Granitic and monzonitic rocks dredged from the southeast Australian continental margin

Abstract

Four Middle Devonian (381 Ma) granodiorite samples have been recovered from two dredge sites approximately 65 km east of Green Cape, New South Wales. The granodiorite samples are similar in age and composition to members of the Moruya Suite and probably form an along-strike extension of that suite. The location of granodiorite on the southeastern margin requires that a piece of continental lithosphere was located to the present east of the study area in the Devonian. This piece of lithosphere may now be located somewhere on the western Lord Howe Rise. A sample of Early Cretaceous leuco-quartz monzodiorite was also recovered from a dredge site approximately 45 km north-northeast of Dalmeny, New South Wales. It represents a body that was intruded at essentially the same time as, and is inferred to be of similar origin to, the syenite rocks of the nearby Mt Dromedary and Montague Island complexes. Show more