Terra Australis Orogen: Rodinia breakup and development of the Pacific and Iapetus margins of Gondwana during the Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic

Earth-Science Reviews 69 (2005) 249 – 279 www.elsevier.com/locate/earscirev

Terra Australis Orogen: Rodinia breakup and development of the Pacific and Iapetus margins of Gondwana during the Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic Peter A. Cawood Tectonics Special Research Centre, School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia Tectonics Special Research Centre, Department of Applied Geology, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth WA 6845, Australia Received 5 February 2004; accepted 20 September 2004

Abstract The Pacific Ocean formed through Neoproterozoic rifting of Rodinia and despite a long history of plate convergence, this ocean has never subsequently closed. The record of ocean opening through continental rifting and the inception of ocean convergence through the initiation of subduction are preserved in the Neoproterozoic to late Paleozoic Terra Australis Orogen. The orogen had a pre-dispersal length along the Gondwana margin of approximately 18,000 km and was up to 1600 km wide. It incorporates the Tasman, Ross and Tuhua orogens of Australia, Antarctica and New Zealand, respectively, the Cape Basin of Southern Africa, and Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic orogenic elements along the Andean Cordillera of South America. The Terra Australis Orogen can be divided into a series of basement blocks of either continental or oceanic character that can be further subdivided on the basis of pre-orogenic geographic affinity (Laurentian vs. Gondwanan) and proximity to inferred continental margin sequences (peri-Gondwanan vs. intra-oceanic). These divisions reflect initial tectonic setting and provide an insight into the character of the orogen through time. The orogen incorporates elements that are inferred to have lain outboard of both West and East Laurentia within Rodinia. Subduction of the Pacific Ocean was established at, or close to, the Gondwana margin by around 570 Ma and occurred at about the same time as major global plate reorganization associated with final assembly of Gondwana and the opening of the Iapetus Ocean. The termination of the Terra Australis Orogen at around 300–230 Ma was associated with the assembly of Pangea. It is represented by the Pan-Pacific Gondwanide Orogeny and is marked in east Gondwana by a stepping out in the position of the plate boundary and commencement of the classic late Paleozoic to Mesozoic Gondwanide Orogen. The Pacific has been cited as an example of the declining stage of the Wilson cycle of ocean basins. However, its protracted history of ongoing subduction and the absence of any indication of major continental collisions contrasts with the clear evidence for opening and closing of oceans preserved in the Iapetus/Atlantic and Tethyan realms. The Terra Australis and other orogens that bound the Pacific are accretionary orogens and did not form through the classic Wilson cycle. D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Terra Australis; Rodinia; Gondwana; Neoproterozoic; Accretionary orogen; Orogeny

E-mail address: [email protected]. 0012-8252/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2004.09.001

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1. Introduction The breakup of the end-Mesoproterozoic supercontinent Rodinia and its transformation into the endNeoproterozoic to Paleozoic supercontinent Gondwana is recorded in the life cycle of four main ocean basins and their margins: the Mirovoi, Mozambique, Pacific and Iapetus oceans (Fig. 1). At the end of the Mesoproterozoic, Rodinia is envisaged to have been surrounded by the single, Pan-Rodinian Mirovoi Ocean (McMenamin and McMenamin, 1990; Hoffman, 1991; Meert and Powell, 2001). The breakout of Laurentia from the core of Rodinia resulted in the opening of the Pacific and Iapetus oceans along the western and eastern margins of Laurentia, respectively, and closure of the remnants of the Mirovoi Ocean, termed in part the Mozambique Ocean by Dalziel (1991, 1997), leading to amalgamation of Gondwana by the end-Neoproterozoic (Collins and Windley, 2002). Major cratonic blocks that broke off Rodinia (e.g., the constituent fragments of West and East Gondwana and Baltica) were themselves fragmented through the formation (and ultimate closure) of additional oceanic tracts (e.g., Brasiliano and Adamastor oceans, and Tornquist’s Sea). Fig. 2. Distribution of Terra Australis Orogen (in yellow) along the margin of East and West Gondwana showing location of East Australian, Antarctic and South American segments. East African and Pinjarra orogens (in green) are part of the Neoproterozoic PanAfrican orogenic tracts responsible for assembly of Gondwana (pink). Extension of Pinjarra Orogen across Antarctica through Lake Vostok to Pensacola and Queen Maud Mountains based on (Fitzsimons, 2003a; see also Studinger et al., 2003). Red line depicts approximate limit of Gondwanan cratonic basement beneath the Terra Australis Orogen.

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the Neoproterozoic transition from Rodinia into Gondwana through closure of the Mirovoi and Mozambique oceans and the opening of the Pacific and Iapetus oceans. The Terra Australis Orogen lies along the Pacific and Iapetus oceanic margins of Gondwana. Vertical scale shows age in millions of years (Ma). TAO—Terra Australis Orogen; RDT—rift to drift transition.

The Pacific and Iapetus oceans formed through Neoproterozoic rifting of Rodinia. The Iapetus Ocean provides the type example of the Wilson cycle with formation of the Appalachian–Caledonian Orogen through ocean closure and continental collision (Wilson, 1966). In contrast, the Pacific Ocean has never completely closed and is bounded by accretionary orogens formed through ongoing cycles of plate convergence. The ocean has been bounded throughout its history by West Laurentian and East Gondwanan continental margins (Bell and Jefferson, 1987; Dalziel, 1991; Hoffman, 1991; Moores, 1991) and although the original relationship between these

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continental masses is uncertain (compare Borg and DePaolo, 1991; Moores, 1991; Li et al., 1995, 1996; Burrett and Berry, 2000; Karlstrom et al., 2001; Wingate et al., 2002; Kro¨ner and Cordani, 2003; Pisarevsky et al., 2003), they provide a remarkable record of the ocean’s development from the Neoproterozoic to the Recent (Coney et al., 1990; Coney, 1992; Dickinson, 2004). The record of initiation of the Pacific and Iapetus margins of Gondwana and the subsequent inception of convergent plate interaction is preserved in a Neoproterozoic to late Paleozoic orogenic belt here termed the Terra Australis Orogen (Fig. 2). The orogen forms a fundamental crustal element that extends along the margin of Gondwana. Previous work has concentrated on individual segments within the orogen, reflecting in part the geographic convenience of the intracontinental segments of the orogen preserved in Australasia, Antarctica, South Africa and South America rather than the geologic reality of the intercontinental distribution and original continuity of related tectonostratigraphic rock units. The aim of this paper is to outline the distribution and character of the Terra Australis Orogen, concentrating on the differentiation and development of the major tectonic elements of the orogen in the late Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic interval, synthesizing along- and across-strike comparison of rock units and discussing termination of the orogen at the end of the Paleozoic.

2. Definition and tectonic framework The Terra Australis Orogen extends from the northeast1 coast of Australia, south through Tasmania, New Zealand, the Transantarctic Mountains and the Antarctic Peninsula, across the tip of southern Africa and into South America (Fig. 2). The orogen commenced with the establishment of continental margin sequences along the Australian/East Antarctic segment of East Gondwana in the mid-Neoproterozoic, through opening of the Pacific Ocean, and along West Gondwana in the late Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic, through opening of the Iapetus Ocean. Assembly of the various continental blocks of East 1

Geographic directions refer to present day co-ordinates.

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and West Gondwana into a coherent Gondwana supercontinent along the East African, Pinjarra, Damara and Braziliano orogens (Pan-African) by the early Paleozoic (Collins and Windley, 2002; Meert, 2003) resulted in propagation of the Terra Australis Orogen along the entire Pacific/Iapetus margin of Gondwana (Fig. 3). The history of the Terra Australis Orogen terminated at about 300–230 Ma with the Pan-Pacific Gondwana margin orogenic event, the Gondwanide Orogeny (du Toit, 1937; Veevers and Powell, 1994; Ramos and Aleman, 2000; Veevers, 2000). This heralded the commencement of the classic late Paleozoic to Mesozoic Gondwanide Orogen, which in eastern Australia and Antarctica involved a stepping out in the position of the plate boundary, whereas in South America, the plate boundary remained relative fixed with younger units superimposed directly on pre-existing tectonic elements. The Terra Australis Orogen had an along-strike, predispersal length of approximately 18,000 km and an across-strike width of up to 1600 km (Fig. 2). The inboard margin of the orogen is taken as the cratonward extent of deformation, which is best preserved in eastern Australia and corresponds with the Torrens Hinge Line, marking the limit of the CambroOrdovician Delamerian Orogeny. Elsewhere the boundary is masked by younger deposits, including ice in Antarctica, and orogenic events that postdate the Terra Australis Orogen. The outboard margin of the orogen is either not exposed, lying beyond the coastline of the continental fragments in which the orogen is preserved, and/or is overprinted by Gondwanide and younger orogenic belts (e.g., Andes). The orogen has not been traced beyond the northwestern tip of South America in western Gondwana and northeastern Australia in eastern Gondwana. The northern segment of South America, extending into northwest Africa, is inferred to have consisted of a series of terranes (Avalonia–Carolina–Cadomia) that rifted off Gondwana in the early Paleozoic and were accreted to Laurentia during the early to late Paleozoic (Keppie et al., 2003). In New Guinea, directly along strike from northeast Australia, Crowhurst et al. (2004) noted the presence of zircon cores of Ordovician to Carboniferous age in Triassic magmatic arc rocks, suggesting that Paleozoic material similar in age to the Terra Australis Orogen may extend north into this region (cf. Van Wyck and Williams, 2002).

