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

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Earth-Science Reviews 6

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/$ - s

doi:10.1016/j.ea

9 (2005) 249–279

ee front matter D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

rscirev.2004.09.001

P.A. Cawood / Earth-Science Reviews 69 (2005) 249–279250

1. Introduction

The breakup of the end-Mesoproterozoic super-

continent Rodinia and its transformation into the end-

Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic supercontinent Gond-

wana 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; Hoff-

man, 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, respec-

tively, 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 frag-

mented through the formation (and ultimate closure)

of additional oceanic tracts (e.g., Brasiliano and

Adamastor oceans, and Tornquist’s Sea).

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.

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 Pan-

African 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.

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 (Wil-

son, 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 through-

out its history by West Laurentian and East Gond-

wanan continental margins (Bell and Jefferson, 1987;

Dalziel, 1991; Hoffman, 1991; Moores, 1991) and

although the original relationship between these

emanuel

Highlight

P.A. Cawood / Earth-Science Reviews 69 (2005) 249–279 251

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; Kroner and Cordani, 2003;

Pisarevsky et al., 2003), they provide a remarkable

record of the ocean’s development from the Neo-

proterozoic 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 Neo-

proterozoic 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 seg-

ments of the orogen preserved in Australasia, Antarc-

tica, 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 com-

parison 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-Neoprotero-

zoic, 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.

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 super-

imposed directly on pre-existing tectonic elements.

The Terra Australis Orogen had an along-strike, pre-

dispersal 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 craton-

ward extent of deformation, which is best preserved in

eastern Australia and corresponds with the Torrens

Hinge Line, marking the limit of the Cambro-

Ordovician 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 Gond-

wanide 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 Ordo-

vician 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).

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 Ade-

laide/Delamerian Fold Belt (Orogen) and its along-

strike 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 repre-

senting 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

Fig. 4. Distribution of continental margin sequences along East and

West Gondwana, and outboard continental and oceanic assemb-

lages. 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.


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 super-

continent 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 para-

utochthonous 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 intra-

oceanic character. The continental margin sequences

record the breakup of Rodinia, whereas the outboard

continental and oceanic assemblages record the accre-

tionary history of the Gondwana margin. The outboard

limit of the continental margin sequences (Fig. 2)

marks the oceanward limit of autochthonous Gond-

wana 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 peri-

Gondwanan 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


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 Aus-

tralis 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 interca-

lated 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-Paleo-

zoic 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 Delam-

erian orogenesis (Miller et al., 2003).

The Anakie Inlier of central Queensland (Fig. 4)

consists of multiply deformed greenschist to amphib-

olite facies pelitic and psammitic schist, marble, calc-

silicate 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 micro-

continental ribbon.

In Tasmania, the continental margin sequence

includes early Neoproterozoic siliciclastic sedimen-

tary and metasedimentary sequences intruded by

mafic igneous rocks and granites, which are dated at

around 780–760 Ma, and a younger, late Neoproter-

ozoic 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


inferred to lie within the Wilson terrane (Flottmann 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

Fig. 5. Schematic time–space plot for development of continental margin s

assemblages along the East Gondwana segment of Terra Australis Orogen.

D—Devonian; Cb—Carboniferous; P—Permian; Mz—Mesozoic; A—A

Bowen Basin; H–B—Hunter–Bowen Orogeny; HP/LT—high pressure–low

ophiolite; SSZ—supra-subduction zone.

from detrital zircon age signatures (Wysoczanski and

Allibone, 2004). In the Central Transantarctic Moun-

tains, between the Byrd and Beardmore glaciers,

Goodge et al. (2002) established an age for silici-

clastic 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 base-

ment, 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 initia-

tion of Rodinia rifting, commenced in East Australia

at around 830 Ma (Fig. 5) on the basis of ages for

equence and outboard peri-Gondwanan and intra-oceanic basement

MP—Mesoproterozoic; C—Cambrian; O—Ordovician; S—Silurian;

dmiralty Intrusives; Tabb—Tabberabberan; Syd–Bow—Sydney–

temperature metamorphism; Pe—Peel eclogite; Mo—Marlborough


volcanic rocks and inferred feeder dykes from near the

base of the Adelaidian succession (Wooltana Vol-

canics, Gairdner dykes, Wingate et al., 1998). Rift-

related 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-Neo-

proterozoic 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 sequen-

ces 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 sequen-

ces, 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; Encarnacion 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 deforma-

tion 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 platfor-

mal 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

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—Car-

boniferous; 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 base-

ment inliers (Aleman and Ramos, 2000, and refer-

ences 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 succes-

sion is represented by the Cape Supergroup, a 6–10-

km-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

Orogeny and are now largely preserved within the

Cape Fold Belt (de Wit, 1992; Halbich, 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

