Thermochronological Investigation around the Lambert Graben: Review of Pre-Existing Data and Field Work during PCMEGA
F. Lisker1*, D.X. Belton2 & U. Kroner3
1FB Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen, PF 330440, 28334 Bremen - Germany
2School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, 3052 Parkville, Victoria – Australia
3Institut für Geowissenschaften, Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Bernhard-von-Cottastr. 2, 09596 Freiberg - Germany
Received 26 January 2005; accepted in revised form 29 July 2005
Abstract - The Lambert Graben is the largest known rift structure within the East Antarctic Craton. The north-western shoulder segment, the northern Prince Charles Mountains (PCM), experienced two major denudational episodes during the Permo-Carboniferous and the Cretaceous that are apparently related to the initial rifting and graben formation, and its reactivation due to the Gondwana breakup between India and Antarctica, respectively. Structural field work and morphological observation carried out during the joint German-Australian PCMEGA expedition 2002/03 as well as subsequent thermochronological analyses (40Ar/39Ar, fission track, and U/Th-He analyses) shall unravel the rifting history of the much less understood southern graben segment. The main topics of the future investigation are: (1) Structure, initiation and development of the Lambert Graben, (2) Long-term evolution of the topography, and (3) Using intra-Gondwanian rifts as a tool for Gondwana reconstruction.
*Corresponding author (flisker@uni-bremen.de)