West Antarctica: Tectonics and Paleogeography

Abstract

The origin of West Antarctica (WANT) can be traced back to the Terra Australisorogenesis that began between 520 Ma and 510 Ma?shortly after the terminalsuturing of Gondwana (Boger 2011). The onset of this event was responsible forthe termination of passive margin sedimentation along much of the Pacific marginof Gondwana and marks the beginning of widespread and broadly coeval deformationand arc-type plutonism. It also began a long-lived process of accretion thatadded much of the crust that defines eastern Australia, West Antarctica (domain 5of Boger 2011, Fig. 2.1), and western South America (Cawood 2005, 2009).