Geology of the area between the Axel Heiberg and Shackleton Glaciers, Queen Maud Range, Antarctica

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Abstract
In this area continental sediments of the Beacon Group overlie a peneplaned Upper Precambrian and Lower Paleozoic basement complex. The beds at Mt Fridtjof Nansen and Mt Wade dip at about 5° to the south-west, but at Cape Surprise (84° 30′ S, 174° 40′ W), on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf, they have been downfaulted some 17,000 ft, and form two adjacent blocks, one dipping north-north-west at 35°, and the other dipping south-south-west at a similar angle. At Mt Fridtjof Nansen and Mt Wade thin conglomerate beds, filling hollows in the peneplain, are overlain by 300 ft of lacustrine fine sandstone and dark shale (Unit A), above which lies 600 to 800 ft of lacustrine fine to medium sandstone (Unit B). At Cape Surprise Unit B locally rests on the granitic basement. The incoming of well rounded quartz pebbles is taken to mark the change from a lacustrine environment (Units A and B) to a fluviatile environment, which dominated deposition of the succeeding coal measures. These overlie Unit B conformably at some localities and unconformably at others, and consist of beds of sandstone 10 to 50 ft thick alternating with thinner dark shales and rare coaly strata. The coal measures are at least 800 ft thick, and at 400 ft and more above the base contain poorly preserved Glossopterid fragments. In the Cape Surprise coal measures, cyclic units, 6 to 80 ft thick, begin with coarse pebbly sandstone resting on a scoured surface, and pass up into fine sandstone, shale, and coal. Medium grey, fine sandstone and shale 500 ft thick may be the youngest strata here. Paleocurrents to the south-east, subparallel to the present trend of the Trans-Antarctic Mountains, are indicated by some 100 cross-stratification measurements. Correlations of the above units with Permian Beacon rocks in the Ohio Range, the Robert Scott Glacier area, and the Beardmore Glacier area are suggested.

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