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Fig. 3. Paleogeographic reconstruction of Gondwana at around 530 Ma, the time of final assembly of the West (blue) and East (green) segments of the supercontinent through the Pan-African orogenic system (adapted from Cawood et al., 2001). Terra Australis, Caledonian–Appalachian and Avalonian orogenic tracts shown in yellow. AM—Amazonia, ANT—Antarctica, AUS—Australia, AV—Avalon, C–SF—Congo–Sao Francisco, IND—India, K—Kalahari, LAUR—Laurentia, RP—Rio de la Plata, WA—West Africa.

The orogen has traditionally been divided into a series of separate structural units based on the timing and nature of orogenic activity and on the geographic disposition of units. It thus incorporates the Adelaide/Delamerian Fold Belt (Orogen) and its alongstrike equivalents, namely the Ross Fold Belt, the Lachlan, Thomson, Tuhua and New England fold belts of eastern Australia and New Zealand, and the Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic rock units underlying the South America Cordillera. The orogen crosses the tip of southern Africa where Paleozoic sediments of the Cape Supergroup that unconformably overlie the Neoproterozoic basement of the Saldania Belt, which is part of the Pan-African orogenic system, and the Cape Granite suite (550–510 Ma; Rozendaal et al., 1999). The concept of the Terra Australis Orogen representing a Proterozoic to Paleozoic orogenic tract along the Pan-Pacific margin to Gondwana parallels that of the Samfrau Geosyncline (du Toit, 1937). The Samfrau Geosyncline was introduced by du Toit (1937) to link similar rock units and events of Silurian to early Cretaceous age extending from New Guinea to South America and constituted an important element in justifying the existence of Gondwana. However, the Samfrau Geosyncline excluded the

Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic rock units of the East Gondwana margin, including the Adelaide–Ross fold belts, and included late Paleozoic to Mesozoic units that are now part of the separate, temporally discrete Gondwanide Orogen.

3. Lithotectonic subdivision Traditional divisions of specific segments of the Terra Australis Orogen have generally been based on structural overprints related to late orogenic events, for example, individual fold belts/orogens of eastern Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica (Leitch, 1974; Stump, 1995; Scheibner, 1996). Preiss (see also Drexel et al., 1993; Drexel and Preiss, 1995) recognized the importance of differentiating depositional and orogenic belts with the Neoproterozoic depositional basin of the Adelaidean succession, which he refers to as the Adelaide Geosyncline, separated from early Paleozoic deformational boundaries, the Delamerian Fold Belt (also known as the Adelaide Fold Belt). The Terra Australis Orogen is herein subdivided into a series of sequences and assemblages (Fig. 4) on the basis of character and affinities of lithotectonic units. These divisions reflect the initial tectonic setting

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Fig. 4. Distribution of continental margin sequences along East and West Gondwana, and outboard continental and oceanic assemblages. Pan-African orogenic tracts (in green) responsible for assembly of Gondwana cratonic blocks (pink). Small, solid black blocks are Precambrian basement outcrops in peri-Gondwana and Laurentian continental assemblages. Position of Oaxaquia taken from Ramos (2000). W—Mount Windsor; A—Anakie Inlier; A/ Wr—Mount Arrowsmith and Mount Wright; S—Mount Stavely; H&W—Heathcote and Mt. Wellington greenstone belts; R—Mount Read; B—Bowers terrane; RB—Robertson Bay terrane; NZ—New Zealand (includes Buller and Takaka terranes); G—Granite Harbour Intrusives; N—Nimrod; Sa—Saldania Belt; Pt—Patagonia; SP— Sierra Pampeanas (part of Pampean terrane); C—Cuyania terrane; Ch—Chilenia terrane; AA—Arequipa—Antofella terrane; O— Oaxaquia; M—Merida.

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of the blocks and provide a record of along- and across-strike evolution of the orogen. They include: continental margin sequences that developed along the East and West Gondwana margins during supercontinent breakup and subsequent thermal subsidence; Gondwana margin igneous assemblages that were either emplaced into, or developed outboard of, the continental margin sequences; and a series of parautochthonous to allochthonous assemblages that were progressively accreted to the Gondwana continental margin sequences during the Paleozoic. Continental margin sequences occur along the East and West Gondwana segments of the orogen, outboard of which lie a series of continental and oceanic assemblages of Gondwanan, Laurentian and intraoceanic character. The continental margin sequences record the breakup of Rodinia, whereas the outboard continental and oceanic assemblages record the accretionary history of the Gondwana margin. The outboard limit of the continental margin sequences (Fig. 2) marks the oceanward limit of autochthonous Gondwana basement. This boundary probably corresponds with the original continent–ocean boundary formed during Rodinia continental breakup but has been invariably modified by later events including those that postdate the Terra Australis Orogen. In eastern Australia, this boundary corresponds approximately with the Tasman Line (but see also Hill, 1951; Mills, 1992; Scheibner, 1996; Crawford et al., 2003a,b; Direen and Crawford, 2003b). In Victoria Land, it equates to the eastern boundary of the Wilson terrane (Lanterman Fault), but see Borg et al. (1987), Roland (1991) and Goodge (2002) for a more complete discussion of the location of the boundary in this region. In the central Transantarctic Mountains, the boundary is close to the coast (Goodge, 2002), and in the Antarctic Peninsula, it must lie inboard of the Eastern Domain, which is correlated with the periGondwanan oceanic basement terranes of eastern Australia, New Zealand and Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica (Vaughan and Storey, 2000). In South America, the limit of autochthonous Gondwanan basement corresponds, in the south, with the western margin of the Sierras Pampeanas and, farther north, with the edge of the platform succession (Ramos and Aleman, 2000), which is largely covered by younger foreland deposits of the Andean Cordillera (Milani and Filho, 2000). But note that the Sierras Pampeanas

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forms part of the Pampean terrane, which is inferred to have rifted off the Rio de La Plata craton and was then accreted back during the early Paleozoic Pampean Orogeny (Rapela et al., 1998a,b).

4. Continental margin sequences Continental margin sequences of the Terra Australis Orogen developed on continental lithosphere stabilized within Rodinia, and are divisible into East and West Gondwana sequences, reflecting their contrasting location and the timing of breakup within Rodinia. 4.1. East Gondwana margin East Gondwana continental margin sequences are preserved in the Adelaide Fold Belt (Orogen) of eastern South Australia and its continuation in western New South Wales and western Tasmania, the Ross Fold Belt of the Transantarctic Mountains, and the Anakie Inlier in central Queensland (Fig. 4). They consist of a Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic mixed siliciclastic and carbonate succession, locally intercalated with mafic and felsic igneous rocks. The most complete record of margin evolution is preserved in the low-grade rocks of the Adelaide Fold Belt (Preiss, 1987; Powell et al., 1994). This contains a thick succession of terrestrial and marine sediments that accumulated in a series of rift and basinal successions between about 830 and 500 Ma, when sedimentation ceased. The sequence was then deformed during the Cambro-Ordovician Delamerian Orogeny (Preiss, 1987; Drexel et al., 1993; Powell et al., 1994; Drexel and Preiss, 1995). The western margin of the succession lies at the Torrens Hinge Zone (Thomson, 1970) and passes west into time-equivalent platformal strata of the Stuart Shelf. The Torrens Hinge Line not only marks the limit of orogen-related deformation but also the eastern boundary of the Gawler craton and the change from thick sedimentary sequences to the east to thin platformal sedimentation to the west. It is a major crustal feature, up to 25 km wide, that has been variously interpreted as a half-graben fault system, a monoclinal flexure, and a thrust front, active in the Neoproterozoic, Paleozoic, and Cenozoic (Drexel et al., 1993, and references therein). The

western margin of the continental margin successions in southeast Australia is generally considered to lie along the Moyston Fault (Cayley and Taylor, 1991; Cayley and Taylor, 1997; VandenBerg et al., 2000; Korsch et al., 2002, and references therein). This is a long-lived structure that juxtaposes the continental margin sequence against Gondwana ocean margin assemblages that were deformed during mid-Paleozoic orogenesis (450–340 Ma). However, the recent recognition of 500 Ma argon mica cooling ages, inferred to reflect Delamerian orogenesis, to the east of the Moyston Fault, within the Stawell zone, suggests the boundary may lie along the eastern boundary of this zone, the Avoca Fault, or that the Stawell zone represents a transition zone to Delamerian orogenesis (Miller et al., 2003). The Anakie Inlier of central Queensland (Fig. 4) consists of multiply deformed greenschist to amphibolite facies pelitic and psammitic schist, marble, calcsilicate schist, mafic schist and serpentinite (Withnall et al., 1996; Fergusson et al., 2001). Gravity and magnetic data suggest the inlier may extend under cover to the south southwest, along the Nebine gravity ridge (Murray, 1994; Withnall, 1995; Withnall et al., 1996). The inlier includes strata with a maximum age of Cambrian on the basis of detrital zircons as young as 510 Ma (Fergusson et al., 2001). Lithologies within the inlier are considered to represent an extension of those within the Adelaide Fold Belt but are now situated east of the Tasman Line, perhaps due to rifting of the inlier off the craton to form a microcontinental ribbon. In Tasmania, the continental margin sequence includes early Neoproterozoic siliciclastic sedimentary and metasedimentary sequences intruded by mafic igneous rocks and granites, which are dated at around 780–760 Ma, and a younger, late Neoproterozoic sequence of siliciclastics, carbonates and glacials intruded by mafic dykes which formed between 650 and 570 Ma (Turner, 1989; Black et al., 1997; Calver, 1998; Calver and Walter, 2000; Berry et al., 2001; Direen and Crawford, 2003a). Geochemical studies indicate generation of both igneous sequences in a zone of lithospheric extension (Crawford and Berry, 1992; Direen and Crawford, 2003a; Holm et al., 2003). In Antarctica, the along-strike extension of the continental margin sequences of Eastern Australia are

