Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Continuation of the New England Orogen, Australia, beneath the Queensland Plateau and Lord Howe rise

January 1, 2008

Greywacke, argillite, greyschist and hypabyssal igneous rocks have been obtained from an Ocean Drilling Program core on the Queensland Plateau and from xenoliths in a volcanic breccia dredged from the crest of the Lord Howe Rise. Low to intermediate detrital quartz contents, 260-240 Ma K-Ar ages, and only moderately radiogenic Sr and Nd isotope compositions, suggest a correlation with the New England Orogen of eastern Australia, rather than with Australia's Lachlan Orogen or other adjacent geological provinces. Our results indicate that the New England Orogen terranes continue towards New Zealand at least as far as the southern Lord Howe Rise. The projected offshore boundaries of the major east Australian orogens are now known with more confidence, and do not appear to require any major cross-orogen offsets.

Publication Year 2008
Title Continuation of the New England Orogen, Australia, beneath the Queensland Plateau and Lord Howe rise
DOI 10.1080/08120090701689365
Authors N. Mortimer, F. Hauff, A.T. Calvert
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Australian Journal of Earth Sciences
Index ID 70033359
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse