Palaeomagnetism of the Lower Ordovician Orthoceras Limestone, St. Petersburg, and a revised drift history for Baltica in the early Palaeozoic

Palaeomagnetic investigation of Lower Ordovician limestone in the vicinity of St. Petersburg yields a pole position at latitude 34.7°N, longitude 59.1°E ( dp / dm =5.7°/6.4°). A probable primary remanence origin is supported by the presence of a field reversal. The limestone carries one other remanent magnetization component associated with a Mesozoic remagnetization event.
An apparent polar wander path is compiled for Baltica including the new result, ranging in age from Vendian to Cretaceous. Ages of the published Lower to mid-Palaeozoic palaeomagnetic pole positions are adjusted in accordance with the timescale of Tucker & McKerrow (1995). The new Arenig result is the oldest of a series of Ordovician and Silurian palaeomagnetic pole positions from limestones in the Baltic region. There are no data to constrain apparent polar wander for the Tremadoc, Cambrian and latest Vendian. If the Fen Complex results, previously taken to be Vendian in age ( c . 565 Ma), are reinterpreted as Permian remagnetizations, an Early Ordovician–Cambrian–Vendian cusp in the polar wander path for Baltica is eliminated. The apparent polar wander curve might then traverse directly from poles for Vendian dykes on the Kola peninsula ( c . 580 Ma) towards our new Arenig pole ( c . 480 Ma). The consequence of this change in terms of the motion of Baltica in Cambrian times is to reduce significantly a rotational component of movement.
The new Arenig pole extends knowledge of Ordovician apparent polar wander an increment back in time and confirms the palaeolatitude and orientation of Baltica in some published palaeogeographies. Exclusion of the Fen Complex result places Baltica in mid- to high southerly latitudes at the dawn of the Palaeozoic, consistent with faunal and sedimentological evidence but at variance with some earlier palaeomagnetic reconstructions.     

Revision of the age of magnetization of the Montmartin red beds, Normandy, France

Summary. A new roadcut has enabled us to sample the south-dipping limb of the Montmartin syncline for a palaeomagnetic reevaluation of an earlier result published by Jones, Van der Voo & Bonhommet. In combination with the results previously published in 1979 for the north-dipping beds of the syncline, a conclusively negative fold test is obtained. The resulting magnetization (declination/inclination =206°/-3°, α₉₅= 12°, palaeopole at 38°S, 325°E) is interpreted to be of Late Carboniferous age, not Late Devonian as thought earlier. Simultaneously, we have re-evaluated the age of the rocks, previously thought to be Late Devonian on the basis of Acritarchs, Chitinozoans and spores. It has not been possible to reconfirm these fossils, not even in the same samples as studied originally; in contrast, the regional presence of Early Palaeozoic fossils suggests to us an age similar to that of other red beds in the Arrnorican Massif, which have been dated as Early Ordovician. The geodynamic implications of our finding that the Montmartin rocks are completely remagnetized, however, are of no great consequence for the geodynamics of the Hercynian belt. Pre-folding magnetization obtained from Silurian and Devonian rocks in Spain and Germany argue for the same conclusion as reached erroneously in our earlier study, namely that the Armorican Massif and adjacent parts of Hercynian Europe were adjointed to North America, Great Britain, the Baltic Shield and the Russian Platform since at least Late Devonian time. If a Medio-European ocean existed during the Palaeozoic, it was virtually closed before the mid-Devonian and of insignificant width during Culm deposition in Early Carboniferoirs time.     

