West Antarctic Rift System

The West Antarctic Rift System is a series of rift valleys between East and West Antarctica.[1] It encompasses the Ross Embayment, the Ross Sea, the area under the Ross Ice Shelf and a part of Marie Byrd Land in West Antarctica,[2] reaching to the base of the Antarctic Peninsula.[1] It has an estimated length of 3,000 km (1,900 mi) and a width of approximately 700 km (430 mi).[1] Its evolution is due to lithospheric thinning of an area of Antarctica that resulted in the demarcation of East and West Antarctica. The scale and evolution of the rift system has been compared to that of the Basin and Range Province of the Western United States.[1][3]

Map of Antarctica showing West Antarctic Rift System in rose shading

Geology
West Antarctic Rift System (between red dash lines). Dots are geologic drill holes. Insert map shows approximate extent.

Exploration of the geology of the West Antarctic Rift System is limited because apart from peaks of the Transantarctic Mountains that protrude above the ice, much of the region is covered by the Ross Ice Shelf and the vast West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Several mountain ranges are located at the eastern boundary in Marie Byrd Land.[4] Consequently, the rift is less well known than other major rift valley systems. It is known, however, that like the East African Rift, the West Antarctic Rift System comprises a number of much shorter rifts that cross Antarctica. Beneath the floor of the Ross Sea four rift basins have been detected by marine seismic reflections surveys.[5] Rift basins have been mapped under the West Antarctic Ice Sheet[6] including the Bentley Subglacial Trench.

Evolution

Rifting began in the Late Cretaceous as a result of tectonic extension (stretching and thinning of the crust and mantle) in approximately an east–west orientation, by plate tectonics processes.[7] The extension within the Ross Embayment occurred over four time periods and totals 500 kilometers or more,[7] mostly before the late Miocene.[8] The first phase happened in the east near Marie Byrd Land[4] before the Campbell Plateau of Zealandia broke away from Antarctica in the Late Cretaceous.[9]

A second phase during the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene extended the central areas of the embayment.[10][7] This extension was at least 130 kilometers.[7]

A third phase is related to 170-180 kilometers of Eocene and Oligocene seafloor spreading in the western parts of the embayment on the Adare Trough or basin in the deep-sea.[11][12] This episode of sea floor spreading created the ocean crust that now underlies much of the Northern Basin.[13][12] This phase also resulted in extension of the Victoria Land Basin (95 km[12][14]).

A small amount of extension (~7 kilometers) occurred in the Adare basin[15] and Victoria Land Basin (10-15 kilometers) in a fourth phase during Miocene time.[16] Displacement including minor extension in the western WARS and Ross Embayment computed from reconstruction of oceanic magnetic anomalies ended 11 million years ago.[8]

During the Eocene to Miocene clockwise relative rotation of West Antarctica with respect to East Antarctica resulted in extension in the western Ross Embayment but contraction, in Marie Byrd Land of West Antarctica.[8] Subsidence to form the present topography of the embayment continued through the Cenozoic as the extended crust and mantle under the Ross Embayment cooled.[7] Faulting within the Terror Rift, located in the Victoria Land Basin, continued after 11 Ma, and probably into or through Quaternary time.[17]  

Although most rifts within the West Antarctic Rift System are no longer active, geodetic surveys show that West Antarctica is moving away from East Antarctica in a north/northeasterly direction (approximately in the direction of the South Georgia Islands) at a rate of not greater than 1-2 millimetres per year (0.079 in/year) or 500,000 years per kilometre (800,000 years per mile).[18]

The West Antarctic Rift System is the source of all the recently active volcanoes within Antarctica and all the recently active volcanoes on the continent.[19][20] It is responsible for most of the major mountain systems outside the Antarctic Peninsula. Volcanism has been attributed to the rifting and also a mantle hotspot.[21]