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 Cambro-

Ordovician 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; Munker and Cooper, 1995; Munker,

2000), the Delamerian granites of southeast Australia

(Foden et al., 1999, 2002a,b), the Granite Harbour

Intrusives and related bodies of East Antarctica

(Encarnacion 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; Munker and Cooper,

1995; Munker, 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


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; Encarnacion 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 (Munker and Cooper, 1995;

Encarnacion and Grunow, 1996; Rapela et al.,

1998a,b; Munker, 2000; Munker 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 Gond-

wana continental margin at the beginning of the

Paleozoic and resulted in termination of passive

margin sedimentation.

In addition to the convergent plate margin magma-

tism, latest Neoproterozoic to Cambrian extension-

related 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-sub-

duction 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 Gondwana-

and Laurentian-derived continental lithosphere, oce-

anic lithosphere that formed at, or near, the Gondwana

margin, and oceanic lithosphere that lay in an intra-

oceanic 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 Neoproter-

ozoic to Paleozoic cover successions that accumu-

lated on Precambrian continental crust (Fig. 4). These

include the Merida terrane of Venezuela, the Are-

quipa–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 Mesoproter-

ozoic protolith ages overprinted by late Mesoproter-

ozoic and occasionally Neoproterozoic deformation

and metamorphism (Aleman and Ramos, 2000;

Jailard et al., 2000; Ramos, 2000). Late Neoproter-

ozoic to early Paleozoic sediments associated with

the basement blocks contain Gondwanan faunas and

the blocks are interpreted to represent parautochtho-

nous 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 Ordo-

vician times when a magmatic arc developed that, in

turn, was succeeded by Late Ordovician collision-

related igneous activity (Conti et al., 1982; Davidson

et al., 1983; Ramos, 1988b; Wasteneys et al., 1995).

The terranes are interpreted to represent microconti-

nental ribbon fragments rafted from Gondwana

during late Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic open-

ing 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).


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, predom-

inantly 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 Paleo-

zoic ages (Ramos and Aguirre-Urreta, 2000; Pan-

khurst 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 para-

utochthonous 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 (sum-

marized 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

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). Deforma-

tion in the Early Devonian and in the Early Carbon-

iferous, 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 Cambro-

Ordovician 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 Eng-

land 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


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 arc-

flanking sedimentary basin which contains volcani-

clastic 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 pha-

coids embedded in serpentinite melange (Fukui et al.,

1995). Although contacts between exposed intra-

oceanic 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 assemb-

lages in New Zealand (Brock, 1998a,b, 1999; Furey-

Greig, 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 oro-

genesis 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 back-

arc geochemical signature (Ramos et al., 2000). Lavas

in the northern part of the belt are overlain by a distal

sedimentary package containing Caradocian grapto-

lites (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 base-

ment (Kay et al., 1996) and a Cambrian to Ordovician

cover succession (Astini et al., 1995; Astini, 1998).

Stratigraphic, sedimentologic, paleontologic and pale-

omagnetic data for the cover succession indicate

derivation of the terrane from a site along the east


Laurentian margin of Iapetus, probably the Ouachita

embayment, and show that it is clearly exotic to time-

equivalent Gondwana sequences (Astini et al., 1995;

Benedetto, 1998; Rapalini and Astini, 1998; Keller,

1999). Although the Laurentian origin of the Pre-

cordillera is agreed upon, debate continues as to

whether its accretion occurred in the Ordovician

(Dalziel, 1997; Thomas and Astini, 2003) or Silur-

ian–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 Laurentian-

derived 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

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, Suwan-

nee (Florida), Carolina and Avalonia terranes (Keppie

and Ramos, 1999; Elias-Herrera and Ortega-Gutier-

rez, 2002; Hibbard et al., 2002; Gutierrez-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 peri-