The palaeomagnetism of the central zone of the Lewisian foreland, north-west Scotland

Summary. Three principal directions of magnetization are recognized in the central part of the Lewisian metamorphic terrain of north-west Scotland. The first ('A') magnetization is a high blocking temperature component residing in magnetite and imposed during post-Laxfordian uplift and cooling. Fifty sites yield an overall mean D = 285.9°, I = 54.9° and palaeomagnetic pole at 273.2° E, 37.6° N ( dp = 3.7°, dm = 5.2°); this magnetization was probably acquired at crustal depths of 6–10 km and is linked to K—Ar uplift ages averaging 1650–1625 Ma. The second ('B') magnetizations are defined by E—W directions and also reside in high blocking temperature components; they are, however, dipolar, have some properties distinct from the 'A' magnetizations, and are correlated with late stages in the history of the complex at 1400–1200 Ma. The third ('C') NE directed magnetizations reside predominantly in low blocking temperature components in pyrrhotite and possibly maghemite, and were probably acquired at a late stage of the regional uplift; they do not correlate with post-1450 Ma magnetizations from the Laurentian Shield and probably relate to the as yet undefined interval 1600–1450 Ma. The collective palaeomagnetic data and certain geologic data suggest that the Lewisian foreland should be rotated by 30° clockwise about a local axis of rotation on the conventional reconstruction of the North Atlantic continents; this rotation is associated with Lower Palaeozoic trans-current movements and may be related to a fourth ('D') magnetization of viscous origin.
A collective assessment of 1850–1600 Ma palaeomagnetic data for the Laurentian Shield defines a large apw loop; there is widespread agreement between data from the constituent structural provinces of the Shield although different metamorphic regions define complementary segments of the loop related to uplift over different intervals of time.     

Palaeomagnetism of a sequence of red beds of the Middle and Upper Sections of Pagnazo Group (Argentina) and the correlation of Upper Palaeozoic-Lower Mesozoic rocks

Palaeomagnetic data from 182 hand samples collected in a rock sequence of about 620-m of red beds of Late Palaeozoic to Early Triassic age exposed in north-western Argentina (30.3° S 67.7° W), are given.
After cleaning, the majority of the Upper Palaeozoic samples (Middle Section of Paganzo Group) show reversed polarity and yield a palaeomagnetic pole at 78° S 249° E (α₉₅= 3°). They also record a polarity transition which we have correlated with the Middle Permian Quebrada del Pimiento Normal Event. The position of the palaeomagnetic pole and the K-Ar age of a basalatic sill at the base of the sequence support this correlation.
Stable remanent magnetization has been isolated in the majority of samples from the Upper Section of the Paganzo Group; it is predominantly reversed and reveals three normal events and also three geomagnetic excursions suggesting an Illawarra Zone age (post Kiaman, Late Tatarian-Early Scythian). The palaeomagnetic pole of the reversely magnetized samples is located at 75° S 285° E(α₉₅= 13°).
The red beds involved in this study are correlated with red beds from the Corumbataí Formation (State of Paraná, Brazil) and with igneous rocks from the Quebrada del Pimiento Formation (Province of Mendoza, Argentina).
The South American Middle and Upper Permian, Upper Permian—Lower Triassic, Lower, Middle and Upper Triassic and Middle Jurassic palaeomagnetic poles reflect a quasistatic period with mean pole at 82° S 244° E, (α₉₅= 4°) which followed the South American Late Palaeozoic polar shift.     

New Silurian and Devonian palaeomagnetic results from the Hexi Corridor terrane, northwest China, and their tectonic implications

A total of 239 orientated drill-core samples from 23 sites were collected for palaeomagnetic study from Silurian and Devonian red beds, marlaceous sandstone, and limestone rocks in the eastern part of the Hexi Corridor, southwest Ningxia, North China. The characteristic high-temperature component resides in both haematite and magnetite. It clusters around a northwesterly and shallow to moderate downward direction and its antipode after tilt correction. The primary origin of this characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) is ascertained by positive fold and reversal tests at the 95 per cent confidence level. The corresponding palaeopoles, at 339.0°E, 60.1°N with A ₉₅ = 11.2° (Silurian) and 336.0°E, 56.0°N with A ₉₅ = 9.2° (Devonian), imply that the North China Block (NCB) had a low palaeolatitude of around 15°N in the Northern Hemisphere during the Silurian–Devonian period. Comparison with the Early–Middle Ordovician palaeopole of the NCB suggests that the NCB moved rapidly northwards by 30.8° ± 10.9° to cross the palaeo-equator during the Early–Middle Ordovician to Silurian. In combination with the palaeobiogeographical data from Ningxia, our palaeomagnetic results suggest that the NCB was located close to Australia during the Late Devonian.     

