Physical environment research of Mt Morning, Erebus Province

"The lithosphere and mantle beneath Antarctica are among the least understood regions underlying Earth's surface" (Ritzwoller et al., 2001).

The only real key to understanding the Earth's mantle is the study of xenoliths (foreign bodies) brought up from depth in alkali basalts. They provide information on mantle composition and properties, as well as mantle processes related to plate movements such as continental rift zones. The study of mantle xenoliths has been used to great effect in other regions of the world such as Kakanui, New Zealand; Victoria, Australia; Tanzania, Africa; and Norway; and has been an indispensable tool in modelling evolution and magmatism in the West Antarctic Rift System.

Mount Morning, located approximately 100km SWS of Scott Base in the Ross Sea, has been identified by field work during 2004 as a new site of international significance for mantle xenoliths. Field collection and laboratory classification and analysis of nodules, combined with detailed geological mapping, will develop an understanding of the mantle and lithosphere beneath the Erebus Province. This insight into mantle processes will help identify the origin of Cenozoic to recent magmas of the McMurdo Volcanics, and clarify the role that the mantle beneath the Southern Victoria Land has played in the tectonic separation and subsequent evolution of Victoria Land, Antarctica and New Zealand.