Preliminary Palynostratigraphic Age Assessment of Victoria and Ferrar Group Deposits in the Central Prince Albert Mountains, Victoria Land, East Antarctica

Composition and age span of sedimentary deposits of the Transantarctic Basin system vary between different regions of the Transantarctic Mountains. Moreover, whereas the regional stratigraphic successions have been very well established in some areas of East Antarctica, such as the Allan Hills or the Beardmore Glacier, they remain virtually unexplored in others. Here, we present the first palynostratigraphic age data for sedimentary deposits of the Victoria and Ferrar groups in the central Prince Albert Mountains (central Victoria Land). Productive palynological samples from carbonaceous mudstones at several sites around the Ricker Hills document a broad range of palynostratigraphic zones spanning the lower Middle Triassic to upper Lower Jurassic. These results help orient more detailed future sampling, but already clarify the correlation of these deposits with those from adjacent regions in southern and northern Victoria Land.