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.     

The palaeomagnetism of Jersey volcanics and dykes, and the Lower Palaeozoic apparent polar wander path for Europe

Summary. Stable natural remanent magnetization (NRM) in the Jersey Volcanics and in a single rhyolite dyke was probably acquired during the Cambrian before folding of the volcanics in the Cadomian Orogeny. After dip correction, the volcanics yield a palaeomagnetic pole at 323° E, 52° N ( dp = 33°, dm = 35°). In Jersey dolerite dykes three groups of stable NRM directions are recognized, with palaeomagnetic poles at 248° E, 26° N ( dp = 10°, dm = 20°), 339° E, 1° S ( dp = 9°, dm = 12°), and 336° E, 31° S ( dp = 5°, dm = 9°). Comparison with the European apparent polar wander path implies that stable NRM in these groups was acquired respectively during Late Precambrian or early Cambrian, Siluro-Devonian and middle Carboniferous time. The stable NRM of the Jersey lamprophyre dykes yields a palaeomagnetic pole at 322° E, 16° N ( dp = 31°, dm = 38°) and is probably of Silurian or Devonian age.
These palaeomagnetic poles and other new data determined by the author for the Armorican Massif can be fitted to a common apparent polar wander path for Europe, and this implies that the basement of Lower Palaeozoic Europe extended from the Baltic Shield at least as far south as the Armorican Massif. The Hercynian Orogeny in these parts of Europe was therefore probably intracratonic. This polar wander path implies that in early Cambrian time the pole did not move significantly relative to Europe, but that this was followed by a large middle to late Cambrian polar shift which corresponded to rapid drift of Europe across the South Pole.     

Palaeomagnetism of Palaeozoic ultrabasic rocks from the Sudetes Mts (SW Poland): tectonic implications

A complex palaeomagnetic, rock-magnetic and mineralogical study of ultrabasic rocks from the Sowie Góry Block (GSB) and Jordanów–Gogołów Serpentinite Massif (JGSM) revealed the presence of several components of natural remanent magnetization (NRM). The authors found three groups of Palaeozoic as well as Triassic and Recent components of the geomagnetic field. The Palaeozoic components of NRM are carried mainly by magnetite of several generations formed during several serpentinization episodes. Permo-Carboniferous component (A1) present overall the Sudetes was isolated in one JGSM and two GSB exposures, whereas the Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous component (A2) was found in two exposures from the GSB. The corresponding remanent components were already revealed in palaeontologically dated sediments from other West Sudetic units. In the GSB, it was probably acquired during its unroofing dated isotopically for ca. 370–360 Ma. The newly determined group of Palaeozoic directions (A3) was found in three localities from JGSM and in two from GSB is interpreted as the oldest overprint. In JGSM, it was acquired probably shortly after the first oceanic serpentinization phase dated isotopically for ca. 400 Ma. Its acquisition in GSB corresponds to the time of emplacement of ultrabasic xenoliths dated isotopically at ca. 390 Ma. So we suppose that the mean A3 calculated for five exposures corresponds to the 380–400 Ma time span and that at that period both massifs formed one microplate. Mean inclination of A3 places this microplate at 380–400 Ma at the palaeolatitude of 23°S, whereas the West Sudetes were situated during the Early Devonian at 16°S. We suggest that during the Early Devonian the microplate comprising GSB and JGSM massifs was situated to the south from the West Sudetes and accreted them during Middle–Late Devonian.     

