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Kinematics and segmentation of the South Shetland Islands-Bransfield basin system, northern Antarctic Peninsula
Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, J. J. Pickle Research Campus, Building 196, 10100 Burnet Road (R2200), Austin, Texas, 78758, USA
School of Earth Sciences, Ohio State University, 125 South Oval Mall, Columbus, Ohio, 43210, USA
Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, J. J. Pickle Research Campus, Building 196, 10100 Burnet Road (R2200), Austin, Texas, 78758, USA
Center for Earthquake Research and Information, University of Memphis, 3890 Central Avenue, Suite 1, Memphis, Tennessee, 38152, USA
Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, J. J. Pickle Research Campus, Building 196, 10100 Burnet Road (R2200), Austin, Texas, 78758, USA
School of Earth Sciences, Ohio State University, 125 South Oval Mall, Columbus, Ohio, 43210, USA
Hawaii Institute for Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, 1680 East-West Road, POST Suite #602, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822, USA
UNAVCO Inc., 6350 Nautilus Drive, Boulder, Colorado, 80301, USA
Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, J. J. Pickle Research Campus, Building 196, 10100 Burnet Road (R2200), Austin, Texas, 78758, USA
New GPS measurements demonstrate tectonic segmentation of the South Shetland Islands platform, regarded as a microplate separating the Antarctic Peninsula from the oceanic portion of the Antarctic plate. King George, Greenwich, and Livingston islands on the central and largest segment are separating from the Antarctic Peninsula at 7–9 mm/a, moving NNW, roughly perpendicular to the continental margin. Smith and Low islands on the small southwestern segment are moving in the same direction, but at 2.2–3.0 mm/a. The Elephant Island subgroup in the northeast moves at ∼7 mm/a relative to the Peninsula, like the central group, but toward the WNW. This implies that it is presently coupled to the Scotia plate on the northern side of the South Scotia Ridge transform boundary; thus the uplift of these northeasternmost islands may be caused by Scotia-Antarctic plate convergence rather than by subduction of thickened oceanic crust.
Received 26 October 2007; accepted 6 February 2008; published 24 April 2008.
Citation: (2008), Kinematics and segmentation of the South Shetland Islands-Bransfield basin system, northern Antarctic Peninsula, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 9, Q04035, doi:10.1029/2007GC001873.
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