penetrated an approximately 96 m thick succession of Lower Silurian-upper Middle Ordovician marine rocks. The drilling was stopped at a depth of 132.59 m in an interval of crushed rocks, probably a prominent fault zone, that proved impossible to drill through. The core contains a stratigraphical sequence from the basal Upper Llandoverian (Telychian Stage) to the upper Middle Ordovician (Harjuan Stage). The following units are recognized in descending stratigraphic order (approximate thickness in parenthesis): Kallholn Formation (35 m), Lin-degard Mudstone (27 m), Fjacka Shale (13 m), Mossen Formation (0.75 m), Skagen Formation (2.5 m), and Sularp Shale (19 m+). Except for the Skagen Formation, the drilled sequence consists of shales and mudstones with occasional thin limestone interbeds and is similar to coeval successions elsewhere in Scania. There are 11 K-ben...

An Early Permian palynoflora from Milorgfjella, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

A preliminary palynological study of Beacon Supergroup sedimentary rocks exposed at Milorgfjella, Dronning Maud Land, has yielded a relatively rich and well preserved palynoflora dominated by spores and pollen grains, but also including acritarchs and green algae. The palynoflora is dominated by the pterophyte spores Punctatisporites gretensis, Punctatisporites parvus, Granulatisporites spp., Microbaculispora tentula Horriditriletes spp. and Verrucosisporites andersonii, and the gymnosperm pollen grains Plicatipollenites spp. and Cannanoropollis spp. Also present are the lycopod spore Jayantisporites pseudozonatus, the praecolpate pollen grain Marsupipollenites striatus and the monocolpate pollen grain Cycadopites cymbatus. The palynoflora indicates freshwater conditions or, at least, a major freshwater influence on the depositional environment. Comparison of the palynoflora with others from Gondwana suggests an Early Permian (Asselian–Sakmarian) age.

Permian plant macrofossils from Fossilryggen Vestfjella Dronning Maud Land

A low diversity plant macrofossil assemblage described from the northern section of Fossilryggen, Vestfjella, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, is dominated by matted leaf impressions of Glossopteris sp. cf. G. communis Feistmantel and Glossopteris sp. cf. G. spatulata Pant & Singh, and in situ finely branched Vertebraria indica Royle rootlets. Equisetalean stems, rhizomes and leaf whorls (Phyllotheca australis Brongniart emend. Townrow), isolated seeds, scale-leaves, and fragmentary gymnosperm axes represent minor components of the assemblage. The fossils are preserved in fine-grained, floodbasin sediments and dark palaeosols. Although lacking definitive biostratigraphical indices, the flora is considered to represent a Middle Permian assemblage based principally on lithological and palynological correlation with the southern section at Fossilryggen and broad similarities to mid-Permian plant assemblages elsewhere in Gondwana.

The Kullaberg peninsula – a glimpse of the Proterozoic evolution of SW Fennoscandia

Abstract The Kullaberg peninsula in NW Skåne renders km-long, continuous exposures of the Proterozoic crystalline basement. We report ion microprobe (SIMS) U–Pb zircon ages for six key lithologies at Kullaberg that constrain the geological history of SW Fennoscandia for a considerable time period. Igneous zircon in three varieties of gneiss granite yield ages of 1694±7 Ma, 1693±7 Ma and 1663±14 Ma, in the same age range as orthogneisses further north in the same crustal segment. Partial melting, manifested by formation of pegmatite dykes and veins, occurred at 1473±6 Ma. Emplacement of mafic dykes, today seen as a large number of north-trending amphibolite sheets across the Kullaberg peninsula, is dated at 961±6 Ma. The dykes, which fall in the same age range as the Blekinge-Dalarna dolerites (978–945 Ma) predate an event of amphibolite facies deformation, which presumably relates to exhumation of the crust following shortly after the Sveconorwegian compressional stage. A pegmatite was emplaced at 934±6 Ma after the crust had been exhumed through the ductile-brittle boundary.

Clastic dikes from the Burgsvik Beds of Gotland

Abstract Clastic dikes are described from the Silurian Burgsvik Beds at Narsholm, south-eastern Gotland, where they occur as sinuous, branching, tabular sandstone bodies in a reef limestone. The study of their lithology and fabric suggest an injection from below of unconsolidated, water-saturated sand into fissures and crevices developed in the reef limestone. The driving agent behind the mobilization of the sand is assumed to be the lithostatic pressure produced by the growing reef, possibly also the gravity instability between the sand and the reef limestone.