Post Gondwana breakup evolution of the SE Australia rifted margin revisited

Abstract

Low-temperature thermochronology (LTT) is commonly used to investigate onshore records of continental rifting and geomorphic evolution of passive continental margins. The SE Australian passive margin, like many others, has an elevated plateau separated from the coastal plain by an erosional escarpment, presumed to originate through Cretaceous rifting prior to Tasman Sea seafloor spreading. Previous LTT studies have focused on reconciling thermal histories with development of the present-day topography. New apatite LTT data along an escarpment-to-coast transect define a classic “boomerang” (mean track length vs. fission-track age), indicating variable overprinting of late-Palaeozoic cooling a..