Glaciology

The WARS is also believed to have a major influence on ice flows in West Antarctica. In western Marie Byrd Land active glaciers flow through fault-bounded valleys (grabens) of the WARS.[2] Sub-ice volcanism has been detected and proposed to influence ice flow.[22] Fast-moving ice streams in the Siple Coast adjacent to the east edge of the Ross Ice Shelf are influenced by the lubrication provided by water-saturated till within fault-bounded grabens within the rift,[23][24] which could cause rapid breakup of the ice sheet if global warming accelerates.[25]

References
  1. Behrendt, J.C.; LeMasurier, W.E.; Cooper, A.K.; Tessensohn, F.; Tréhu, A.; Damaske, D. (1991). "Geophysical studies of the West Antarctic Rift System". Tectonics. 10 (6): 1257–1273. doi:10.1029/91TC00868.
  2. Luyendyk, Bruce P.; Wilson, Douglas S.; Siddoway, Christine S. (2003-10-01). "Eastern margin of the Ross Sea Rift in western Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica: Crustal structure and tectonic development". Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 4 (10). doi:10.1029/2002GC000462. ISSN 1525-2027.
  3. Tessensohn, F., and G. Wörner. 1991. "The Ross Sea rift system, Antarctica: structure, evolution and analogues." In Geological Evolution of Antarctica, edited by M.R.A. Thomson, J.A. Crame and J.W. Thomson, 273-277. Cambridge University Press.
  4. Richard, S. M.; Smith, C. H.; Kimbrough, D. L.; Fitzgerald, P. G.; Luyendyk, B. P.; McWilliams, M. O. (1994-08-01). "Cooling history of the northern Ford Ranges, Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica". Tectonics. 13 (4): 837–857. doi:10.1029/93TC03322. ISSN 1944-9194.
  5. Cooper, A. K., P. F.  Barker, and G. Brancolini, eds. 1995. Geology and Seismic Stratigraphy of the Antarctic Margin, Atlas, CD-ROMs. Vol. 68, Antarctic Research Series. Washington, D.C.: American Geophysical Union.
  6. Bell, R.E., M. Studinger, Karner G., Finn C.A., and D.D.  Blankenship. 2006. "Identifying Major Sedimentary Basins Beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet from Aeromagnetic Data Analysis." In Antarctica. , edited by Fütterer D.K., Damaske D., Kleinschmidt G., Miller H. and Tessensohn F., 117-121. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.
  7. Wilson, Douglas S.; Luyendyk, Bruce P. (2009-08-01). "West Antarctic paleotopography estimated at the Eocene-Oligocene climate transition". Geophysical Research Letters. 36 (16). doi:10.1029/2009GL039297. ISSN 1944-8007.
  8. Granot, Roi; Dement, Jérôme (2018-08-09). "Late Cenozoic unification of East and West Antarctica". Nature Communications. 9 (1): 3189. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-05270-w. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 6085322. PMID 30093679.
  9. Lawver, L. A., and L. M. Gahagan. 1994. "Constraints on timing of extension in the Ross Sea region."  Terra Antartica1:545-552.
  10. Cande, S. C., and J. M. Stock. 2004. "Constraints on Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic Extension in the Ross Sea from the Southwest Pacific Plate Circuit."  EOS (American Geophysical Union Transactions)85 (47): Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract T14A-03.
  11. Ishihara, Takemi; Müller, R. Dietmar; Stock, Joann M.; Cande, Steven C. (2000). "Cenozoic motion between East and West Antarctica". Nature. 404 (6774): 145–150. doi:10.1038/35004501. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 10724159. S2CID 4399729.
  12. Granot, R.; Cande, S. C.; Stock, J. M.; Damaske, D. (2013-01-28). "Revised Eocene-Oligocene kinematics for the West Antarctic rift system" (PDF). Geophysical Research Letters. 40 (2): 279–284. doi:10.1029/2012GL054181. ISSN 1944-8007.