Gondwanan positions after a phase of latest Neo-

proterozoic 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;

Gutierrez-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 envi-

ronment (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


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 mid-

Cambrian 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 transpres-

sion 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 (Encarna-

cion and Grunow, 1996; Vogel et al., 2002), supra-

subduction zone ophiolite formation in peri-Gond-

wana oceanic and intra-oceanic assemblages in east-

ern 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 mag-

matic arc-derived volcaniclastic sediments (Cawood

and Leitch, 1985; Cawood, 1991; Glen et al., 1998;

Munker and Crawford, 2000; Fergusson and Vanden-

berg, 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 silici-

clastic 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–

Fig. 7. Schematic representation of Terra Australis Orogen and Eas

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.


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 out-

board 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 gener-

ation and orogenesis along the margin. Subduction is

inferred to initiate and then continue in a regime

involving a component of oblique sinistral conver-

gence (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 con-

tinent–ocean boundary (Fig. 7, sections E–F). Locally,

however, the site of subduction initiation may extend

into adjoining oceanic lithosphere, most likely out-

board of continental margin re-entrants (Fig. 7,

sections C–D) enabling continental margin sedimen-

tation to continue in such regions. The Adelaide Fold

Belt where continental margin sedimentation contin-

ued 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

t

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 intra-

oceanic (Fig. 8, sections A–B; for example, the New

England ophiolites and arc rocks) as well as con-

tinental 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

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 oro-

genesis 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 Trans-

antarctic Mountains segment of the Gondwana margin

and east dipping subduction outboard of Tasmanian

segment, with the two separated by a transform fault

(Munker and Crawford, 2000). Fig. 8 proposes an

equally viable alternative involving ophiolite gener-

ation in a marginal basin above a west-dipping

subduction zone, with subsequent ophiolite emplace-

ment related to basin closure.

7.2. Changes along the strike of the Terra Australis

Orogen

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 com-

menced 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 postdat-

ing the rift–drift transition. Lithospheric extension

appears to have resulted in the rifting of micro-

continental ribbons to form peri-Gondwanan conti-

nental 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 discontin-

uous, 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-Gond-

wanan or intra-oceanic character (Figs. 4 and 10).

Some researchers have argued that the peri-Gond-

wanan 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.,

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 mod-

els 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 rib-

bons have been proposed to underlie parts of the

orogen (Scheibner, 1987; Scheibner, 1989; Vanden-

Berg 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, assemb-

lages 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 con-

sumed 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 origi-

nated 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 amalga-

mation 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

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 continen-

tal 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 GondwanaTsegment, 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 ele-

ments 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 Gond-

wana margin from inboard continental margin sequen-

ces to ocean–margin sequences and then outboard

intra-oceanic sequences in the northeast (Fig. 4)

suggests that although there may have been some


shuffling of individual sections (Powell, 1983; Pack-

ham, 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 along-

strike 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 metamor-

phism 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 metamor-

phism 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

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 move-

ment 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; Habich, 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 (Lau-

rentia+Baltica) and Gondwana, to form Pangea. There

is a complex deformational history involving initial

terrane accretion (e.g., Merida terrane), as well as full

continental collision between Gondwana and Lauren-

tia in the Carboniferous (Ramos and Aleman, 2000).

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—Wes

Gondwana; Pang—Pangea.


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 Carbon-

iferous 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). Geo-

chemical 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, sub-

duction resulted in formation of an accretionary prism

showing high pressure–low temperature metamor-

phism 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 (Cob-

bold 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 com-

mencement 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-Neo-

proterozoic 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.

.

t


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 exten-

sion 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 funda-

mental 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 char-

acter 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 peri-

Gondwanan and intra-oceanic character, and the West

Gondwana segment characterised largely by conti-

nental assemblages of peri-Gondwanan and Lauren-

tian character (Fig. 10). Thus, the accreted

assemblages appear to have a memory of the

contrasting history of the inboard East and West

Gondwana cratonic fragments and their continental

margin assemblages.

Final amalgamation of Gondwana during the end-

Neoproterozoic and Cambrian corresponds with ini-

tiation 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 on-

going 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


thanked for discussion and comments on the manu-

script. This is TSRC publication No. 295 and

contribution to IGCP projects 440 and 453.

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Documents

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