Find a match with triple-dating: Antarctic sub-ice zircon detritus on the modern shore of Western Australia.

In this work we present a novel zircon triple-dating approach (Lu-Hf – U-Pb – (U-Th)/He), complimented with grain shape and trace element chemistry to test models of trans-continental transport of ultimately Gondwana interior derived detritus. Our integrated fingerprinting approach on single zircon grains provides the opportunity for robust source correlations as each isotopic system provides temporal constraints on distinct geological processes, ranging from source age (Lu-Hf), through crystallization age (U-Pb) to exhumation age ((U-Th)/He). Collectively, this detailed level of grain characterisation is much more diagnostic of source region than any single tracer alone, and together with grain shape, helps to constrain intermediate detrital grain histories between source and sink. Applying this approach to an enigmatic detrital zircon population from a modern beach sand on the south coast of Western Australia reveals a dominant 700-500 Ma U-Pb component, with a bimodal Hf-isotope composition and Silurian (U-Th)/He cooling age, all of which is strongly correlated with inferred sub-ice basement of East Antartica and the geodynamic setting of unexposed components of the Kuunga Orogen. Our work points towards multicycle sediment processing, and ongoing reworking of poorly known supra-Yilgarn Craton vestiges of Antarctica-derived sediment that became isolated during Cretaceous break-up of East Gondwana. Furthermore, Hf isotopes in these zircon grains suggest that the Kuunga Orogen in Antarctica was rooted on Archean crust. • Triple dating (Lu-Hf, U-Pb, [U-Th]/He) & grain shape to better determine zircon source. • Track zircon through source (Hf), crystallization (U-Pb), exhumation ([U-Th]/He) & transport (shape). • Long-lived transcontinental sediment transport pathway from Antarctica across Australia. • Intermediate storage in stranded vestiges of cratonic cover within Western Australia. • Modern beach sand on Australia's southern coast sourced from sub-ice Antarctica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]