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inferred to lie within the Wilson terrane (Flo¨ttmann et al., 1993; Stump, 1995; Goodge et al., 2002, and references therein). The terrane ranges from low-grade siliciclastic, limestone and calc-silicate lithologies through to their high-grade metamorphic equivalents, migmatitic gneiss and anatectic granite. The western margin of the terrane is covered by the East Antarctic ice sheet. The eastern margin is faulted and in Northern Victoria Land abuts the Bowers terrane along the Lanterman Fault (Gibson, 1987; Stump, 1995). An anatectic granite within the Rennick Schist of the terrane yielded a U–Pb SHRIMP zircon age of 544F4 Ma , inferred to represent the timing of granite crystallization (Black and Sheraton, 1990). The Skelton Group in southern Victoria Land consists of metasedimentary siliciclastic and carbonate rocks containing greenschist to upper amphibolite facies metamorphic assemblages that predate emplacement of a 551F4 Ma granite (Rowell et al., 1993; Cook and Craw, 2002). Pillow basalts interstratified within the metasedimentary sequence have yielded a Sm–Nd mantle separation age of ~750 Ma (Rowell et al., 1993), suggesting a mid-Neoproterozoic depositional age for the Skelton Group, consistent with constraints

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from detrital zircon age signatures (Wysoczanski and Allibone, 2004). In the Central Transantarctic Mountains, between the Byrd and Beardmore glaciers, Goodge et al. (2002) established an age for siliciclastic strata previously mapped as Beardmore Group. They suggested that this sequence, which they refer to as the inboard assemblage, probably accumulated around 670 Ma on the basis of a U–Pb age for a gabbro associated with pillow basalts, which are in turns associated with the sedimentary sequence. The youngest detrital zircons within the sediments are around 1065 Ma and provide a maximum possible depositional age (Goodge et al., 2002). The East Gondwana continental margin sequence overlies Mesoproterozoic or older crystalline basement, the specific age and character of which varies along strike and includes the Gawler Craton and Curnamoma Province in South East Australia (Drexel et al., 1993; Preiss, 2000), and the Nimrod Group of the East Antarctic shield in Antarctica (Goodge et al., 2001). Lithospheric extension, probably related to initiation of Rodinia rifting, commenced in East Australia at around 830 Ma (Fig. 5) on the basis of ages for

Fig. 5. Schematic time–space plot for development of continental margin sequence and outboard peri-Gondwanan and intra-oceanic basement assemblages along the East Gondwana segment of Terra Australis Orogen. MP—Mesoproterozoic; C—Cambrian; O—Ordovician; S—Silurian; D—Devonian; Cb—Carboniferous; P—Permian; Mz—Mesozoic; A—Admiralty Intrusives; Tabb—Tabberabberan; Syd–Bow—Sydney– Bowen Basin; H–B—Hunter–Bowen Orogeny; HP/LT—high pressure–low temperature metamorphism; Pe—Peel eclogite; Mo—Marlborough ophiolite; SSZ—supra-subduction zone.

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volcanic rocks and inferred feeder dykes from near the base of the Adelaidian succession (Wooltana Volcanics, Gairdner dykes, Wingate et al., 1998). Riftrelated magmatic activity also occurred around 780– 750 Ma (e.g., Holm et al., 2003). Estimates of the timing of the rift to drift transition within this sequence, which reflects final continental breakup, generation of the Pacific Ocean and establishment of a passive margin sequence along the East Gondwana margin, range from at least 755 Ma, based on paleomagnetic constraints (and the assumption that Australia was joined to Laurentia; Wingate and Giddings, 2000), prior to 700–800 Ma on inferred age relation within the Skelton Glacier region (Rowell et al., 1993), through 700–680 Ma for the timing of the influx of the first marine sediments (Powell et al., 1994; Preiss, 2000), and to around 600–560 Ma based on extension-related igneous activity in southeastern Australia and a major marine transgression across central Australia (Veevers et al., 1997; Veevers, 2000, 2001; Crawford et al., 2003a,b; Direen and Crawford, 2003a; Veevers, personal communication, 2004). In the Pensacola Mountains, Antarctica, Curtis et al. (1999) recorded Cambrian magmatism that they related to margin rifting. However, these later events overlap with the time of convergent margin igneous activity along the East Gondwana margin (cf. Goodge, 2002; Goodge et al., 2002), suggesting that the Pacific Ocean was already established by the end of the Neoproterozoic and that extension-related igneous activity occurred in an supra-subduction zone setting (cf. Millar and Storey, 1995), perhaps reflecting the carving off of a microcontinental ribbon and not the breakup of the main Australian–Antarctica craton from Rodinia. If the Tasman Line does reflect the original continent–ocean boundary, then the position of the Anakie Inlier to its east suggests that it could form part of a detached lithospheric ribbon off the East Gondwana mainland. Goodge et al. (2002), in a review of timing of rifting of the Australian and Antarctic segments, noted that the true passive margin must have been well established by the end-Neoproterozoic and concurred with Preiss (2000; cf. Rowell et al., 1993) that it was established by 700– 680 Ma (Fig. 5). Stratigraphic, structural and geochronological data document deformation of continental margin sequences during a protracted phase of end-Neoproterozoic

to early Paleozoic tectonism—the Ross/Delamerian Orogeny. This episode resulted in the termination of sedimentation within the continental margin sequences, regional deformation and metamorphism, and widespread granite emplacement. In the Adelaide Fold Belt, U–Pb zircon dating of syn- to post-tectonic granitoids constrains the age of the main Delamerian orogenic phase from ~515 to 490 Ma (Drexel and Preiss, 1995; Foden et al., 1999, 2002a,b), with the main pulse of deformation and metamorphism between 515 and 500 Ma. In the Transantarctic Mountains emplacement of the Granite Harbour Intrusives, drowning of archaeocyathan reefs and the associated development of a clastic sedimentary wedge, and late Cambrian to early Ordovician unconformities (~510–490 Ma) in the Pensacola Mountains, are related to the Ross Orogeny (Stump, 1995; Encarnacio´n and Grunow, 1996; Storey et al., 1996; Myrow et al., 2002). However, an early phase of Ross–Delamerian orogenesis is recognized in Antarctica on the basis of anatectic granite generation in the Wilson terrane at 544F4 Ma (Black and Sheraton, 1990) and sinistral transpressive deformation around 540 Ma in the Nimrod Glacier region (Goodge et al., 1993a,b). 4.2. West Gondwana margin Continental margin sequences along the Andean margin of West Gondwana are largely obscured by later tectonic events associated with the convergent Andean margin. For example, the extensive sequence of Phanerozoic foreland basins developed inboard of the Cordillera (Milani and Filho, 2000) largely cover any sedimentary sequences that developed along the western edge of the Amazonian and Rio de La Plata cratons during lithospheric extension and separation of West Gondwana from its inferred conjugate margin in Rodinia. Data from the central Andes in Chile and Argentina suggest that the original West Gondwana passive margin sequences are probably only preserved beneath Andean overthrusts and may lie outboard of the Arequipa–Antofalla terrane (Ramos, 2000). Cambrian and Ordovician shallow-water platformal cover on autochthonous basement occurs from northern Argentina to Venezuela (Figs. 4 and 6). Deep-water deposits preserved in peri-Gondwanan terranes in the northern Andes, further west of the

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Orogeny and are now largely preserved within the Cape Fold Belt (de Wit, 1992; Ha¨lbich, 1992). The timing of sediment accumulation associated with the initiation of rifting and of the rift–drift transition along the West Gondwana margin is poorly constrained. The bulk of the continental margin strata is Cambrian and younger and, hence, postdates the rift–drift transition associated with opening the Iapetus, which, based on data from the well-preserved inferred conjugate margin in east Laurentia, had occurred by the early Cambrian (530–520 Ma; Cawood et al., 2001).

