Geological correlations of East Antarctica with adjoining continents have been puzzling geologists ever since the concept of a Gondwana supercontinent surfaced. Despite the paucity of outcrops because of ice cover, difficulty of access and extreme weather, the past 50 years of Japanese Antarctic Research Expeditions (JARE) has successfully revealed vital elements of the geology of East Antarctica. This volume presents reviews and new research from localities across East Antarctica, especially from Dronning Maud Land to Enderby Land, where the geological record preserves a history that spans the Archaean and Proterozoic. The reviews include extensive bibliographies of results obtained by geologists who participated in the JARE. Comprehensive geological, petrological and geochemical studies, form a platform for future research on the formation and dispersion of Rodinia in the Mesoproterozoic and subsequent assembly of Gondwana in the Neoproterozoic to Early Palaeozoic.

Antarctica preserves a rock record that spans three and a half billion years of history and has a remarkable story to tell about the evolution of our Earth, from the hottest crustal rocks yet found in an orogenic system, to the assembly and breakup of Gondwana in the Phanerozoic. This volume highlights our improved understanding of the tectonic events that have shaped Antarctica and how these potentially relate to supercontinent assembly and fragmentation. The internal constitution of the East Antarctic Shield is assessed using information available from the basement geology and from detritus preserved as Mesozoic sediments in the Trans Antarctic Mountains. Accretionary orogenesis along the proto-Pacific margin of Antarctica is examined and the volumes of intracrustal melting compared with juvenile magma additions in these complex orogenic systems assessed. This special volume demonstrates the diversity of approaches required to elucidate and understand crustal evolution and evaluate the supercontinent concept.

The Proterozoic aeon involved at least three major continental readjustments. India and Antarctica appear in most models of supercontinent reconstructions, but their relative position has been the subject of debate. High-resolution petrological and geochronological data, especially from the Proterozoic mobile belts, provide the principal means of resolving this issue. The ice-covered nature of Antarctica allows only limited access to the rocks, and then only in coastal tracts, so detailed studies in more accessible Proterozoic terrains in India assume added significance. This volume, a follow-up to the XII International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Science, Goa (a SCAR symposium), provides new data from selected locations in east Antarctica (Enderby Land and Dronning Maud Land) and from India, including the Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt (EGMB), Chota Nagpur Gneissic Complex, the Khasi Hills and the Aravalli–Delhi Mobile Belt. The presented geochronological data, constrained by petrological studies, are expected to provide new insights, especially into the EGMB–east Antarctica connection and the rate of continental readjustments in the post-Rodinia break-up.

This book focuses on the strong relation between the tectonic evolution of the Southernmost Andes and their closest southern neighbors, the Scotia Sea and Antarctica. Some episodes are related to processes of global significance such as the opening of the Drake Passage, which is somehow linked to Late Cenozoic cooling. Many of the topics covered in the book are subjects of heated debates; as such, not only the latest data and approaches are presented, but different points of view as well. The chapters examine the interrelation between main geodynamic processes and plate tectonics from a multidisciplinary perspective. This Paleozoic-Cenozoic geodynamic evolution of the Southernmost Andes involved interrelated metamorphic, magmatic, sedimentary, and deformational processes directed by plate tectonics. The main topics cover the evolution of the Rocas Verdes basin and the Cordillera Darwin high-grade metamorphic complex, growth of the Patagonian Batholith, development of the Patagonian Orocline, the opening of the Drake Passage during growth of the Scotia Sea, evolution of the Austral-Magallanes foreland basin and its related fold and thrust belt.

Atlas of Deformed and Metamorphosed Rocks from Proterozoic Orogens is a richly illustrated reference book featuring over 660 full-color field images of a range of lithologies from some Proterozoic terrains that were subjected to multiple events of magmatism, deformation, metamorphism, and metasomatism. The Atlas focuses on amphibolite to granulite facies lithologies and associated ma?c-ultrama?c rocks from Proterozoic orogens of India, Sri Lanka, Botswana, South Africa, East Antarctica, and Western Australia. Each chapter in the book begins with a brief review of geology, including deformation and metamorphic history, along with a regional geological map to help readers to visualize the ?eld observations in the relevant geological context. Each image is accompanied by a concise description providing location, lithology, structural fabric, possible deformational history, metamorphic features, partial melting, metasomatism, and other important crustal processes. This Atlas is an important source of information for a broad range of earth scientists, graduate and undergraduate students, researchers, academicians, and other professionals. This book will form a great treasure to those geoscientists who never had an opportunity to visit any of the Proterozoic orogenic belts. Features over 660 full-color photographs representing typical lithologies and associated structural, metamorphic features, and other crustal processes from different Proterozoic orogens Highlights the significance of field photographs in advancing new knowledge which may provide pathways for new research Covers many important Proterozoic terranes of East Gondwana Presents regional geologic maps from each Proterozoic orogen

Antarctic Climate Evolution, Second Edition, enhances our understanding of the history of the world’s largest ice sheet, and how it responded to and influenced climate change during the Cenozoic. It includes terrestrial and marine geology, sedimentology, glacier geophysics and ship-borne geophysics, coupled with results from numerical ice sheet and climate modeling. The book’s content largely mirrors the structure of the Past Antarctic Ice Sheets (PAIS) program (www.scar.org/science/pais), formed to investigate past changes in Antarctica by supporting multidisciplinary global research. This new edition reflects recent advances and is updated with several new chapters, including those covering marine and terrestrial life changes, ice shelves, advances in numerical modeling, and increasing coverage of rates of change. The approach of the PAIS program has led to substantial improvement in our knowledge base of past Antarctic change and our understanding of the factors that have guided its evolution. Offers an overview of Antarctic climate change, analyzing historical, present-day and future developments Provides the latest information on subjects ranging from terrestrial and marine geology to sedimentology and glacier geophysics in the context of Antarctic evolution Fully updated to include expanded coverage of rates of change, advances in numerical modeling, marine and terrestrial life changes, ice shelves, and more