This investigation will continue the field, petrological, and geochemical study of the early Paleozoic granitic rocks and matamorphic rocks which constitute the basement of the Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. The objectives of this study are 1) to understand the petrogenesis of the granitic rocks as a well exposed example of the worldwide early Paleozoic orogenic event, 2) to determine the age and origin of the Precambrian pre-batholithic basement terranes, 3) to reconstruct the early Paleozoic evolution of the Antarctic continental margin and to integrate it into the evolution of other parts of Gondwana. The methods being employed are field mapping and sampling, petrography, major and trace element geochemistry, and high precision isotopic analyses of Nd, Sr, O, and Pb. The proposed study is a continuation of a systematic study of the basement of the Transantarctic Mountains that has been carried out previously. The central Transarctic Mountains contain early Paleozoic batholiths intruded into geosynclinal metasedimentary rocks and Precambrian crystalline basement. The area is of considerable interest because it is one of the largest exposures of an early Paleozoic continental margin orogenic belt that has not been affected by later metamorphic or plutonic events.