5. Gondwana margin igneous assemblages

Fig. 6. Schematic time–space plot for development of continental margin sequence and outboard peri-Gondwanan and Laurentian continental basement assemblages along the West Gondwana segment of Terra Australis Orogen. MP—Mesoproterozoic; C— Cambrian; O—Ordovician; S—Silurian; D—Devonian; Cb—Carboniferous; P—Permian; Mz—Mesozoic; SP—Sierra Pampeanas Belt; FA—Famantina Arc; SSZ—supra-subduction zone.

platform succession, are inferred to represent the original offshore facies of the platform sequences (Ramos and Aleman, 2000, and references therein). These consist of Cambrian to Devonian medium- to fine-grained largely siliciclastic strata and minor carbonates with Gondwana–South American faunas that locally unconformably overlie Precambrian basement inliers (Aleman and Ramos, 2000, and references therein). Isotopic studies indicate the basement is largely Grenvillian (1300–1000 Ma) or older, but locally contains a record of Brasiliano events (700– 550 Ma; Kroonenberg, 1982; Priem et al., 1989; Restrepo-Pace et al., 1997; Ruiz et al., 1999; Aleman and Ramos, 2000). In southern Africa, the continental margin succession is represented by the Cape Supergroup, a 6–10km-thick succession of siliciclastic sedimentary rocks that range in age from late Cambrian (~500 Ma) to early Carboniferous (~330 Ma) (Broquet, 1992), which were deformed during the Gondwanaide

Igneous rocks of predominantly convergent margin character occur associated with the continental margin successions, as well as outboard, but proximal, to the margin (Fig. 4). They are predominantly CambroOrdovician in age and are generally associated with shallow marine or terrestrial siliciclastic strata. They include the Mount Windsor province of northeast Queensland (Henderson, 1986; Stolz, 1995), the Mt. Wright Volcanics of western New South Wales (Crawford et al., 1997), the Mount Stavely belt of western Victoria (Crawford, 1988; Crawford et al., 1996), western Tasmanian sequences (Crawford and Berry, 1992), the Bowers terrane of North Victoria Land, Antarctica (Weaver et al., 1984; Cooper et al., 1996), the Takaka terrane, New Zealand (Cooper and Tulloch, 1992; Mu¨nker and Cooper, 1995; Mu¨nker, 2000), the Delamerian granites of southeast Australia (Foden et al., 1999, 2002a,b), the Granite Harbour Intrusives and related bodies of East Antarctica (Encarnacio´ n and Grunow, 1996; Allibone and Wysoczanski, 2002; Vogel et al., 2002) and the Western Sierras Pampeanas and Famatina belts of Argentina (Rapela et al., 1998a,b; Ramos, 2000). The geochemical signature of mafic igneous rocks in the Takaka and Bowers terranes shows an oceanic signature (Weaver et al., 1984; Mu¨nker and Cooper, 1995; Mu¨nker, 2000). The igneous sequences within these two terranes are interstratified with, or overlain by, Gondwana-derived siliciclastic strata (Cooper et al., 1996; Cooper, 1997) constraining their formation and development close to the Gondwana margin. The oldest dated igneous bodies within this assemblage

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occur in East Antarctica and have yielded late Neoproterozoic ages around 550 Ma but with the bulk of the ages in this region between 540 and 480 Ma (Rowell et al., 1993; Encarnacio´n and Grunow, 1996; Allibone and Wysoczanski, 2002; Vogel et al., 2002). The Sierra Pampeanas and Famatina belts of Late Cambrian to Middle Ordovician age (510–460 Ma) lie along the western margin of the Pampean Craton, a peri-Gondwanan terrane rifted off the Rio de La Plata Craton (Ramos, 2000; Ramos and Aleman, 2000). The convergent margin geochemical character of the igneous bodies (Mu¨nker and Cooper, 1995; Encarnacio´ n and Grunow, 1996; Rapela et al., 1998a,b; Mu¨nker, 2000; Mu¨nker and Crawford, 2000; Allibone and Wysoczanski, 2002; Foden et al., 2002a,b) and their association with the passive margin sequences indicate that they record a major phase of subduction, which occurred at the Gondwana continental margin at the beginning of the Paleozoic and resulted in termination of passive margin sedimentation. In addition to the convergent plate margin magmatism, latest Neoproterozoic to Cambrian extensionrelated magmatic activity is recognized along the margin in parts of Antarctica, southern Africa and South America (Hall et al., 1995; Curtis et al., 1999; Read et al., 2002; Rapela et al., 2003). Magmatic activity ranges in age from ~550 to 500 Ma (Armstrong et al., 1998; Da Silva et al., 2000; Rapela et al., 2003) and included a range of A-type, I-type and S-type intrusives, peralkaline extrusives and carbonatites. The extension-related magmatism is time equivalent with convergent plate magmatism along the Gondwana margin and may reflect supra-subduction zone extension related to formation of a marginal sea and rifting off of a micro-continental ribbon (cf. Rapela et al., 2003).

6. Parautochthonous and allochthonous assemblages Outboard of the Gondwana continental margin sequences are a series of parautochthonous to allochthonous assemblages comprising Gondwanaand Laurentian-derived continental lithosphere, oceanic lithosphere that formed at, or near, the Gondwana

margin, and oceanic lithosphere that lay in an intraoceanic setting removed from either the Gondwanan or Laurentian margins. 6.1. Peri-Gondwanan continental basement assemblages Along the Andean segment of Gondwana are a series of crustal fragments consisting of Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic cover successions that accumulated on Precambrian continental crust (Fig. 4). These include the Merida terrane of Venezuela, the Arequipa–Antofalla and Pampean terranes of Chile and Peru, the Famatina terrane of Argentina and the Patagonian terrane of Argentina and Chile (Rapela et al., 1998a,b; Aleman and Ramos, 2000; Ramos, 2000; Ramos and Aleman, 2000). Geochemical and isotopic data for Precambrian basement outcrops (Fig. 4) along the Andean segment of Gondwana show evidence for Paleoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic protolith ages overprinted by late Mesoproterozoic and occasionally Neoproterozoic deformation and metamorphism (Aleman and Ramos, 2000; Jailard et al., 2000; Ramos, 2000). Late Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic sediments associated with the basement blocks contain Gondwanan faunas and the blocks are interpreted to represent parautochthonous fragments of the West Gondwana craton that were accreted to Gondwana during the Grenville or Brasiliano orogenic cycles (Wasteneys et al., 1995; Ramos and Aleman, 2000, and references therein). The Arequipa–Antofall and Pampean cratons contain Paleoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic basement, locally with a Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic cover. These sequences were remobilized in Ordovician times when a magmatic arc developed that, in turn, was succeeded by Late Ordovician collisionrelated igneous activity (Conti et al., 1982; Davidson et al., 1983; Ramos, 1988b; Wasteneys et al., 1995). The terranes are interpreted to represent microcontinental ribbon fragments rafted from Gondwana during late Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic opening of the Iapetus Ocean. The blocks remained marginal to Gondwana and were re-accreted during closure of the intervening marginal sea in the early Paleozoic (Bahlburg and Herve´, 1997; Rapela et al., 1998a,b; Keppie and Ramos, 1999; Ramos and Aleman, 2000).

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The Patagonian segment of the Terra Australis Orogen is separated from the rest of South America by a major fault and comprises a series of Precambrian basement blocks with an early Paleozoic, predominantly siliciclastic cover preserved in the Somun Cura and Deseado massifs and the Patagonian Precordillera (Ramos and Aguirre-Urreta, 2000). Basement rocks in the Somun Cura and Deseado massifs have yielded Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic ages (Ramos and Aguirre-Urreta, 2000; Pankhurst et al., 2003). The age of metasedimentary basement and granitic rocks from the Deseado Massif indicate a similar evolution to adjacent South America and the Antarctica Peninsula, indicating a parautochthonous Gondwana origin for the basement (Pankhurst et al., 2003). 6.2. Peri-Gondwanan oceanic basement assemblages Paleozoic sedimentary sequences deposited on oceanic lithosphere that formed at or near Gondwana occur within southeastern Australia, within the Northern Victoria Land (Robertson Bay terrane), Marie Byrd Land and Antarctic Peninsula segments of Antarctica, and in the Buller terrane of New Zealand (Fig. 4). Basement consists of base-faulted belts of mostly altered mafic and ultramafic rocks (disrupted ophiolites) that are best preserved in the central Victorian and western Tasmanian segments of southeastern Australia (Berry and Crawford, 1988; Crawford, 1988; VandenBerg et al., 2000; Crawford et al., 2003a,b; Spaggiari et al., 2002, 2003, 2004). They are structurally disrupted, and their ages are not well constrained. In Victoria, they are locally conformably overlain by middle Cambrian shale and tuff (Crawford, 1988; Fergusson, 1997), which together with available radiometric constraints (summarized in Spaggiari et al., 2004) indicate an age around 505–500 Ma. In Tasmania, a minimum age for the ophiolite sequences is provided by ultramafic detritus in late Middle to early Late Cambrian sedimentary rocks (Crawford and Berry, 1992) and Brown (1986) reported an unpublished U–Pb zircon age of ~520 Ma and Black et al. (1997) a SHRIMP zircon age of 514 F5 Ma for late stage mafic– ultramafic complexes. The presence of boninites and the overall geochemical composition of the mafic rocks indicate generation in a supra-subduction zone

