Palaeomagnetism and K—Ar age of the Upper Ordovician Alcaparrosa Formation, Argentina

Summary. Palaeomagnetic data from 71 hand samples of igneous rocks of Late Ordovician age exposed in western Argentina (31.3°S, 69.4°W, Alcaparrosa Formation) are given. Stable remanent magnetization was isolated in the majority of samples; they yield a palaeomagnetic pole at 56°S 33°E ( N = 8, α₉₅= 16°). Whole rock K-Ar age determinations yield an age of 416 ± 10 Myr for a pillow lava of the Alcaparrosa Formation.
Palaeomagnetic data for South America, Africa, Australia, Antarctica and India suggest that Gondwana was a unit at least as far back as 1000 Myr. The palaeomagnetic data define a rapid polar migration for Gondwana in Ordovician time which is consistent with the widespread occurrences of Late Ordovician glacial deposits across this supercontinent.     

Palaeomagnetism and K—Ar ages of Lower Ordovician and Upper Silurian—Lower Devonian rocks from north-west Argentina

Summary. In this paper we present palaeomagnetic data from 87 hand samples collected in a sequence of tuffs and shales (Surf Formation) of Llanvirnian age, exposed in north-western Argentina (27° 47' S, 68° 06' W). After cleaning, the majority of samples showed reversed polarity and yielded a palaeomagnetic pole at 5.9° E, 8.5° S (α₉₅= 5.9°). They also showed reversals of declination and inclination at the top of the sequence, which we have associated with geomagnetic excursions. Whole rock K—Ar age de-terminations suggest an age older than 416 ± 25 Myr for the Suri rocks. The predominant reversed stable remanence of these rocks is consistent with the reversed polarity reported for Early Llanvirnian rocks from USSR. The palaeomagnetic pole for the Suri Formation is consistent with the interpretation that Gondwana was a single unit in Early Palaeozoic times.
Palaeomagnetic data from 27 hand samples collected from 10 igneous units of Late Silurian—Early Devonian age (Ñuñorco Formation), exposed in the same area, are also given. The majority of the igneous units showed reversed polarity after cleaning. The positions of VGP's for the Ñuñorco igneous units are scattered and they are not used for geodynamic interpretations. Whole rock K—Ar age determinations suggest ages of 416 ± 25 and 360 ± 10 Myr for two igneous units of the Ñuñorco Formation.     

The Middle Jurassic Camaraca Formation, Arica, Chile: palaeomagnetism, K—Ar age dating and tectonic implications

Summary. Palaeomagnetic and K–Ar whole rock age studies are reported from samples of the Camaraca Formation exposed near Arica (18.6° S, 70.3° W), Chile. The Camaraca Formation is composed of andesites and interbedded marine shales which yield a fauna placing the formation in the Bajocian–Callovian stages of the Jurassic. Our sampling sites span a strati-graphic thickness of 2 km and yield a reversal stratigraphy of: N–R–N. The K–Ar isochron method, applied to least altered samples from the formation, gives a sharply defined age of 157 Myr which is in agreement with the palaeontologically assigned age of the formation. Normal and reversed directions of remanent magnetization, isolated by of and thermal de-magnetization methods, are statistically antiparallel. The pole position, computed from these directions of magnetization, is at 010° E, 70%0 S ( A ₉₅= 6.0°). This pole position, when compared with the well-studied Chon Alice Formation of Argentina, suggests that the sampling region has under-gone a 28°± 28° counter-clockwise rotation about a local vertical axis. The large uncertainty (between 0° and 56°) in this estimate is due to the large scatter in the South American reference data. When compared with African Jurassic palaeopoles, with allowance made for the opening of the South Atlantic, a counter-clockwise rotation of 44°± 14° is indicated.     

Palaeointensity determination and K—Ar dating of the Tertiary north-east Jalisco volcanics (Mexico)

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Sixteen samples representing eight Tertiary volcanic units from north-east Jalisco, Mexico were studied in an attempt to estimate the palaeointensity of the Earth's magnetic field. The experimental technique used was similar to that proposed by Shaw (1974) and an attempt was made to incorporate further criteria using the directional behaviour of the NRM, TRM and two ARMs during the af treatment and measuring the rate of ARM acquisition before and after heating. The directional information was used for checking the stability of all remanent magnetizations involved and for correcting the ARM test values. In addition the TRM directional behaviour could be a valuable yet simple test to detect the problem of insufficient heating. The use of the ARM acquisition test in the palaeointensity determination permits the full investigation of the coercive force spectrum and could lead to a more reliable palaeointensity method. This combined ARM method was applied to one sample. Further work is needed to understand the NRM—ARM1 and TRM—ARM2 relationships if the ARM tests are to be used for correcting TRM alteration effects. Whole rock K—Ar age determinations were carried out on samples from four selected units. Ten samples, representing six of the units, are considered to yield reliable palaeointensity values. Mean values were computed for each unit and reduced to the palaeoequator. The mean palaeoequatorial values and K—Ar ages determined are: I (13 |Mp 2 Myr), 0.504 Oe; II, 0.453 Oe; III, 0.439 Oe; VI (52 |Mp 10 Myr), 0.074 Oe; VII (14 |Mp 2 Myr), 0.187 Oe and VIII (12 |Mp 2 Myr), 0.251 Oe. These results agree reasonably well with those from previous studies. A large number of palaeointensity estimations, many more than currently available, are required to obtain an average estimate of the behaviour of the Earth's magnetic field during the Tertiary.     

