Ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U–Pb dating of Upper Cretaceous volcanics from the northern Lord Howe Rise, Tasman Sea

Rock samples recovered during the Australian–French AUSFAIR MD153 Survey in 2006 from the northern Lord Howe Rise and the Fairway Ridge provide new constraints on the tectonostratigraphic evolution of the region and represent significant new information from a region in which few rocks have been dated. SHRIMP U–Pb dating of zircon from rocks from the Lord Howe Rise indicates alkali volcanism in the area at 97 Ma (trachyte) and 74 Ma (latite). The older volcanic activity is probably related to the widespread Late Cretaceous magmatism along the eastern Gondwana margin, whereas the younger activity may be related to the opening of the Tasman Sea or rifting in the New Caledonia Basin. The pebbly clasts and shell fossils in some of the associated volcaniclastic rocks provide evidence for the existence of landmasses as a sediment source area in the northern Lord Howe Rise region, and the initial marine incursion into the area around Campanian time.