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environment (Crawford and Keays, 1978, 1987; Crawford et al., 1984, 2003a,b; Brown and Jenner, 1989). Voluminous Ordovician quartz-rich turbidites and black shale, conformably overlying the oceanic substrate, characterise the ocean margin sequences (Cas, 1983; Cas and Vandenberg, 1988; Coney, 1992; Coney et al., 1990; Fergusson, 2003, and references therein; Fergusson and Vandenberg, 2003). The siliciclastic-rich Western Province of New Zealand (Buller terrane), the Byrd Group of East Antarctica and the Eastern Domain of the Antarctic Peninsula form part of this sequence (Cooper and Tulloch, 1992; Vaughan and Storey, 2000; Goodge et al., 2002). In eastern Australia, they are associated with volcanic, volcaniclastic and high-level intrusive magmatic arc rocks (e.g., Macquarie Volcanic Belt; Webby, 1976; Glen et al., 1998). This region was also the site of widespread Silurian and early Devonian deformation (e.g., Tabberabberan Orogeny) and silicic magmatism of probable convergent margin magmatic arc origin (Powell, 1984; Collins, 2002; Gray et al., 2003). Detrital zircon data from the turbidite sequences indicate derivation from, and accumulation adjacent to, Gondwana (Ireland, 1992; Ireland and Gibson, 1998; Veevers, 2000; Fergusson and Fanning, 2002; Goodge et al., 2002). Deformation in the Early Devonian and in the Early Carboniferous, and the emplacement of Late Carboniferous granites, related to a convergent boundary farther east, are the last major episodes in the development of this assemblage (Collins and Vernon, 1992; Scheibner, 1998). In West Gondwana, marginal basins separated the peri-Gondwanan continental assemblages from the craton. Direct evidence for their existence is largely lacking and their presence is inferred from CambroOrdovician supra-subduction zone igneous rock units (e.g., Sierras Pampeanas Belt and Famantina Arc) generated during the inferred closure of these basins (Quenardelle and Ramos, 1999). 6.3. Intra-oceanic sequences Intra-oceanic sequences occur in the New England region of eastern Australia, where a series of fault-bounded convergent plate margin elements are exposed, and as disrupted ophiolitic slivers along the boundary between the Cuyania and Chilenia

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terranes of South America (Fig. 4). In contrast to the oceanic substrate of the ocean margin sequences, the intra-oceanic sequences were not only initiated in an oceanic environment, but their subsequent development occurred away from a continental influence, prior to their late accretion to the Gondwana margin. In the New England region, intra-oceanic elements include an inferred magmatic arc and associated arcflanking sedimentary basin which contains volcaniclastic detritus as old as Middle Cambrian (Cawood, 1976, 1983; Cawood and Leitch, 1985; Stewart, 1995), and accreted Pacific oceanic crustal sequences represented by imbricate thrust slices in a Paleozoic accretionary complex (Cawood, 1982a, 1984a,b; Fergusson, 1985). These are separated by a fault zone (Peel Fault System) containing an Early Cambrian (c. 530 Ma) ophiolite of supra-subduction zone character (Aitchison and Ireland, 1995), along with blocks of late Neoproterozoic eclogite (Watanabe et al., 1998), and middle Ordovician high P/T metamorphic phacoids embedded in serpentinite melange (Fukui et al., 1995). Although contacts between exposed intraoceanic elements are faulted, their character and distribution suggest development in an east-facing arc with the Cambrian ophiolite separating, and underlying, the western arc-flanking basin from the eastern accretionary prism (Leitch, 1974; Leitch, 1975; Cawood and Leitch, 1985; Holcombe et al., 1997a,b; Jenkins et al., 2002). The history of this region in the Late Ordovician and Silurian is fragmentary, but likely involved at least some periods of convergent margin activity, which dominate throughout the Devonian and Carboniferous (Leitch, 1974; Cawood and Leitch, 1985; Cawood, 1991). There is little evidence for a continental influence in this region until the Carboniferous (Cawood and Leitch, 1985) when this intra-oceanic arc sequence was accreted to the Gondwana margin (Skilbeck and Cawood, 1994; Leitch et al., 2003). However, the biogeographic character of Cambrian and Ordovician faunas within the arc-flanking assemblage are linked to time-equivalent rocks on the East Gondwana craton and in peri-Gondwanan oceanic basement assemblages in New Zealand (Brock, 1998a,b, 1999; FureyGreig, 1999; Brock et al., 2000). This indicates that the intra-oceanic assemblage was sufficiently close to Gondwana to allow faunal interchange.

Major widespread Late Permian to Triassic orogenesis ended constructive geological activity in New England (and the Terra Australis Orogen, Fig. 5). This was accompanied by the widespread emplacement of I-type granites related to underthrusting along a convergent boundary to the east, the main products of which are exposed in the Gondwanide Orogen in New Zealand (Cawood, 1984a), Marie Byrd Land (Mukasa and Dalziel, 2000), the Antarctic Peninsula (Vaughan and Storey, 2000) and South America (Ramos and Aleman, 2000). In the Andean segment of the Terra Australis Orogen, slivers of ophiolitic rock can be traced over 900 km along the faulted boundary between the Cuyania and Chilenia terranes (Ramos et al., 2000). The ophiolitic slivers preserve a disrupted mafic to ultramafic assemblage with an oceanic ridge or backarc geochemical signature (Ramos et al., 2000). Lavas in the northern part of the belt are overlain by a distal sedimentary package containing Caradocian graptolites (Blasco and Ramos, 1976), with deformation, at least of the southern segment, occurring in the Devonian, based on argon dating of metamorphic micas (Davis et al., 1999). These ophiolitic slivers are interpreted to represent fragments of the Iapetus Ocean which lay between the Cuyania and Chilenia terranes. Their initial relationships to Laurentia and Gondwana are poorly constrained (Ramos et al., 2000), but Davis et al. (1999) suggested that they may have formed in a variety of settings including along the margins of both Chilenia and Cuyania as well as in intervening intra-oceanic settings. 6.4. Laurentian continental basement assemblages The Argentina Precordillera, part of the composite Cuyania terrane, along with the adjacent Chilenia terrane (Fig. 4), are considered to represent fragments of Laurentia that were transferred to Gondwana in the early and middle Paleozoic, respectively (Astini et al., 1995; Thomas and Astini, 1996; Dalziel, 1997; Ramos, 2000). The Cuyania terrane comprises Grenville-age basement (Kay et al., 1996) and a Cambrian to Ordovician cover succession (Astini et al., 1995; Astini, 1998). Stratigraphic, sedimentologic, paleontologic and paleomagnetic data for the cover succession indicate derivation of the terrane from a site along the east

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Laurentian margin of Iapetus, probably the Ouachita embayment, and show that it is clearly exotic to timeequivalent Gondwana sequences (Astini et al., 1995; Benedetto, 1998; Rapalini and Astini, 1998; Keller, 1999). Although the Laurentian origin of the Precordillera is agreed upon, debate continues as to whether its accretion occurred in the Ordovician (Dalziel, 1997; Thomas and Astini, 2003) or Silurian–Devonian (Keller et al., 1998; Rapela et al., 1998a,b; Keller, 1999) and whether it resulted from collision between Laurentia and Gondwana (Dalziel, 1997; Dalla Salda et al., 1998) or through the rifting of the terrane from Laurentia and its drifting across the Iapetus Ocean prior to accretion to Gondwana (Thomas and Astini, 1996; Thomas and Astini, 2003). Detrital zircon U–Pb age data from early Cambrian strata of the Precordillera are similar to time-equivalent strata from the southern Appalachian Orogen, consistent with interpretations that the Precordillera was rifted from the Ouachita embayment of Laurentia in Early Cambrian time (Thomas et al., 2004). The Chilenia terrane lies to the west of the Precordillera in western Argentina and Chile. It is largely covered by post-Terra Australis Orogen units of the Andean Cordillera but is exposed in erosional windows and roof pendants to Andean batholiths (Ramos et al., 1986). Basement schist and gneiss have yielded ages as old as 1000 Ma (Ramos and Basei, 1997). Cover sequences include Silurian carbonates. Late Paleozoic to Mesozoic Gondwanide granitoids occur through the region. The microflora in the carbonates shows no clear provincialism (Keppie and Ramos, 1999), but the terrane is inferred to be of Laurentian origin, based on the presence of Grenville-age basement, the absence of Brasiliano deformation and location outboard of the Laurentianderived Cuyania terrane (e.g., Ramos and Basei, 1997). Silurian to Devonian ages for deformation and metamorphism along the boundary with the Cuyania terrane are related to its accretion to Gondwana (Ramos et al., 1986). 6.5. Allochthonous Gondwanan assemblages in Laurentia A number of terranes along the Appalachian– Caledonian Orogen show evidence for derivation

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from Gondwana indicating that the transfer of terranes between Laurentia and Gondwana was a two-way process. Allochthonous Gondwanan assemblages in East Laurentia include the Oaxaquia, Chortis, Suwannee (Florida), Carolina and Avalonia terranes (Keppie and Ramos, 1999; Elias-Herrera and Ortega-Gutierrez, 2002; Hibbard et al., 2002; Gutie´rrez-Alonso et al., 2003; Keppie et al., 2003; von Raumer et al., 2003; Collins and Buchan, 2004; Murphy et al., 2004; Thomas et al., 2004). They contain exposed or inferred ~1 Ga basement, early Paleozoic Gondwana faunas and/or Pan-African age, Gondwana-derived detritus, and are thought to have lain along the northwestern and northern margins of the Amazonian and West African cratons. They occupied periGondwanan positions after a phase of latest Neoproterozoic to Cambrian separation that was also responsible for the separation of the peri-Gondwanan continental assemblages. The Avalonia and Carolina terranes are considered to have been transferred across the Iapetus Ocean in the Ordovician and accreted to Laurentia in the early to mid-Paleozoic, whereas the Oaxaquia, Chortis and Suwannee terranes were accreted to Laurentia in the Permo-Carboniferous, followed quickly by the full collision of Laurentia and Gondwana (Elias-Herrera and Ortega-Gutierrez, 2002; Gutie´rrez-Alonso et al., 2003; Keppie et al., 2003, and references therein; Stampfli and Borel, 2002; von Raumer et al., 2002; von Raumer et al., 2003).

