James Ross Island Volcanic Group

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James Ross Island Volcanic Group
Stratigraphic range: Cenozoic
Brown Bluff Antarctica.JPG
Type Group
Lithology
Primary Alkali basalts
Other Hawaiites, benmoreites, mugearites
Location
Region Antarctica
Type section
Named for James Ross Island

The James Ross Island Volcanic Group is a stratigraphic unit of Cenozoic age distributed on James Ross Island and Vega Island of the James Ross Island group, the Tabarin and Trinity peninsulas of Graham Land and surrounding islands in the Prince Gustav and Antarctic sounds. [1]

Contents

The volcanic group consists predominantly of alkali basalts with minor hawaiites, benmoreites and mugearites. They are interpreted to have been deposited by volcanic eruptions in an extensional back-arc setting after subduction had ceased along the western margin of the Antarctic Peninsula. K–Ar dating of these rocks suggest that they were erupted from about 7 million years ago up until about a few hundred thousand years ago. [1] However, volcanic rocks as young as only a few thousand years old may exist on James Ross Island. [2]

Rocks of the James Ross Island Volcanic Group comprise Surtseyan tuff cones and Strombolian cinder cones, as well as lava deltas and overlying subaerial lava flows. [1] The dominating feature of the James Ross Island Volcanic Group is Mount Haddington, a massive shield volcano of Miocene-to-Pliocene age on James Ross Island. [2] [3]

Subdivisions

The James Ross Island Volcanic Group includes the following geological formations: [4]

Features

The James Ross Island Volcanic Group includes the following volcanic features: [4]

See also

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San Jose Pass is a pass trending NW-SE and rising to about 200 m between Lachman Crags and Stickle Ridge on James Ross Island. On either side of this pass there are exposures of fossiliferous Cretaceous rocks. Following work in the area, named "Paso San Jose" after Saint Joseph by an Argentine Antarctic Expedition.

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Berry Hill is a hill rising to 370 m between Lachman Crags and Cape Lachman on James Ross Island. The hill is notable for an exposure of volcanic rocks and probable glacial beds of Pliocene age. Named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC), 1987, after Alfred Thomas Berry, Chief Steward in Discovery II, 1929–39; in charge of stores on Operation Tabarin at Port Lockroy, 1943–44, and Hope Bay, 1944–45.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Smellie, John L.; Edwards, Benjamin R. Glaciovolcanism on Earth and Mars: Products, Process and Palaeoenvironmental Significance. Cambridge University Press. p. 94. ISBN   978-1-107-03739-7.
  2. 1 2 "James Ross Island". Global Volcanism Program . Smithsonian Institution . Retrieved 2020-03-23.
  3. Menzies, John; van der Meer, Jaap J.M. (2018). Past Glacial Environments. Elsevier. p. 357. ISBN   978-0-08-100524-8.
  4. 1 2 Smellie, J.L.; Johnson, J.S.; Nelson, A.E. (2013). Geological map of James Ross Island. I. James Ross Island Volcanic Group (Map). 1:125 000. Cambridge, United Kingdom: British Antarctic Survey.