The tectonic evolution and importance of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica

In this essay, the author

• Explains that marie byrd land (mbl) is a massif within west antarctica that is of critical importance in understanding the evolution of the wars.
• Explains that the present day wars is comprised of four geophysically distinct microplates that have been experiencing intracontinental deformation from jurassic to present: marie byrd land, thurston island, antarctic peninsula, and the ellsworth-whitmore mountains.
• Explains that the rock exposures within mbl have relationships which elucidate the tectonic evolution of west antarctica, and more importantly the present day wars.

• Explains that marie byrd land (mbl) is a massif within west antarctica that is of critical importance in understanding the evolution of the wars.
• Explains that the present day wars is comprised of four geophysically distinct microplates that have been experiencing intracontinental deformation from jurassic to present: marie byrd land, thurston island, antarctic peninsula, and the ellsworth-whitmore mountains.
• Explains that the rock exposures within mbl have relationships which elucidate the tectonic evolution of west antarctica, and more importantly the present day wars.
• Explains that the oldest rocks of mbl are a sequence of folded and cleaved deep-marine turbiditic rocks known as the swanson formation metagraywacke.
• Explains that the mbl dome is assumed to have risen within a rift, analogous to domes encountered within the east african.
• Explains finn et al. (2005) propose a cenozoic diffuse alkaline magmatic province (damp) that exists beneath much of the south pacific.
• Explains that the subglacial portion of the wars has the potential to destabilize the west antarctic ice sheet, and thus is of great importance to study.
• Describes the nd and sr isotopic signatures of adams, c.j.
• Explains the patterns of late cenozoic volcanic and tectonic activity in the west antarctic rift.
• Explains that borg, s.g., and depaolo, d.j. (1991), a tectonic model of the antarctic gondwana margin.
• Explains bradshaw, j.d., the ross orogen and lachlan fold belt in marie byrd land, northern.
• Compares marie byrd land and the robertson bay group of northern victoria land.
• States danesi, s., and morelli, a. (2001), structure of the upper mantle under the antarctic plate.
• Cites isaes, edited by a.k. cooper and c.r. raymond, usgs open-file report 2007.
• Explains lawver, r.l., and gahagan, l.m. constraints on timings of extension of the ross sea.
• Compares the east african rift and other analogs with geology.
• Explains lemasurier, w.e., and rex, d.c. rates of uplift and the scale of ice level instabilities.
• Explains luyendyk, wilson, d.s., and siddoway, c.
• Explains panter, k.s., hart, s.r, kyle, p, blusztanjn, and wilch, t.
• Explains rocchi, armienti, and divencenzo's no plume, no rift magmatism in the west.
• Opines that rossetti, tecce, aldega, brilli, and faccenna, c. (2006), deformation and fluid.
• Explains siddoway, c.s. (2008), tectonics of the west antarctica rift system: new light on the history.
• Explains siddoway, sass iii, l.c., and esser, r. kinematic history of marie byrd land.
• Analyzes the timing and duration of melt production and migration in a pacific margin.
• Analyzes seamount locations from a revised model of plate motion and mantle flow.
• States that storey, b.c., leat, p.t, weaver, s.d, pankhurst, j
• Explains wade, r.a., and couch, d.r. (1982), the swanson formation, ford ranges, marie byrd land.
• Explains that the transantarctic mountains delineate the two major tectonic provinces of antarctica: the stable east antarctic craton and the wars
• Explains that mbl is the largest crustal block of the wars and forms its northern flank. it's the only block from which a major fragment rifted during the breakup of gondwana.
• Explains that subduction-related calc-alkaline magmatism began at 3203 ma or earlier. the devonian ford granodiorite, a suite of i-type igneous rocks, experienced greenschist facies metamorphism during the late ordovician.
• Explains that the second suite of the byrd coast granite comprises the majority of outcrops within mbl.
• Explains that the wars was initiated in the cretaceous as the pacific-phoenix ridge was subducted beneath gondwana.
• Compares the cenozoic behavior of the wars with that of an aseismic rift zone.
• Explains the processes which are producing melt beneath western mbl are poorly understood and a topic of debate.
• Opines that geophysical and experimental methods are the primary means of understanding the mantle's deformation. exhumed ultramafic materials are commonly studied within ophiolite complexes.