Eureka Spurs

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The Eureka Spurs ( 72°42′S166°0′E / 72.700°S 166.000°E / -72.700; 166.000 ) are several rock spurs exposed along the east side of the head of Mariner Glacier, 8 nautical miles (15 km) southwest of Mount McCarthy, in Victoria Land. They were so named, after the ancient Greek word eureka, by the Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition field party to Evans Neve, 1971–72, on the occasion of fossil discoveries made in the area. [1]

Thick sections of sedimentary strata of the Spurs Formation are exposed in Eureka Spurs. These outcrops exposed Cambrian submarine channel-fills in the Spurs Formation that exhibit unique meter-scale sedimentary cyclic layers of breccia and diamictite. [2] In addition, these outcrops have yielded rare, identifiable fossils, including trilobites, that typically are absent in lower Paleozoic sedimentary strata in Victoria Land. [3]

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References

  1. "Eureka Spurs". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior . Retrieved 2012-03-06.
  2. Kim, Y.H.G., Woo, J., Park, T.Y.S., Kihm, J.H., Lee, J.I. and Choe, M.Y., 2018. Sedimentary breccia and diamictite of the Cambrian Spurs Formation in northern Victoria Land, Antarctica: two kinds of debris flows in a submarine channel systemAntarctic Science, 30(4), pp.245-263.
  3. Jago, J.B., Bentley, C.J. and Cooper, R.A., 2019. Cambrian biostratigraphy of the Bowers back-arc basin, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica—A review.Palaeoworld, 28(3), pp.276-288.