Accretion of juvenile crust at the Early Palaeozoic Antarctic margin of Gondwana: geochemical and geochronological evidence from granulite xenoliths

Geodynamic models for the Antarctic sector of the active Early Palaeozoic Palaeo-Pacific margin of Gondwana are based on the nature and age of the deep crust of the Robertson Bay terrane, the outermost lithotectonic unit of the margin. As this crustal block is covered with thick turbidite deposits, the only way to probe the deep crust is through the analysis of granulite xenoliths from Cenozoic scoria cones. Low-K felsic xenoliths yield the oldest (Middle Cambrian) laser-probe U–Pb ages on zircon areas with igneous growth zoning. This finding, along with the positive whole-rock ε_Nd(500Ma), suggests that these felsic rocks derived from a juvenile magma formed during the Early Palaeozoic Ross orogenic cycle. Mafic xenoliths have geochemical-isotopic compositions similar to those of modern primitive island arcs, suggesting the involvement of subducted oceanic crust in their magma genesis and accretion of juvenile crust at the Antarctic margin of Gondwana.