title: The discovery of kimberlites in Antarctica extends the vast Gondwanan Cretaceous province.
abstract: Kimberlites are a volumetrically minor component of the Earth's volcanic record, but are very important as the major commercial source of diamonds and as the deepest samples of the Earth's mantle. They were predominantly emplaced from ≈2,100 Ma to ≈10 ka ago, into ancient, stable regions of continental crust (cratons), but are also known from continental rifts and mobile belts. Kimberlites have been reported from almost all major cratons on all continents except for Antarctica. Here we report the first bona fide Antarctic kimberlite occurrence, from the northern Prince Charles Mountains, emplaced during the reactivation of the Lambert Graben associated with rifting of India from Australia-Antarctica. The samples are texturally, mineralogically and geochemically typical of Group I kimberlites from more classical localities. Their ≈120 Ma ages overlap with those of many kimberlites from other world-wide localities, extending a vast Cretaceous, Gondwanan kimberlite province, for the first time, into Antarctica.
authors.affiliation: Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Australian Capital Teritory 0200, Australia.
authors.forename: Gregory M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Yaxley
authors.affiliation: 1] ARC Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits, University of Tasmania, Tasmania 7001, Australia [2] Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Tasmania 7001, Australia.
authors.forename: Vadim S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Kamenetsky
authors.affiliation: GEMOC, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University, New South Wales 2109, Australia.
authors.forename: Geoffrey T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Nichols
authors.affiliation: School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maas
authors.affiliation: GEMOC, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University, New South Wales 2109, Australia.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Belousova
authors.affiliation: 1] Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Australian Capital Teritory 0200, Australia [2] Bayerisches Geoinstitut, University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosenthal
authors.affiliation: Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Australian Capital Teritory 0200, Australia.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Norman
mesh_terms: D000864:Antarctic Regions; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry; D055593:Geological Phenomena