7. Significance and discussion 7.1. Subduction initiation The earliest record for lithospheric convergence and subduction preserved within orogenic systems is provided by the oldest record of one or more of the following: supra-subduction zone magmatic rocks or derived products (e.g., volcaniclastic strata), ophiolitic rocks formed in a supra-subduction zone environment (e.g., back arc, forearc or proto-arc basin) and/or material metamorphosed in a subduction zone environment (e.g., eclogite). Evidence from these sources for the East Gondwana segment indicates a late Neoproterozoic age of around 580–560 Ma for subduction initiation. Data from peri-Gondwanan continental terranes in West Gondwana suggest an

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early Cambrian age around 530 Ma for subduction initiation. In the Nimrod Glacier region of the East Antarctic segment of the Terra Australis Orogen, Goodge et al. (2002) have shown that the Byrd Group included material derived from a late Neoproterozoic to midCambrian continental margin arc. The group contains first cycle, fresh, locally derived igneous detritus which yielded detrital zircons ranging in age from 580 to 520 Ma but with a prominent peak at 560 Ma, along with Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic ages (~1400, 1100–940 and ~825 Ma). The youngest detrital zircon grains, dated at around mid-Cambrian, are inferred to approximate the time of sediment deposition. Paleocurrent data indicate a western, inboard source for the sediment (Myrow et al., 2002), which in combination with detrital zircon age data, led Goodge et al. (2002) to suggest that the Byrd Group was derived from a cratonic area overlain by a continental margin volcanic arc (Fig. 5). In addition, integrated structural and geochronological data from the Nimrod Glacier region suggest that convergence along the Antarctic segment of Gondwana during the latest Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic occurred between 550 and 520 Ma and may have been oblique to the margin and resolved into components of sinistral strike-slip and convergence (Goodge et al., 1993a,b; Goodge, 1997). Oblique sinistral transpression has also been recorded during the main Ross– Delamerian Orogeny at around 505 Ma in the Pensacola Mountains (Curtis et al., 2004) and Skelton glacier region (Paulsen et al., 2004). Cambrian alkaline A-type magmatism in the Koettlitz Glacier region (550–510 Ma) is related to transtension and extension along the margin (Mellish et al., 2002; Read et al., 2002; S. Read, personal communication, 2004). Deformation in intracratonic Central Australia, termed the Petermann Ranges Orogeny, at around 550 Ma (Maboko et al., 1992; Veevers, 2000), may be linked to activity along the Pacific margin. Ophiolitic and eclogitic rocks in the intra-oceanic assemblage of eastern Australia have yielded late Neoproterozoic ages. Bruce et al. (2000) recorded a Sm/Nd whole rock isochron age of 562F22 Ma from five cogenetic mafic samples within the Marlborough ophiolite of Queensland. The ophiolite covers an area of some 700 km2 and consists of mantle peridotite, gabbro and diabase. A depleted MORB geochemical

signature for the ophiolite suggests formation at either an oceanic or back-arc basin spreading centre, with the latter requiring subduction to have been underway by ~560 Ma. Serpentinite melange along the Peel Fault system in northeastern New South Wales contains eclogite surrounded by metagabbro. SHRIMP U/Pb analyses of zircon from the eclogite yielded a 206Pb/238U age of 571F22 Ma, interpreted by Watanabe et al. (1998) to reflect the time of eclogite formation in a subduction zone setting, whereas zircons in the gabbro gave an age of 460F15 Ma, which they interpreted to represent the time of crystallization of the gabbro as it intruded the eclogite. The main pulse of convergence along the East Gondwana margin commenced around 540–500 Ma. This is represented by magmatic arc granites in continental margin sequences in Antarctica (Encarnacio´n and Grunow, 1996; Vogel et al., 2002), suprasubduction zone ophiolite formation in peri-Gondwana oceanic and intra-oceanic assemblages in eastern Australia (Crawford and Keays, 1987; Aitchison et al., 1992; Crawford and Berry, 1992; Spaggiari et al., 2004), followed by Cambrian to Ordovician magmatic arc development and accumulation of Gondwana-derived siliciclastic sediments and magmatic arc-derived volcaniclastic sediments (Cawood and Leitch, 1985; Cawood, 1991; Glen et al., 1998; Mu¨nker and Crawford, 2000; Fergusson and Vandenberg, 2003; Glen, in press). Along the West Gondwana segment of the Terra Australis Orogen, subduction of oceanic crust started at around 530 Ma (Early Cambrian) on the basis of U– Pb zircon ages for emplacement of metaluminous calc-alkaline granitoids (Rapela et al., 1998a,b). The granites were emplaced into metamorphosed siliciclastic sequences correlated with the Neoproterozoic to early Cambrian passive margin strata of the Puncoviscana Formation. Magmatic arc activity led to the termination of passive margin sedimentation but was relatively short-lived and was rapidly followed by deformation, metamorphism and ophiolite obduction in the early Middle Cambrian at around 525 Ma. This cycle of plate tectonic activity, from subduction initiation followed over a short time interval by collisional deformation and metamorphism, is related to closure of a small ocean basin and accretion of a previously rifted microcontinental block (Arequipa–

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Antofalla Craton) back onto the Gondwana margin during the Pampean Orogeny (Fig. 6; Rapela et al., 1998a,b). Following a 20–30 m.y. quiescence after the Pampean Orogeny, development of the Famatinian magmatic arc commenced at around 510 Ma and continued until 460 Ma (middle Ordovician; Rapela et al., 1998a,b; Ramos and Aleman, 2000). Subduction initiation along both segments of the Gondwana margin appears to have commenced at, or close to, the ocean–continent interface. This is evidenced by the intrusion of magmatic arc rocks into Cambrian passive margin strata in the Andes, Antarctica and Southeast Australia, and the mixing of first-cycle magmatic arc and Gondwana craton derived detritus in the early Paleozoic siliciclastics in Antarctica and eastern Australia (e.g., Anakie Inlier). The continent–ocean boundary is a likely site for subduction initiation as it marks a major lithospheric discontinuity with relatively old, and hence dense, oceanic lithosphere immediately outboard of the margin that would be susceptible to subduction (Cloos, 1993; Regenauer-Lieb et al., 2001). Figs. 7 and 8 provide a series of schematic plan views and associated cross sections along the East Gondwana margin around 600–500 Ma and covering the period of subduction initiation, ophiolite generation and orogenesis along the margin. Subduction is inferred to initiate and then continue in a regime involving a component of oblique sinistral convergence (Goodge et al., 1993a,b; Grunow et al., 1996; Curtis et al., 2004; Paulsen et al., 2004), and the margin, at least in eastern Australia, is inferred to consist of a series of promontories and re-entrants due to transform offset along the margin during Rodinia breakup (Veevers, 1984; Brookfield, 1993; Li and Powell, 2001). Subduction is initiated at the continent–ocean boundary (Fig. 7, sections E–F). Locally, however, the site of subduction initiation may extend into adjoining oceanic lithosphere, most likely outboard of continental margin re-entrants (Fig. 7, sections C–D) enabling continental margin sedimentation to continue in such regions. The Adelaide Fold Belt where continental margin sedimentation continued until at Ross–Delamerian orogenesis at around 520–500 Ma, is a possible example of such a region. Alternatively, fragments of the continental margin succession may be rafted off the margin to form future

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Fig. 7. Schematic representation of Terra Australis Orogen and East Gondwana margin between ~600 and 560 Ma showing subduction initiation along the inferred irregular continental margin, which highlights the possible variety of convergent plate configurations along a single plate boundary.

microcontinental ribbons (Fig. 7, sections A–B; for example, the Anakie Inlier). Renewed convergence in the period 530–500 Ma (Fig. 8) resulted in the generation of ophiolites and convergent plate margin igneous rocks in a variety of settings including intraoceanic (Fig. 8, sections A–B; for example, the New England ophiolites and arc rocks) as well as continental margin settings that either lay out board of an open ocean (Fig. 8, sections E–F and G–H) or within rapidly closing marginal seas (Fig. 8, sections C–D). The main pulse of the Ross–Delamerian orogenic event (520–500 Ma) was synchronous with this later phase of convergence indicating that orogenesis is related to increased coupling along the plate margin during ongoing subduction possibly in response to local effects such as terrane/microcontinent accretion or to global plate reorganization (see below). Some authors have argued for ophiolite generation in the Tasmanian region above an east-dipping subduction zone followed by subsequent arc–continental margin

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7.2. Changes along the strike of the Terra Australis Orogen

Fig. 8. Schematic representation of Terra Australis Orogen and East Gondwana margin between ~570 and 500 Ma showing possible plate configurations during ongoing oblique subduction and associated rollback of the downgoing plate resulting in generation of supra-subduction zone crust (represented by ophiolite/greenstone belts such as Wellington and Heathcote greenstones and the Great Serpentine Belt of New South Wales). Coupling across the plate boundary during on-going subduction resulted in Ross–Delamerian orogenesis.

collision resulting in ophiolite generation and Ross– Delamerian orogenesis (Berry and Crawford, 1988; Crawford and Berry, 1992). This is an adaptation of models developed for the Taconian/Grampian orogenesis in the Appalachian/Caledonian Orogen and for early Alpine orogenesis in the Alpine Orogen. The model invokes abrupt change in subduction direction between west dipping subduction beneath the Transantarctic Mountains segment of the Gondwana margin and east dipping subduction outboard of Tasmanian segment, with the two separated by a transform fault (Mu¨nker and Crawford, 2000). Fig. 8 proposes an equally viable alternative involving ophiolite generation in a marginal basin above a west-dipping subduction zone, with subsequent ophiolite emplacement related to basin closure.

