Proposed Programme

Lithospheric xenoliths are a convenient (and relatively cost efficient) means of gaining an insight into the petrology of the deep earth. As such, they provide important information on lithospheric structure and processes and can be used to gauge thermal regime and, possibly, the timing of events. In addition, they provide vital first order information from which to constrain geophysically based models.

Gamble and coworkers^{1, 2} have undertaken detailed petrological studies of mantle and lower crustal xenoliths from Foster Crater in the foothills of the Trans Antarctic Mountains. This work has documented a variety of physico-chemical processes influencing the lithosphere and isotopic studies on a subset of these samples (McGibbon, 1991³) have yielded ages ranging from Proterozoic to Phanerozoic.