The focus of this investigation is the depositional and tectonostratigraphic history of the Early Paleozoic paleo-Pacific margin of Gondwana as seen in the Transantarctic Mountain Chain. The Cambrian succession of the southern Argentina Range is almost unknown, but the range occupies a critical position at the Weddell Sea terminus of the chain, in a region that seems to have been fragmented and displaced during the breakup of Gondwana. The sedimentological and faunal history of this sequence will be documented and related to what is known in adjacent ranges. Available evidence suggests that a fault with major displacement separates the Argentina Range from the Shackleton Range such that Cambrian rocks of deep-water facies lie cratonwards of those laid down in shallower settings. Conceivably, one or more suspect terranes are present. In a second area, the complex Early Paleozoic deformational history south of the Byrd Glacier, suggests that current views of the Skelton Group in its type area are in error. These strata may be a Lower Paleozoic sequence rather than a deformed Upper Proterozoic unit. Detailed faunal, sedimentological, and radiometric age dating will improve understanding of its true age and significance.