Palaeomagnetism of the Ordovician dolerites of the Crozon Peninsula (France)

Summary. In order to obtain a Lower Palaeozoic pole for the Armorican Massif and to test the origin of the Ibero-Armorican arc, the Ordovician dolerites of the Crozon peninsula have been palaeomagnetically studied. The samples show a multicomponent magnetization which has been revealed by AF and thermal demagnetization and thoroughly investigated with rock magnetic experiments, polished section examinations and K/Ar dating. Four groups of directions have been recognized, often superimposed on each other in an individual sample. One component (D) has always the lowest blocking temperatures and coercivities and is considered to be of viscous origin, acquired recently in situ or in the laboratory during storage. Two components (A and B) are interpreted to be of secondary origin and to correspond to the observed K/Ar age distribution between 300 and 190 Myr. These ages represent the time interval between two regional thermo-tectonic events, associated with the Hercynian orogeny and the intrusion of dykes related to the early opening of the Central Atlantic Ocean and the Bay of Biscay. A fourth component (C) could be of Ordovician or younger Palaeozoic age; it is not clear whether the age of the magnetization is pre- or post-folding, but a pre-folding age would yield a direction of magnetization similar to Ordovician results from the Iberian peninsula. The latter interpretation suggests a fairly high palaeolatitude, which is in agreement with a glacio-marine postulated for sediments overlying the dolerite sills.     

Palaeomagnetism of alkaline lava flows from El Salto-Almafuerte, Córdoba Province, Argentina

Summary. Stable components of magnetization have been isolated in 15 lava flows (mean K-Ar age 123 ± 4 Myr) from the alkaline sequence outcropping at El Salto-Almafuerte, Province of Cordoba, Argentina. Magnetic and geologic stratigraphy, as well as K-Ar ages indicate that this sequence was probably extruded in the Lower Cretaceous during the first volcanic cycle of the Sierra de los Cóndores Group (Vulcanitas Cerro Colorado Formation).
The palaeomagnetic pole-position for El Salto-Almafuerte lava flows, computed from the mean of 15 virtual geomagnetic poles and denoted SAK₇, is: 25° E, 72° S ( k = 35, α₉₅= 6.5°); it is fairly close to other Lower Cretaceous palaeomagnetic poles for South America. The elongated distribution of Cretaceous palaeomagnetic poles suggest recurrent drift for South America in early Cretaceous time.
The palaeomagnetic and radiometric data for the igneous rocks from El Salto-Almafuerte support the magnetic reversal time-scale for the early Cretaceous suggested by oceanic magnetic lineations.     

The Late Ordovician deglaciation sequence of the SW Murzuq Basin (Libya)

Rocks of Late Ordovician to Silurian age are well exposed on the western rim of the Murzuq Basin (Ghat‐Tikiumit area, Libya) where seismic‐scale exposures allow spectacular insights into the growth and decay of the Late Ordovician (Hirnantian) ice sheet. The final deglaciation left a complex topography with a combination of subglacial morphologies and proglacial depositional systems. This paper documents the glacial and proglacial palaeo‐topography that controls the accumulation of a postglacial transgressive depositional system and the Rhuddanian (Early Silurian) shales. The glacial relief directly contributed to an important hiatus, with the Rhuddanian deposits at the base of the remnant glacial troughs being 3 Ma older than at the top of the topographic highs. The source‐rock in the Murzuq Basin is of Early Rhuddanian age, so it is present only in the deepest part whereas geomorphic traps are formed within the highs of the relict postglacial topography. The transgressive system, recognised for its good reservoir potential, is considered to play a key‐role in the petroleum system, linking the source rock deposited in the ancient topographic lows with the reservoir rocks in the topographic highs. This study aims to demonstrate the importance of palaeo‐glaciological reconstructions for petroleum exploration of the Ordovician–Silurian in North Africa.     

Palaeomagnetic study of the (Lower Cambrian) Longmyndian sediments and tuffs, Welsh Borderlands

