Paleozoic tectonics of the Gondwana margin: Provenance of the Sperm Bluff Conglomerate. Implications for Cambrian tectonics and Devonian and younger paleotectonics and paleogeography

Conversely, Southern Victoria Land (SVL) shows little evidence of terrane accretion while undergoing convergence. The aim of this study was to test the possible extension of the tectonostratigraphic terranes of NVL into SVL and to enhance the understanding of the Cambro-Ordovician Ross Orogenic Belt, the controls on the early development of the Taylor Group (Beacon SuperGroup) basin and possible influences on the younger Victoria Land Basin.

Fieldwork was carried out at five targeted sites (Mt Suess, Sperm Bluff, Gargoyle Turrets opposite Queer Mountain, the Wheeler Valley, a ridge above the Ringer Glacier and Repeater Ridge off Mt Cerberus) in SVL to study clast composition, relative abundances and sedimentology of the Devonian Sperm Bluff Conglomerate (Taylor Group, Beacon Supergroup) in the St Johns Range. Fieldwork consisted of clast counts to determine composition, measured sections to determine paleoenvironment, paleo-current analysis to determine source and sediment transport direction and sample collections (of both matrix and clasts).