Palaeomagnetic data about southern Tibet (Xizang) — I. The Cretaceous formations of the Lhasa block

Summary. A palaeomagnetic study of Middle to late Cretaceous redbeds from Linzhou basin (Lhasa block), north of the Yarlung Zangbo suture zone, gives a stable palaeomagnetic direction of magnetization with a positive fold-test: six sites, 57 samples, D = 333°, I = 38°, k = 78, α₉₅= 8°, pole 64°N, 348°E. We discuss the problem of a possible remagnetization but consider that this direction of magnetization gives a good approximation for the palaeolatitude of the Lhasa block during Middle to late Cretaceous time. Results from more recent Tibetan formations are also presented: late Cretaceous to Palaeocene sediments and volcanics give a lower palaeolatitude of 10° N and but more recent andesites have emplaced about 30°N, close to the present-day latitude. An interpretation is proposed whereby the Lhasa block, which was a part of Asia in the early Cretaceous, has undergone first a southward motion accompanied by an anticlockwise rotation and then, after the Palaeocene, a northward motion under the constraint of the colliding India.     

New ￣(40)Ar/￣(39)Ar age evidence for the Cretaceous volcanic rocks of the Mount Bowles Formation in Livingst

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Differential response of a Devonian-Carboniferous platform-deeper basin system to sea-level change and tectonics, N. Chilean Andes

Deposition of a 2700-m-thick clastic platform succession in a N-S striking basin in northern Chile began in the Early Devonian during a global sea-level rise. A transition to terrestrial facies took place at the Early-Late Carboniferous boundary when the Gondwana glaciation began and global sea-level dropped. On the platform, interbedded cross-bedded or bioturbated sandstones, offshore tidal dunes and sand waves, and mudstones and tempestites suggest switching intertidal and shallow or deep subtidal environments. However, evidence for subaerial erosion indicates a significant regression during the Early Devonian. In an adjacent and deeper N-S striking sub-basin to the W, up to 3600 m of turbidites were deposited from the Late Devonian to the Late Carboniferous by mainly southerly palaeocurrents. Turbidites accumulated in coarse-grained proximal sand lobes in the N, and in fine-grained lobe fringe and basin plain environments in the S, with alternating upward-thinning and upward-thickening cycles typical of tectonically controlled aggradational turbidite systems. The sedimentological data indicate that the deeper basin depositional system evolved to a large extent independently from the platform system. Sediment in the deeper basin is less mature and more poorly sorted than that on the platform, suggesting that detritus bypassed the platform and was shed directly from the source areas into the western basin. The only depositional link between the platform and deeper basin systems seems to be longshore platform currents which may have funnelled minor quantities of mature sand into the deeper basin via bypass canyons. Although platform and deeper basin evolved in a common extensional tectonic setting, the platform reflects eustatic changes of sea-level whereas deposition in the deeper basin records syndepositional tectonics.     

Palaeomagnetic results from the Cretaceous Bagh Group in the Narmada Basin, central India: evidence of pervasive Deccan remagnetization and its implications for Deccan volcanism

A palaeomagnetic study of 115 samples (328 specimens) from 22 sites of the Mid- to Upper Cretaceous Bagh Group underlying the Deccan Traps in the Man valley (22°  20'N, 75°  5'E) of the Narmada Basin is reported. A characteristic magnetization of dominantly reverse polarity has been isolated from the entire rock succession, whose depositional age is constrained within the Cretaceous Normal Superchron. Only a few samples in the uppermost strata have yielded either normal or mixed polarity directions. The overall mean of reverse magnetization is D _m=144°, I _m=47° ( α ₉₅=2.8°, k =152, N =18 sites) with the corresponding S-pole position 28.7°S, 111.2°E ( A ₉₅=3.1°) and a palaeolatitude of 28°S±3°. The characteristic remanence is carried dominantly by magnetite. Similar magnetizations of reverse polarity are also exhibited by Deccan basalt samples and a mafic dyke in the study area. This pole position falls near the Late Cretaceous segment of the Indian APWP and is concordant with poles reported from the Deccan basalt flows and dated DSDP cores (75–65  Ma) of the Indian Ocean. It is therefore concluded that the Bagh Group in the eastern part of the Narmada Basin has been pervasively remagnetized by the igneous activity of Deccan basalt effusion. This overprinted palaeomagnetic signature in the Bagh Group indicates a counter-clockwise rotation by 13°±3° and a latitudinal drift northwards by 3°±3° of the Indian subcontinent during Deccan volcanism.     

Palaeomagnetic constraints on the age of deformation of the Sierras Australes thrust and fold belt, Argentina

A palaeomagnetic study has been carried out on late Palaeozoic rocks exposed in the Sierras Australes thrust and fold belt of Buenos Aires province (Argentina), in the early Permian red sandstones and clay siltstones of the Tunas Formation. The sections sampled are exposed in the eastern parts of the belt, in Sierra de las Tunas (north) and Sierra de Pillahuincó (south). More than 300 specimens were collected from 25 sites, in three localities with different structural attitudes. Demagnetization at high temperatures isolated a characteristic remanence at 20 sites. All the localities have a reverse characteristic remanence, suggesting that the magnetization was acquired during the Kiaman interval. Stepwise tectonic tilt correction suggests that the Tunas Formation in these localities acquired its magnetization during folding in early Permian times. Palaeomagnetic poles were computed for each locality based on partial tilt-corrected remanence directions. Taking into account the fact that these localities are close to one another and that the rocks are all of reverse polarity, a group syntectonic palaeomagnetic pole called Tunas was calculated: longitude: 13.9°E, latitude: 63.0°S; A ₉₅ = 5.4°, K = 39.7, N = 19. This pole is consistent with previously calculated poles from South America assigned to the early Permian. In age it corresponds to the early Permian San Rafaelic tectonic phase of the Sierras Australes. Independent geological evidence indicates that the Tunas Formation underwent syndepositional deformation. We conclude that the Tunas Formation was deposited, deformed and remagnetized, all during the early Permian.