Summary. This study covers detailed thermal, chemical and alternating field demagnetization from 50 sites distributed through all units of the Longmyndian sedimentary succession (with the exception of the Stretton Shales), and eight sites in the tuff bands comprising the Batch Volcanics. The resultant effect of treatment is to remove a low blocking temperature steep component and isolate a coherent remanence direction D = 116°, I = 76° the total NRM is composite and not an adequate indicator of the palaeofield. Chemical demagnetization indicates that both hematite and magnetite grains contribute to this component and these two phases are magnetized in the same direction. A negative fold test shows that this remanence was acquired during or after the Longmyndian folding. Formation of the major magnetic constituent, authigenic magnetite, is linked to dewatering during rapid uplift following the folding which is dated by both the Rb–Sr and fission track methods at c . 525 Ma. The study defines a palaeopole of this age remote from the later APW path for Britain and links the Late Precambrian–Lower Cambrian path defmed from basement rocks of England and Wales with the Ordovician and younger results. Palaeomagnetic results from tuff bands within the sediments and Lower Silurian age intrusions cutting the outcrop are also reported.     

Palaeomagnetism of the teschenitic rocks (Lower Cretaceous) in the Outer Western Carpathians of Poland: constraints for tectonic rotations in the Silesian unit

Results of palaeomagnetic investigations of the Lower Cretaceous teschenitic rocks in the Silesian unit of the Outer Western Carpathians in Poland bring evidence for pre-folding magnetization of these rocks. The mixed-polarity component reveals inclinations, between 56° and 69°, which might be either of Cretaceous or Tertiary age. Apparently positive results of fold and contact tests in some localities and presence of pyrhotite in the contact aureole suggest that magnetization is primary, although a Neogene or earlier remagnetization cannot be totally excluded since inclination-only test between localities gives 'syn-folding' results. Higher palaeoinclinations (66°–69°) correlate with a younger variety of teschenitic rocks dated for 122–120 Ma, while lower inclinations (56°–60°) with an older variety (138–133 Ma). This would support relatively high palaeolatitudes for the southern margin of the Eurasian plate in the late part of the Early Cretaceous and relatively quick northward drift of the plate in this epoch, together with the Silesian basin at its southern margin. Declinations are similar to the Cretaceous–Tertiary palaeodeclinations of stable Europe in the eastern part of the studied area but rotated ca. 14°–70° counter-clockwise in the western part. This indicates, together with older results from Czech and Slovakian sectors of the Silesian unit, a change in the rotation pattern from counter-clockwise to clockwise at the meridian of 19°E. The rotations took place before the final collision of the Outer Carpathians nappe stack with the European foreland.     

Comments on'The palaeomagnetism of the Central Zone of the Lewisian foreland, north-west Scotland'by J. D. A. Piper

Summary. Piper suggested that the Lewisian has rotated 30° anticlockwise since magnetization, whereas the opposite appears more likely. The main magnetization in the Lewisian recognized by Piper and Beckmann was imposed upon cooling after the Laxfordian metamorphism at about 1750 (± 50) Ma. The palaeomagnetic pole corresponding to this magnetization is at 37.6° N, 273.2° E ( dp = 3.7°, dm = 5.2°).
In Greenland, palaeomagnetic poles similar to each other, with a mean pole at 21.6° N, 280.1° E ( K = 52, A ₉₅= 9.4°), have been determined from five widely separated regions in central West Greenland and from Angmags-salik in East Greenland. The magnetization observed in all these regions was established upon cooling after the Nagssugtoqidian metamorphism, again at about 1750 (± 50) Ma.
The Laxfordian and Nagssugtoqidian metamorphisms were equivalent. It is therefore assumed that the two palaeomagnetic poles quoted above were originally identical. Their present difference can be explained by clockwise rotation of north-west Scotland about a local rotation pole since the Lewisian became magnetized, in addition to opening of the Atlantic assuming conventional reconstructions:
(1) assuming the reconstruction of Bullard, Everett & Smith, the local rotation proposed is 39.5° (± 18.1°) about a pole of rotation at 60.3° N, 354.5° E, or
(2) assuming the reconstruction of Le Pichon, Sibuet & Francheteau, the local rotation is 28.0° (±17.7°) about a pole of rotation at 54.1° N, 354.6° E.
These proposals of local clockwise rotation of north-west Scotland accord with that of Storetvedt based on palaeomagnetic results from Devonian rocks on the north-west side of the Great Glen Fault.     

