Fractal geometry of veins in Hurd Peninsula, Livingston Island, Western Antarctica

One-dimensional analysis of vein systems has been carried out in eleven traverses along the coastal area on Hurd Peninsula, Livingston Island (Western Antarctica) to characterise vein geometry using fractal analysis techniques. Vein thicknesses generally conform to a power law distribution of the form N( C t where Nt is the number of veins with a thickness > t. D-va/ues are in the range of 0.56 to 0.90, less than 1.0, corresponding to well connected vein systems, which indicates systems of veins capable of supporting high fluid flux. The extension direction obtained from the opening directions of these veins (mean N84.5°E) together with the stress axes orientation deduced from geometrical analysis of vein orientations is consistent with an older strike-slip fracture regime, probably associated with an oblique convergent movement between the Drake and the Antarctic plates during the Upper Cretaceous. The vein system appears not to be related with the plutonic intrusions that outcrop in this area, and can be concluded that quartz veining in the whole area was probably related to the mentioned old fracturing even