Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 64 (1988): 93-104 93 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam -- Printed in The Netherlands LITHOFACIES AND ORIGIN OF THE BUCKEYE FORMATION: LATE PALEOZOIC GLACIAL AND GLACIOMARINE SEDIMENTS, OHIO RANGE, TRANSANTARCTIC MOUNTAINS, ANTARCTICA J. C. AITCHISON 1'4, M. A. BRADSHAW 2 and J. NEWMAN 3 1Geology Department, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin (New Zealand) 2Canterbury Museum, Rolleston Avenue, Christchurch (New Zealand) 3Department of Geology, University of Canterbury, Private Bag, Christchurch (New Zealand) (Received December 9, 1986; revised and accepted July 23, 1987) Abstract Aitchison, J. C., Bradshaw, M. A. and Newman, J., 1988. Lithofacies and origin of the Buckeye Formation: Late Paleozoic glacial and glaciomarine sediments, Ohio Range, Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 64: 93-104. Up to 300 m of glaciogenic late Paleozoic Buckeye Formation rest unconformably upon an erosional surface cut on, and in places through, early Devonian Horlick Formation in the Ohio Range, Antarctica. The diamictite exhibits a gradual transition upsection from direct glacial to subsequent glaciomarine deposition. Lowermost beds include diamictite deposited directly from grounded ice. Numerous striated pavements indicate paleo-ice-flow from west to east. Upsection many beds are internally stratified and this, with the presence of fine laminated interbeds, provides evidence of subaqueous deposition. Geochemical, textural and paleontological data suggest a marine influence. Towards the top of the Buckeye most diamictite horizons are horizontally stratified with a decreasing proportion of small dropstones. Buckeye Formation is conformably overlain by Discovery Ridge Formation beds of probable shallow marine origin. Introduction The Ohio Range has been visited several times by USARP parties between 1958 and 1966. These visits resulted in a number of publications that established a regional stratig- raphy (Long, 1962, 1965), described the flora (Cridland, 1963), fauna (Doumani et al., 1965), the igneous basement and Jurassic intrusives (Treves, 1965). During the austral summer of 1983/84 a four man geological party visited the Ohio Range 4Present address: Department of Geology and Geo- physics, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351 (Australia). (Fig.l) to examine in detail several aspects of the late Paleozoic sedimentary history. A (1979! 1980) New Zealand Antarctic Research Program expedition (Bradshaw and McCartan, 1983; Bradshaw, 1984; McCartan et al., 1986) had observed that the uppermost beds of the Paleo- zoic Gondwana diamictites cropping out throughout the range were stratified and pos- sibly not strictly tillite and one of our objectives was to more clearly establish the nature of the depositional environment of the Buckeye Til- lite. Other objectives of the expedition included making a detailed study of trace fossils in the Horlick Formation, examining the sedimen- tology of the Mount Glossopteris Formation and collecting samples for coal petrology work. 0031-0182/88/$03.50 © 1988 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.