Publication Name: Eastern Australian Basins Symposium III (EABS 2008)
Authors: P.F. Rey and R.D. Müller
Date Published: September 2008
Number of Pages: 4
Abstract:
Late Cretaceous–Paleocene evolution of the east Gondwana marginPlate reconstructions in a mantle reference frame show that from 140 to 105 Ma Gondwana moved eastward toward the Pacific Plate. This convergence was largely accommodated by the subduction of the Pacific Plate under Gondwana. Between 120 to 105 Ma, the deep continental crust of the east Gondwana cordillera was largely melted as indicated by a dominantly felsic volcanic province which extends from eastern Australia and Lord Howe Rise, to Marie Byrd Land. From 105 to 95 Ma, Gondwana remained stationary; subsequently, Australia started moving away from Antarctica in a northwesterly direction, resulting in an oblique opening of the early southeast Indian Ocean. This path suggests that, at around 100 Ma, the basal traction that produced and sustained the east Gondwana cordillera decreased significantly allowing for oceanward gravitational collapse. The collapse of the orogenic crust continued until the opening of the Tasman Sea from about 90 to 52 Ma.