The East and West Gondwana segments of the Terra Australis Orogen show marked changes in the age of the continental margin succession, the character of the accreted assemblages and the timing of subduction initiation (Figs. 4 and 5). In the East Gondwana segment, lithospheric extension had commenced by 830 Ma with the rift to drift transition by 700–680 Ma (Fig. 9), but with renewed extension along the margin around 600–570 Ma, immediately preceding subduction initiation. The extension history of the West Gondwana segment during opening of the Iapetus Ocean is less well constrained due to the poorly preserved record of rift- and drift-related sedimentation, with the bulk of the sequence postdating the rift–drift transition. Lithospheric extension appears to have resulted in the rifting of microcontinental ribbons to form peri-Gondwanan continental margin assemblages as well as allochthonous Gondwanan terranes that were subsequently accreted to Laurentia. Analysis of the East Laurentia margin sequences inferred to be conjugate to West Gondwana suggests that an initial failed phase of lithospheric extension occurred between 760 and 680 Ma, followed by a period of quiescence, with the main pulse of rift-related activity occurring from 630 to 530 Ma (Fig. 9; Cawood et al., 2001; Tollo et al., 2004). In northeast Laurentia, preserved within the Caledonides of Britain and East Greenland, a phase of discontinuous, intra-cratonic extension occurred over 200 m.y. between ~930 and 700 Ma (Cawood et al., 2004). The rift to drift transition in East Laurentia occurred at around 530–520 Ma (Fig. 9), although Cawood et al. (2001) noted that paleomagnetic evidence suggests rifting of microcontinental blocks from Laurentia commenced around 570 Ma. Outboard of the East Gondwana margin lie a series of oceanic assemblages of either peri-Gondwanan or intra-oceanic character (Figs. 4 and 10). Some researchers have argued that the peri-Gondwanan assemblages may be underlain by attenuated continental crust (Rutland, 1976), in part on the basis of granite geochemistry (Chappell et al., 1988). However, the presence of base faulted ophiolitic sequences, which constitute amongst the oldest rock units in the assemblage (Spaggiari et al.,

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Fig. 9. Time of major tectonic events along East and West Gondwana margins of the Pacific and Iapetus oceans respectively relative to history of Mozambique ocean associated with Gondwana assembly.

2004), together with multi-component mixing models for granite petrogenesis, which require a mafic component in the source (Collins, 1996, 1998; Keay et al., 1997, 1999), supports an oceanic substrate (Fergusson, 2003). However, micro-continental ribbons have been proposed to underlie parts of the orogen (Scheibner, 1987; Scheibner, 1989; VandenBerg et al., 2000; Cayley et al., 2002), but these are largely model dependent and the Anakie Inlier is the only probable exposed block. In contrast, assemblages outboard of the West Gondwanan margin are largely of continental character and include blocks of Gondwanan character, inferred to represent microcontinental ribbons, and blocks of Laurentian character which were subsequently transferred to Gondwana (e.g., Precordillera) (Thomas and Astini, 1996; Astini, 1998; Ramos and Aleman, 2000). Oceanic assemblages are inferred to have originally separated the peri-Gondwanan and Laurentian blocks of West Gondwana but were largely consumed during accretion of these blocks with disrupted ophiolitic fragments the only preserved

remnants (Davis et al., 1999; Ramos et al., 2000). The timing of subduction initiation varies from late Neoproterozoic (580–570 Ma) for East Gondwana to Early Cambrian (530 Ma) for West Gondwana (Fig. 9). These along-strike changes in the character of the orogen correspond with differences in the history of the constituent elements of East and West Gondwana during Rodinia breakup and with the subsequent history of the outboard oceanic tract (Figs. 9 and 10). The East and West Gondwana segments originated at different sites within Rodinia and, hence, evolved independently prior to their amalgamation along the Pan-African orogens (Damara, Braziliano, East African and Pinjarra orogens; Stern, 1994; Trompette, 1994; Fitzsimons, 2003b). Final amalgamation occurred at the end of the Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic, around 630–530 Ma (Trompette, 1997; Fitzsimons, 2003b; Meert, 2003; Boger and Miller, 2004). Only then did the different Gondwana segments act as a coherent mass (Powell et al., 1993) and only then was the Terra Australis Orogen

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Fig. 10. Schematic representation of along strike changes in character of accreted assemblages within the Terra Australis Orogen between East and West Gondwana.

continuous along the Gondwana margin. By this time, however, the passive margin sequence along the East Gondwana segment was being overprinted by an Andean type margin, which by 530 Ma, during the final amalgamation of Gondwana, had propagated along the entire orogen. The final assembly of the various elements of East and West Gondwana occurred along a series of orogenic tracts in eastern and southern Africa, Madagascar, India, South America and Australia (Pan-African s.l.; Stern, 1994; Trompette, 1994; Collins and Windley, 2002; Meert, 2003), which are generally considered to extend to the Pacific margin of Gondwana through the Shackleton Range in Antarctica (cf. Grunow et al., 1996; Jacobs et al., 1998; Fitzsimons, 2000a; Fitzsimons, 2000b; Jacobs and Thomas, 2004). The along-strike change in the Terra Australis Orogen from peri-Gondwanan oceanic to continental assemblages corresponds with this boundary between East and West Gondwana (Fig. 4). The peri-Gondwana oceanic assemblage can be

traced along the East Gondwana margin from Australia to the Antarctic Peninsula (Vaughan and Storey, 2000), whereas the peri-Gondwanan continental assemblage extends along South America south to Patagonia (Pankhurst et al., 2003). The boundary between the East and West Gondwana continental margin assemblages is less well constrained, with the East Gondwana continental margin successions inferred to extend along the entire Antarctic margin (Fig. 4). However, these successions can only be traced from Australia through Antarctica as far as the Nimrod Glacier region (Goodge, 2002) and could terminate at the inferred extension of the Pinjarra Orogen with the Pacific margin, which occurs near the Nimrod Glacier (Fitzsimons, 2003a) rather that at the inferred site of intersection of the East African Orogen with the margin. There is no outcrop of continental margin succession along the dCentral GondwanaT segment, lying between the projected Pinjarra and East African orogens, to establish if this segment was a separate crustal fragment during Rodinia breakup or is a continuation of the Australian–Mawson Craton of East Gondwana. The contrasting character of accreted assemblages between the East and West Gondwana segments (Fig. 10) appears to track the contrasting history of the continental margin successions. This suggest that the history of the accreted assemblages reflects both the process of rifting, which resulted in microcontinental ribbons along the West Gondwana/East Laurentian margin and their apparent rarity along the East Gondwana margin, as well as the subsequent transfer of these ribbons between Laurentia and Gondwana, either by drifting across the ocean or continental collision. Original relationships between the various elements of the Terra Australis Orogen are not directly demonstrable, in part because of deformation and in part because of fragmentary exposure, particularly in the Transantarctic Mountains. Along-strike changes between East and West Gondwana reflect initial position in Rodinia and suggest no subsequent major along-strike shuffling between the two regions. The overall consistent progression across the East Gondwana margin from inboard continental margin sequences to ocean–margin sequences and then outboard intra-oceanic sequences in the northeast (Fig. 4) suggests that although there may have been some

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shuffling of individual sections (Powell, 1983; Packham, 1987; Fergusson, 2003; Glen, in press), overall original paleogeographic relationships are preserved, and that there have not been any major terranes accreted to this segment of the Gondwana margin. In West Gondwana, Ramos (2000) noted some alongstrike shuffling of terranes both during and after the evolution of the Terra Australis Orogen, but the position of the Laurentian assemblages outboard of the peri-Gondwanan assemblages suggests that this also did not involve any significant duplication along the margin. 7.3. Termination of the Terra Australis Orogen Sedimentation within the Terra Australis Orogen ceased in the Late Carboniferous to Permian when it underwent widespread deformation and metamorphism during the Gondwanide Orogeny. In the East Gondwana segment, this involved a complex interplay of compression and transtension between about 300 and 230 Ma (Veevers et al., 1994; Veevers, 2000). The earliest phases of this event occurred in accretionary prism rocks of the intra-oceanic assemblage and are marked by mid-crustal deformation and metamorphism along with emplacement of S-type granites (e.g., Hillgrove Suite) at around 300 Ma (Shaw and Flood, 1981; Dirks et al., 1993; Little et al., 1995; Holcombe et al., 1997a,b). Deformation has been related to contraction in the New South Wales segment (Dirks et al., 1993) and extension to the north in the Queensland segment (Little et al., 1995). A phase of extension, probably sinistral transtension, occurred between 290 and 270 Ma, resulting in generation of the Sydney–Bowen and Barnard basins (Leitch, 1988; Veevers, 2000). The main phase of deformation occurred between 265 and 230 Ma and is referred to in eastern Australia as the Hunter–Bowen Orogeny (Carey and Browne, 1938) and is well developed throughout the intra-oceanic assemblage of eastern Australia (Leitch, 1969; Collins, 1991; Holcombe et al., 1997a,b; Veevers, 2000). Deformation extended west into the Sydney–Bowen Basin, which evolved into a foreland system, with the oldest detritus shed from the uplifting welt of the New England region dated at about 275 Ma (Hamilton et al., 1988). The Hunter–Bowen event involved east–west contraction, resulting in widespread folding and thrusting with an

