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First evidence of eclogite facies metamorphism in the Shackleton Range, Antarctica: Trace of a suture between East and West Gondwana?

¹ Institut für Geologie und Mineralogie, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schlossgarten 5a, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
² Mineralogisches Institut der Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany

The Shackleton Range in East Antarctica is part of the Pan-African collisional orogen related to the convergence between East and West Gondwana. In the northern Shackleton Range, alpine-type ultramafic rocks occur as lenses in high-grade gneisses. These include peridotite and pyroxenite that contain garnet and/or spinel in addition to olivine, orthopyroxene, and clinopyroxene. Thermobarometric results are in the range of 20–23 kbar and 710–810 °C, corresponding to a peak metamorphic gradient of 11 °C/km, typical of subduction-zone metamorphism. This finding is the first evidence of eclogite facies metamorphism in the Shackleton Range and, to our knowledge, the first documented eclogite facies ultramafic rocks in a Pan-African orogen. The ultramafic rocks are clear evidence of a suture zone within the northern Shackleton Range, which probably marks the convergence site between East and West Gondwana.

Key Words: Antarctica • Shackleton Range • Pan-African • ultramafic rocks • eclogite facies metamorphism