Post-tectonic magnetizations from the Cordova gabbro, Ontario and Palaeozoic reactivation in the Grenville Province

Summary. The Cordova gabbro of southern Ontario intrudes 1300 Myr old volcanic rocks of the Hastings Lowlands in the Grenville Structural Province. Three distinct vector magnetizations (A, B and C) have been isolated, using a combination of stable endpoints, subtracted vectors from orthogonal vector plots and converging remagnetization circles. The A magnetization, with mean direction D = 294° I =– 55.5° ( k = 42, α₉₅= 5.5°, N = 18 sites), is a high coercivity, high blocking temperature remanence recorded by 49 samples. The B magnetization was isolated in 33 samples and has a mean direction D = 305.5° I =– 1.5° ( k = 24, α₉₅, N = 11 sites). B has lower coercivities and blocking temperatures than A where the two are superimposed. The A and B palaeopoles, 151°E, 10.5°S ( dp = 6°, dm = 8°) and 165.5°E, 24°N ( dp = 5°, dm = 9.5°), fall on the Grenville Track around 900 and 820 Ma respectively. The A and B magnetizations thus date from uplift and cooling following the Grenvillian orogeny. The third magnetization, the C component, has been isolated in 23 samples. Its mean direction is D = 180° I = 27.5° ( k = 18, α₉₅= 10.5°, N = 12 sites). The C is a low coercivity, low blocking temperature overprint of A and B. Its palaeopole, 102°E, 31°N ( dp = 6.5°, dm = 12°), is unlike post-1300 Precambrian poles for cratonic North America but matches Silurian and late Ordovician poles. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages of 446 and 447 Ma determined by Lopez-Martinez and York for plagioclases from one of the Cordova samples confirm this age assignment. The C magnetization therefore records a previously unrecognized mild thermal or hydrothermal event that occurred in Palaeozoic time, long after the Grenvillian orogeny.     

Detrital zircon geochronology of Carboniferous–Cretaceous strata in the Lhasa terrane, Southern Tibet

Sedimentary strata in the Lhasa terrane of southern Tibet record a long but poorly constrained history of basin formation and inversion. To investigate these events, we sampled Palaeozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks in the Lhasa terrane for detrital zircon uranium–lead (U–Pb) analysis. The >700 detrital zircon U–Pb ages reported in this paper provide the first significant detrital zircon data set from the Lhasa terrane and shed new light on the tectonic and depositional history of the region. Collectively, the dominant detrital zircon age populations within these rocks are 100–150, 500–600 and 1000–1400 Ma. Sedimentary strata near Nam Co in central Lhasa are mapped as Lower Cretaceous but detrital zircons with ages younger than 400 Ma are conspicuously absent. The detrital zircon age distribution and other sedimentological evidence suggest that these strata are likely Carboniferous in age, which requires the existence of a previously unrecognized fault or unconformity. Lower Jurassic strata exposed within the Bangong suture between the Lhasa and Qiangtang terranes contain populations of detrital zircons with ages between 200 and 500 Ma and 1700 and 2000 Ma. These populations differ from the detrital zircon ages of samples collected in the Lhasa terrane and suggest a unique source area. The Upper Cretaceous Takena Formation contains zircon populations with ages between 100 and 160 Ma, 500 and 600 Ma and 1000 and 1400 Ma. Detrital zircon ages from these strata suggest that several distinct fluvial systems occupied the southern portion of the Lhasa terrane during the Late Cretaceous and that deposition in the basin ceased before 70 Ma. Carboniferous strata exposed within the Lhasa terrane likely served as source rocks for sediments deposited during Cretaceous time. Similarities between the lithologies and detrital zircon age‐probability plots of Carboniferous rocks in the Lhasa and Qiangtang terranes and Tethyan strata in the Himalaya suggest that these areas were located proximal to one another within Gondwanaland. U–Pb ages of detrital zircons from our samples and differences between the geographic distribution of igneous rocks within the Tibetan plateau suggest that it is possible to discriminate a southern vs. northern provenance signature using detrital zircon age populations.     