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overall younging and decrease in strain intensity towards the west. Calc-alkaline magmatic arc volcanic and plutonic rocks are synchronous with deformation (Leitch, 1969; Shaw and Flood, 1981; Cawood, 1984a; Holcombe et al., 1997a,b). Major final movement on the Peel Fault, which separates the forearc and accretionary complexes, occurred prior to emplacement of a 250 Ma stitching pluton. Although the details of this end-Paleozoic deformational phase are complex and included oroclinal bending (Cawood, 1982b; Korsch and Harrington, 1987; Leitch, 1988; Holcombe et al., 1997a,b; Jenkins et al., 2002), the overall effect was a stepping out of the plate margin and a shift in the magmatic arc from the western side of the forearc basin in the Carboniferous to within the subduction complex assemblage in the Permian and Triassic (Cawood, 1984a). Gondwanide deformation of variable intensity and distribution is recognized throughout West Antarctica and the adjoining Cape Fold Belt of southern Africa on the basis of stratigraphic and geochronological data (Dalziel, 1982; Dalziel and Elliot, 1982; Storey et al., 1987; Greese et al., 1992; Ha¨bich, 1992; Trouw and De Wit, 1999; Johnston, 2000). Deformation is heterogeneously distributed, with Storey et al. (1987) noting that in the Antarctic Peninsula, the only event related to Gondwanide deformation proper is regional metamorphism at ~245 Ma of parts of the Trinity Mountain Peninsula Group. Unconformities elsewhere in the sequence on the Antarctic Peninsula, which were previously ascribed to the Gondwanide Orogeny, are younger (Storey et al., 1987). In the Ellsworth–Whitmore Mountains, Permo-Triassic Gondwanide deformation resulted in upright to inclined folds with axial planar cleavage that are inferred to have formed in a dextral transpressive environment (Curtis, 1998). The late Paleozoic history of the West Gondwana margin records the transition from a collisional orogen in the northern Andes to an accretionary orogen in the south. In the north, deformation is ascribed to the Alleghanian Orogeny and reflects final closure of the Iapetus Ocean through collision of Laurussia (Laurentia+Baltica) and Gondwana, to form Pangea. There is a complex deformational history involving initial terrane accretion (e.g., Me´rida terrane), as well as full continental collision between Gondwana and Laurentia in the Carboniferous (Ramos and Aleman, 2000).

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In the Venezuelan Andes (Aleman and Ramos, 2000), this resulted in penetrative deformation and Barrovian metamorphism, followed by I-type and S-type granite plutonism and strike-slip deformation in the Permian and Triassic (McCourt and Feininger, 1984). In the central and southern Andes, the Gondwanide Orogeny includes the late Carboniferous Toco event and the mid-Permian San Rafael (Sanrafaelic) event. The Toco event produced folding and melange formation in turbidite strata as young as Late Carboniferous to Early Permian with an upper age limit for the event provided by emplacement of ~290 Ma plutons into the folded turbidites (Bahlburg and Herve´, 1997). The San Raphael compressional event is marked by intense folding and thrusting, resulting in a pronounced angular unconformity between Late Carboniferous to Early Permian turbidites and the extensive Permo-Triassic Choiyoi Volcanics (Ramos, 2000; Ramos and Aleman, 2000). Late Paleozoic orogenic deformation in the central and southern Andes is related to changes in the intensity and direction of plate convergence (Ramos, 1988a) and marks the commencement of a major subduction cycle (Ramos and Aleman, 2000) after a phase of Silurian to Carboniferous passive margin sedimentation along the Andean margin (Bahlburg and Herve´, 1997). Geochemical data indicate that the subduction cycle was not continuous but was punctuated by phases of extension-related magmatism (Ramos, 2000, and references therein). In the Patagonian Andes, subduction resulted in formation of an accretionary prism showing high pressure–low temperature metamorphism and associated deformation (Herve, 1988). Extension of the Cape Fold Belt into South America is represented by the Ventana Fold Belt inboard of the Andes. It is a NNE-verging fold and thrust belt, which is contemporaneous with the Sauce Grande foreland basin (Trouw and De Wit, 1999). Deformation occurred between about 280–260 Ma on the basis of K–Ar ages and is inferred to have taken place in a dextral transpressional environment (Cobbold et al., 1991). 7.4. Terra Australis Orogen and supercontinent assembly and dispersal The evolution of the Terra Australis Orogen from initiation to final terminal orogenesis is closely linked

to the cycle of supercontinent assembly and dispersal (Fig. 11). Given that the Terra Australis Orogen grew out of Rodinia dispersal and lay along a margin of Gondwana, this relationship is not unexpected. Initiation of the orogen is represented by the commencement of a phase of sedimentation and igneous activity preserved in continental margin sequences in East Gondwana and dated at about 830 Ma (Wingate et al., 1998), which marks the commencement of breakup of the supercontinent of Rodinia (Fig. 11). Final breakout of Laurentia from within Rodinia and assembly of continental fragments to form Gondwana occurred between the end-Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic (630–530 Ma) and corresponds with rifting and breakup between East Laurentia from its inferred West Gondwana conjugate margin, and the initiation of subduction within the orogen. The end-Paleozoic assembly of Pangea at around 300F20 Ma (Li and Powell, 2001), through ocean closure and accretion of Gondwana, Laurussia and Siberia, as well as completion of terrane accretion in the Altaids, overlaps with the terminal Gondwanide Orogeny of the Terra Australis Orogen.

Fig. 11. Comparison of major tectonic events in the Terra Australis Orogen with cycles of supercontinent assembly and breakup. TAO—Terra Australis Orogen; EG—East Gondwana; WG—West Gondwana; Pang—Pangea.

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The link between events in the Terra Australis Orogen and supercontinent cycles of assembly and dispersal is likely related to preservation of the global plate kinematic budget through maintaining a balance between lithospheric extension and contraction within a constant diameter Earth. Thus, lithospheric extension associated with Rodinia breakup corresponds approximately with commencement of subduction within the Mozambique Ocean (Handke et al., 1999; Collins and Windley, 2002; Collins et al., 2003). Final assembly of Gondwana involved ocean closure (Adamastor, Brazilide and Mozambique oceans) with the consequent loss to the global subduction budget accommodated by initiation of subduction along the Pacific and Iapetus margins of Gondwana. Assembly of Pangea through ocean closure and accretion of Laurussia and Siberia to Gondwana involved a stepping out of the plate margin and establishment of a new subduction zone along the East Gondwana margin and conversion of the West Gondwana margin from a passive to active margin.

8. Conclusions The Terra Australis Orogen lies along the Pacific and Iapetus margins of Gondwana, forming a fundamental lithospheric element within Gondwana. Prior to breakup of Gondwana/Pangea, the orogen extended from the northeast coast of Australia, through the Transantarctic Mountains, and along the west coast of South America, over a distance of some 18,000 km with an across-strike width of up to 1600 km. The orogen comprises continental margin sequences recording the breakup of the East and West Gondwana segments from within Rodinia, outboard of which are a series of continental and oceanic assemblages of peri-Gondwanan, Laurentian and intra-oceanic character that record the accretionary history of the margin. These assemblages show significant variation between East and West Gondwana, with the former characterised mainly by oceanic assemblages of periGondwanan and intra-oceanic character, and the West Gondwana segment characterised largely by continental assemblages of peri-Gondwanan and Laurentian character (Fig. 10). Thus, the accreted assemblages appear to have a memory of the contrasting history of the inboard East and West

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Gondwana cratonic fragments and their continental margin assemblages. Final amalgamation of Gondwana during the endNeoproterozoic and Cambrian corresponds with initiation of subduction, first along the East Gondwana margin and then its propagation along the West Gondwana margin following its amalgamation with East Gondwana. This probably reflects a global plate kinematic adjustment to Gondwana amalgamation in which termination of convergence between East and West Gondwana, along with the development of a major spreading centre between West Gondwana and Laurentia associated with opening of the Iapetus Ocean, required initiation of convergence along the Pacific/Iapetus margin of Gondwana between 570 and 530 Ma. The initiation of subduction along the Terra Australis Orogen in the late Neoproterozoic and early Cambrian marks the inception of the Pacific dring of fireT, yet, throughout the Phanerozoic, the Pacific has remained a major ocean basin (Coney, 1992). This indicates that the longevity of the Pacific and its antecedents is a result of continued production of oceanic lithosphere throughout the Phanerozoic, rather than a delayed onset of subduction. Although the Pacific has been cited as an example of the declining stage of the Wilson cycle of ocean basins (e.g., Jacobs et al., 1974), its protracted history of ongoing subduction, and, by inference, oceanic crust generation, contrasts with the clear evidence for opening and closing of oceans preserved in the Iapetus/Atlantic and Tethyan realms. This contrast has important implications for models of orogenesis within orogens in the Pacific which are the result of ocean–continent collision during a continuing cycle of subduction rather than continent–continent collision following ocean closure.

Acknowledgements I am grateful to Evan Leitch for discussions over a number of years which have help develop the concepts outlined in this paper. Craig Buchan, Alan Collins, Ian Fitzsimons, Jim Hibbard, Zheng Xiang Li, Brendan Murphy, Sergei Pisarevsky, Carlos Rapela, Rob Strachan, John Veevers and Michael Wingate, and journal reviewer Alfred Krfner are

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