Re-evaluating the link between the Ellsworth Mountains and East Antarctica in the Neoproterozoic: Implications for the breakup of Rodinia and the existence of Pannotia

Our current understanding of the Ellsworth Mountains stratigraphy suggests the oldest sedimentary sequence (Heritage Group) was deposited in a Cambrian rift setting. This early Paleozoic age is then used as a key piercing point to help define Cambrian paleogeography for the southern paleo-Pacific margin of Gondwana, which places the Ellsworth Mountains between southern Africa and East Antarctica as part of West Gondwana. However, U-Pb zircon dating of a micro-diorite from the Heritage Group reveals a crystallization age of 682 +/- 10 Ma, challenging chronostratigraphic and tectonic interpretations. Positive epsilon Hft and mantle-like 818O values for these Cryogenian zircons suggest that the rifting, affecting Mesoproterozoic crust, occurred during the Cryogenian rather than in the Cambrian. This finding strongly supports a connection between the Ellsworth-Whitmore Mountain crustal block and the Transantarctic Mountains in East Antarctica prior to the amalgamation of Gondwana. It also facilitates its contextualization during the breakup of Rodinia, likely positioned close to the Shackleton Range as a continuation of the Australia-Antarctic plate, which separated from Laurentia to form the proto-Pacific Ocean in the late Neoproterozoic. This connection is supported by the U-Pb, Hf, and O data in detrital zircon grains from the lowermost units of the Heritage Group, which indicate local, East Antarctic Shield, and probable Laurentian sources. A second magmatic event in the Cambrian (516 +/- 7 Ma) is recorded through zircons from a basaltic andesite within the Liberty Hills Formation, which provides an absolute depositional age for this unit. This magmatism is linked to an extensional setting, albeit distinct from that of the Cryogenian micro-diorite. The Cambrian zircons yield elevated 818O values, indicating a strong sedimentary influence on the magma source and crustal recycling. We interpret this Cambrian extensional magmatism as a result of a tectonic escape following the collision between the East Antarctic Shield and West Gondwana/Indo-Antarctic plates, leading to the formation of Gondwana. This interpretation argues against the hypothetical Pannotia supercontinent and the proposed Cambrian rift between this sector of the paleo-Pacific margin of Gondwana and southern Laurentia.