The brittle structural architecture of the region between the Pacific coast and the Outback Nunatacks (northern Victoria Land, Antarctica): integrating structural and fission track data

In this paper we report a synthesis of the structural data collected during the WISE campaign on north Victoria Land, Antarctica. These data are integrated with the available apatite fission track data from the neighbour regions in order to place constraints to the kinematics and chronology of the brittle deformation along the western shoulder of the Wilkes Basin. Brittle faulting is consistent with the regional Cenozoic tectonic pattern of north Victoria Land and respond to the increasing phases of denudation that accompanied extension/transtension of the Rennick Graben shoulders since 40-50 Ma. The discovery of pseudotachylyte-bearing fault rocks at the Pacific termination of the Rennick Graben is also reported. The dating of the pseudotachylyte-bearing fault zone opens new perspectives for the reconstruction of the brittle tectonic evolution of the region. Results coming from these studies with the analyses of the new samples collected for the fission track dating may generate permissive kinematic and geodynamic models for the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the entire northern Victoria Land region.