Zircon Hf Isotopes and the Continental Evolution of Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica


Dataset Identification:

Resource Abstract:
Abstract: Geochemical studies of single mineral grains in rocks can be probed to reconstruct the history of our planet. The mineral zircon (ZrSiO4) is of unique importance in that respect because of its reliability as a geologic clock due to its strong persistence against weathering, transport and changes in temperature and pressure. Uranium-Lead (U-Pb) dating of zircon grains is, perhaps, the most frequently employed method of extracting time information on geologic processes that shaped the continental crust, and has been used to constrain the evolution of continents and mountain belts through time. In addition, the isotopic composition of the element Hafnium (Hf) in zircon is used to date when the continental crust was generated by extraction of magma from the underlying mantle. Melting of rocks in the mantle and deep in the continental crust are key processes in the evolution of the continents, and they are recorded in the Hf isotopic signatures of zircon. Although the analytical procedures for U-Pb dating and Hf isotope analyses of zircon are robust now, our understanding of zircon growth and its exchange of elements and isotopes with its surrounding rock or magma are still underdeveloped. The focus of the proposed study, therefore, is to unravel the evolution of zircon Hf isotopes in rocks that were formed deep in the Earth's crust, and more specifically, to apply these isotopic methods to rocks collected in Dronning Maud Land (DML), East Antarctica. Dronning Maud Land (DML) occupied a central location during the formation of supercontinents - large landmasses made up of all the continents that exist today - more than 500 million years ago. It is currently thought that supercontinents were formed and dismembered five or six times throughout Earth's history. The area of DML is key for understanding the formation history of the last two supercontinents. The boundaries of continents that were merged to form those supercontinents are most likely hidden in DML. In this study, the isotopic composition of zircon grains recovered from DML rocks will be employed to identify these boundaries across an extensive section through the area. The rock samples were collected by the investigator during a two-month expedition to Antarctica in the austral summer of 2007-2008. The results of dating and isotope analyses of zircon of the different DML crustal domains will deliver significant insight into the regional geology of East Antarctica and its previous northern extension into Africa. This has significance for the reconstruction of the supercontinents and defining the continental boundaries in DML.
Citation
Title  Zircon Hf Isotopes and the Continental Evolution of Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica
publication date 2015
cited responsible party - author
individual Name  Marschall, Horst
organisation Name  Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, US
Contact information
Postal Address:
electronic Mail Address: hmarschall@whoi.edu
Linkage for online resource
URL: http://orcid.org/ORCID:0000-0002-0609-682X
protocol  ORCID
cited responsible party - publisher
organisation Name  U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) Data Center
No contact information provided.
Topic Category:   geoscientificInformation
Keywords:
Resource language:   eng
Resource progress code:   Complete
Constraints on resource usage:
Constraints
Use limitation statement:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0]
Constraints on resource usage:
Legal Constraints
Access Constraints   license
Other constraints
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0]
Constraints on resource usage:
Security Constraints
Classification  unclassified
Resource extent
Extent description
Dronning Maud Land
Geographic Extent
Geographic Bounding Box
westBoundLongitude  -6.44
eastBoundLongitude  4.18
northBoundLatitude  -71.93
southBoundLatitude  -72.61
Resource extent
Temporal Extent
2012-04-01 2015-03-31
Credits:
funderName:NSF:GEO:PLR:Antarctic Earth Sciences awardNumber:1142156 awardTitle:Zircon Hf Isotopes and the Continental Evolution of Dronning Maud Land, East Antacrtica
point of contact - pointOfContact
individual Name  Marschall, Horst
organisation Name  Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, US
Contact information
No address provided.
Linkage for online resource
URL: http://orcid.org/ORCID:0000-0002-0609-682X
protocol  ORCID
Back to top:

Resource distribution information

Digital Transfer Options
Linkage for online resource
name  Landing Page
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.15784/600135
protocol  WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
link function  information
Description  Link to DOI landing page or data facility landing page if no DOI is assigned.
Linkage for online resource
name  landing page
URL: http://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600135
protocol  WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
link function  information
Description  Link to a web page related to the resource.
Back to top

Metadata Information

Metadata data stamp:  2018-05-17
Resource Maintenance Information
maintenance or update frequency:
notes:  This metadata record was generated by an xslt transformation from a DataCite metadata record; The transform was created by Damian Ulbricht and Stephen M. Richard. 2017-11-15 these records include new IEDA keywords for geoportal facets Run on 2018-06-21T19:05:24-07:00
Metadata contact - pointOfContact
organisation Name  Interdisciplinary Earth Data Alliance
Contact information
Postal Address:
electronic Mail Address: web@usap-dc.org
Linkage for online resource
URL: http://www.usap-dc.org/static/imgs/header/usaplogo.png
link function  browseGraphic
Metadata scope code  dataset
Metadata hierarchy level name:  Dataset
Metadata language   eng
Metadata character set encoding:   utf8
Metadata standard for this record:  ISO 19139 Geographic Information - Metadata - Implementation Specification
standard version:  2007
Metadata record identifier:  urn:ieda:metadataabout:10.15784-600135
Back to top

Metadata record format is ISO19139 XML (MD_Metadata)