Isotopic composition of strontium and geologic history of the basement rocks of Wright Valley, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica: with an appendix: Petrological notes, by L.B. Owens.

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Isotopic composition of strontium and geologic history of the basement rocks of Wright Valley, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica: with an appendix: Petrological notes, by L.B. Owens.

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The Sr87/Sr86 ratios of whole rock samples from the major units of the crystalline basement complex and the tholeiitic sills of Jurassic age (Ferrar Dolerite) in Wright Valley range from 0.710 to 0.728. The isotopic composition of strontium released from these rocks by chemical weathering is compatible with an average Sr87/Sr86 ratio of 0.7149 in the brines of Lake Vanda, Wright Valley, that was reported earlier. Some strontium having Sr87/Sr86 rations less than that of Lake Vanda probably originates as weathering products of the Ferrar Dolerite sills and of the marbles of the Asgard Formation as well as by import of marine strontium by meteoric precipitation. Whole-rock Rb-Sr age determination indicate that the Wright Intrusives (Olympus granite-gneiss and Dais granite) approached isotopic homogenization of strontium about 500 +/- 43m.y.ago. A suite of rocks from the Victoria Intrusives (Vida granite and Vanda porphyry) was dated at about 480 +/- 44 m.y. The average intitial Sr87/Sr86 ratios of the two suits are 0.7109 +/- 0.0007 and 0.7104 =/- 0.008, respectively, which indicates that both magmas contained radiogenic Sr87 presumably derived from older sislic rocks in this area. These and previous age determinations and geologic field studies provide the basis for a tentative geologic history of the rocks of the crystalline basement complex.
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17(3): 611-627
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Faure, G.; Jones, L.M.; Owen, L.B.Isotopic composition of strontium and geologic history of the basement rocks of Wright Valley, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica: with an appendix: Petrological notes, by L.B. Owens.New Zealand journal of geology and geophysics17(3): 611-6271974