The geology of Buckley and Darwin Nunataks, Beardmore Glacier, Ross Dependency, Antarctica

Abstract

The geology of the Buckley and Darwin Nunataks at the head of the Beardmore Glacier, Ross Dependency, Antarctica, is described. Cambrian Archaeocyathid-bearing Shackleton Limestone is unconformably overlain by about 300 ft of hard, pinkish white quartz sandstone with occasional beds of greenish grey and dark grey, micaceous siltstone of the Alexandra Formation. This in turn is conformably overlain by about 400 ft of very well bedded fissile mudstone and siltstone of the McKellar Formation. About 2,000 ft of sandstone and siltstone, the upper beds of which contain plentiful plant fossils of the Permian genus Glossopteris, overlies the McKellar Formation and can be subdivided and correlated with the Lower and Middle Buckley Coal Measures. Intrusions of Ferrar Dolerite are common and 13 representative specimens have been described.