  13. Davey, F. J.; Granot, R.; Cande, S. C.; Stock, J. M.; Selvans, M.; Ferraccioli, F. (2016-06-28). "Synchronous oceanic spreading and continental rifting in West Antarctica" (PDF). Geophysical Research Letters. 43 (12): 6162–6169. doi:10.1002/2016GL069087. ISSN 1944-8007.
  14. Davey, F. J.; Cande, S. C.; Stock, J. M. (2006-10-01). "Extension in the western Ross Sea region-links between Adare Basin and Victoria Land Basin" (PDF). Geophysical Research Letters. 33 (20). doi:10.1029/2006GL027383. ISSN 1944-8007.
  15. Granot, R.; Cande, S. C.; Stock, J. M.; Davey, F. J.; Clayton, R. W. (2010-08-01). "Postspreading rifting in the Adare Basin, Antarctica: Regional tectonic consequences" (PDF). Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 11 (8): n/a. doi:10.1029/2010GC003105. ISSN 1525-2027.
  16. Henrys, Stuart; et al. (2007-07-16). "USGS Open-File Report 2007-1047, Short Research Paper 049". Tectonic History of Mid-Miocene to Present Southern Victoria Land Basin, Inferred from Seismic Stratigraphy in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. 2007 (1047srp049). doi:10.3133/of2007-1047.srp049. ISSN 0196-1497.
  17. Sauli, C., C. C. Sorlien, M. Busetti, L. De Santis, N. Wardell, S. Henrys, R. Geletti, T. Wilson, B. Luyendyk, 2015, Neogene development of Terror Rift, western Ross Sea, Antarctica, Abstract T51F-2965 presented at 2015 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 14-18 Dec.
  18. Donnellan, Andrea; Luyendyk, Bruce (2004-07-01). "GPS evidence for a coherent Antarctic plate and for postglacial rebound in Marie Byrd Land". Global and Planetary Change. 42 (1–4): 305–311. doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2004.02.006. ISSN 0921-8181.
  19. LeMasurier, W.E.; Thomson, J.W.; Baker, P.E.; Kyle, P.R.; Rowley, P.D.; Smellie, J.L.; Verwoerd, W.J., eds. (1990). Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans. Antarctic Research Series. 48. doi:10.1029/ar048. ISBN 978-0-87590-172-5. ISSN 0066-4634.
  20. van Wyk de Vries, Maximillian; Bingham, Robert G.; Hein, Andrew S. (2017-05-29). "A new volcanic province: an inventory of subglacial volcanoes in West Antarctica". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 461 (1): 231–248. doi:10.1144/sp461.7. ISSN 0305-8719.
  21. Winberry, J. Paul; Anandakrishnan, Sridhar (2004-11-01). "Crustal structure of the West Antarctic rift system and Marie Byrd Land hotspot". Geology. 32 (11): 977–980. doi:10.1130/G20768.1. ISSN 0091-7613.
  22. Blankenship, Donald D.; Bell, Robin E.; Hodge, Steven M.; Brozena, John M.; Behrendt, John C.; Finn, Carol A. (1993). "Active volcanism beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet and implications for ice-sheet stability". Nature. 361 (6412): 526–529. doi:10.1038/361526a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4267792.
  23. Studinger, Michael; Bell, Robin E.; Blankenship, Donald D.; Finn, Carol A.; Arko, Robert A.; Morse, David L.; Joughin, Ian (2001-09-15). "Subglacial sediments: A regional geological template for ice flow in West Antarctica". Geophysical Research Letters. 28 (18): 3493–3496. doi:10.1029/2000GL011788. ISSN 1944-8007.
  24. Peters, Leo E.; Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; Alley, Richard B.; Winberry, J. Paul; Voigt, Donald E.; Smith, Andrew M.; Morse, David L. (2006-01-01). "Subglacial sediments as a control on the onset and location of two Siple Coast ice streams, West Antarctica". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 111 (B1). doi:10.1029/2005JB003766. ISSN 2156-2202.
  25. Veen, C. J. Van Der; Whillans, I. M. (1993). "New and improved determinations of velocity of Ice Streams B and C, West Antarctica". Journal of Glaciology. 39 (133): 483–590. doi:10.3189/S0022143000016373. ISSN 1727-5652.

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