Cambro-Ordovician palaeomagnetic and geochronologic data from southern Victoria Land, Antarctica: revision of the Gondwana apparent polar wander path

We present new palaeomagnetic and isotopic data from the southern Victoria Land region of the Transantarctic Mountains in East Antarctica that constrain the palaeogeographic position of this region during the Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician. A new pole has been determined from a dioritic intrusion at Killer Ridge (⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar biotite age of 499 ± 3 Ma) and hornblende diorite dykes at Mt. Loke (21°E, 7°S, A 95 = 8°, N = 6 VGPs). The new Killer Ridge/Mt. Loke pole is indistinguishable from Gondwana Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician poles. Previously reported palaeomagnetic poles from southern Victoria Land have new isotopic age constraints that place them in the Late Cambrian rather than the Early Ordovician. Based upon the new palaeomagnetic and isotopic data, new Gondwana Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician mean poles have been calculated.     

Palaeomagnetism and Rb-Sr ages of the Ratagan and Comrie intrusions

Summary. Study of the palaeomagnetism of two complexes from the Newer Granite Suite in Scotland, at Ratagan (NW Highlands) and Comrie (central Highlands), reveals the variable nature of the natural remanence encountered in granodioritic intrusions and the surrounding metamorphic country rock. Forty-eight specimens from Ratagan, dated at 415 ± 5 Ma, gave a mean direction: D = 8°, I =−32°, and a palaeomagnetic south pole: 15°S, 346°E (δ p = 5°, δ m = 9°). Twenty-eight specimens from Comrie, dated at 408±5 Ma, gave a mean direction: D = 75°, I =−30°, and a palaeomagnetic south pole: 6°S, 287°E (δ p = 4°, δ m = 7°). These results have been compared with the established apparent polar wander path (APWP) for Britain. The Ratagan pole improves the reliability of the APWP but doubt remains as to whether the primary magnetization from Comrie represents a true late Silurian direction or whether it has been affected by post-cooling rotation, possibly associated with the nearby Highland Boundary Fault.     

Palaeomagnetism and K-Ar Ages of the South-west African Basalts and their Bearing on the Time of Initial Rifting of the South Atlantic Ocean

Summary. Palaeomagnetic and isotopic results from the Kaoko lavas, Hoachanas basalts and dolerite sills of South-West Africa indicate that the Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic Stormberg flows of South Africa may have extended into SW-Africa and that younger igneous events of Lower Cretaceous age were simultaneous with the Serra Geral volcanism in Brazil. Five analyses on three samples of the Keetmanshoop sills gave K-Ar ages between 178 ± 4 and 199 ± 4 Ma, four analyses of two samples of the Hoachanas basalts gave ages between 161 ± 3 and 173 ± 2 Ma and eight analyses of five samples of Kaoko basalt gave ages between 110±4 and 128 ± 2 Ma.
The components of remanent magnetization (RM) used to compute palaeomagnetic pole positions for the Kaoko lavas (48° N, 93° W, A95 = 3°) and for the Hoachanas basalts (61° N, 106° W, A95 = 7° are stable to alternating field (AF) and thermal demagnetization.
Correlation on a pre-drift map and on a map reconstructed for 112 Ma BP (before present) between the palaeomagnetic poles from the Kaoko and Serra Geral lavas suggests that the South Atlantic had not opened appreciably by 112 Ma BP. Cretaceous pole positions for S. America and Africa on a map reconstructed for 80 Ma BP are also discussed.     

Diagenetic magnetization of the Caerfai Bay Shales (Cambrian), South Wales

Summary. The Lower Cambrian Caerfai Bay Shales in Dyfed, South Wales, are marine red beds which have been reddened by the diagenetic alteration of volcanic detritus. The pole position of their dominant component of magnetization coincides with those from Lower Ordovician igneous rocks in Great Britain. There is also a subordinate antiparallel component, and some indication of magnetization spanning the folding of the strata, implying a relatively slow acquisition of CRM in a predominantly reversed field. This is consistent with our observation that the magnetization of these marine beds is carried by authigenic haematite.