Paleomagnetism and rock magnetism of the Neoproterozoic Itajaí Basin of the Rio de la Plata craton (Brazil): Cambrian to Cretaceous widespread remagnetizations of South America

A detailed rock magnetic and paleomagnetic study was performed on samples from the Neoproterozoic Itajaí Basin in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, in order to better constrain the paleogeographic evolution of the Rio de la Plata craton between 600 and 550 Ma. However, rock magnetic properties typical of remagnetized rocks and negative response in the fold test indicated that these rocks carried a secondary chemical remanent magnetization. After detailed AF and thermal cleaning, almost all samples showed a normal polarity characteristic remanent magnetization component close to the present geomagnetic field. The main magnetic carriers are magnetite and hematite, probably of authigenic origin. The mean paleomagnetic pole of the Itajaí Basin is located at Plat = − 84°, Plong = 97.5° (A95 = 2°) and overlaps the lower Cretaceous segment of the apparent polar wander path of South America, suggesting a cause and effect with the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean. A compilation of remagnetized paleomagnetic poles from South America is presented that highlights the superposition of several large-scale remagnetization events between the Cambrian and the Cretaceous. It is suggested that some paleomagnetic poles used to calibrate the APWP of Gondwana at Precambrian times need to be revised; the indication of remagnetized areas in southern South America may offer some help in the selection of sites for future paleomagnetic investigations in Precambrian rocks.     

华北地台南缘熊耳山地区前寒武纪古地磁研究

本文通过对熊耳山地区所出露的前寒武纪主要地层的古地磁研究,初步建立了该地区前寒武纪古地磁的视极移路径,并与华北地台已有的前寒武纪古地磁结果进行对比,讨论了它们的相互关系。     

Paleomagnetism of traps of the Franz Josef Land Archipelago

The paper presents results of paleomagnetic studies of traps of the Franz Josef Land (FJL) Archipelago. This area is considered to be part of the Barents Sea Large Igneous Province (LIP) and is usually associated with the Early Cretaceous stage of plume activity, by analogy with other manifestations of late Mesozoic trap magmatism in the High Arctic. Recent isotope-geochemical studies, however, suggest a much longer history of basaltoid magmatism in the FJL area, from Early Jurassic through Early Cretaceous, with three pulses at 190, 155, and ≈ 125 Ma. Given a significant difference in age, paleomagnetic directions and corresponding virtual geomagnetic poles are supposed to form discrete groups near the Jurassic-Early Cretaceous paleomagnetic poles of Eastern Europe. However, the calculated virtual geomagnetic poles, on the contrary, show a single “cloud” distribution, with its center being shifted to the Early Cretaceous paleomagnetic poles of Siberia. The performed analysis demonstrates that the significant variance is caused mostly by the high-latitude position of the FJL and secular variations of the geomagnetic field during the formation of the traps. Products of the Early Cretaceous magmatism evidently prevail in the data sample. The coincidence of the average paleomagnetic pole of the FJL traps with the Early Cretaceous (145-125 Ma) interval of the apparent polar wander path of Siberia rather than Eastern Europe confirms the hypothesis of the Mesozoic strike-slip activity within the Eurasian continent. This activity might be a natural result of the evolution of the Arctic Ocean.     

Paleomagnetism of Middle Proterozoic mafic intrusions and Upper Proterozoic (Nankoweap) red beds from the Lower Grand Canyon Supergroup, Arizona

Paleomagnetic data from lavas and dikes of the Unkar igneous suite (16 sites) and sedimentary rocks of the Nankoweap Formation (7 sites), Grand Canyon Supergroup (GCSG), Arizona, provide two primary paleomagnetic poles for Laurentia for the latest Middle Proterozoic (ca. 1090 Ma) at 32°N, 185°E (dp=6.8°, DM=9.3°) and early Late Proterozoic (ca. 850–900 Ma) at 10°S, 163°E (dp=3.5°, DM=7.0°). A new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age determination from an Unkar dike gives an interpreted intrusion age of about 1090 Ma, similar to previously reported geochronologic data for the Cardenas Basalts and associated intrusions. The paleomagnetic data show no evidence of any younger, middle Late Proterozoic tectonothermal event such as has been revealed in previous geochronologic studies of the Unkar igneous suite. The pole position for the Unkar Group Cardenas Basalts and related intrusions is in good agreement with other ca. 1100 Ma paleomagnetic poles from the Keweenawan midcontinent rift deposits and other SW Laurentia diabase intrusions. The close agreement in age and position of the Unkar intrusion (UI) pole with poles derived from rift related rocks from elsewhere in Laurentia indicates that mafic magmatism was essentially synchronous and widespread throughout Laurentia at ca. 1100 Ma, suggesting a large-scale continental magmatic event. The pole position for the Nankoweap Formation, which plots south of the Unkar mafic rocks, is consistent with a younger age of deposition, at about 900 to 850 Ma, than had previously been proposed. Consequently, the inferred 200 Ma difference in age between the Cardenas Basalts and overlying Nankoweap Formation provides evidence for a third major unconformity within the Grand Canyon sequence.     

Rhyolite–granite association in the Central Taimyr zone: evidence of accretionary-collisional events in the Neoproterozoic

The Central Taimyr accretionary belt includes two granite-metamorphic terranes: Faddey and Mamont-Shrenk, which include the oldest igneous formations of the Taimyr folded area in the Arctic framing of the Siberian craton—granitoids and granite-gneisses with U–Pb zircon ages of 900–830 Ma. The [FeO*/(FeO* + MgO)]-enriched granitoids of these terranes are products of highly fractionated I-type magmas. This paper presents results of new petrographic, geochemical, geochronological, and paleomagnetic investigations of acid rocks from a volcanic-plutonic association (in the region of the Leningradskaya River) in the Faddey terrane in the northeastern Taimyr area. These rocks formed during the final stage of continent–island arc accretion and collision that occurred at approximately 870–820 Ma. We established that the studied rocks belong to a long granitoid belt extending from Mamont-Shrenk to Faddey terrane, where all the igneous bodies are deformed and oriented uniformly. The paleomagnetic pole we calculated differs significantly from the apparent polar-wander path interval of corresponding age for Siberia. The 33.8°±5.4° angular distance between the poles indicates that the formation of this volcanic-plutonic association took place at a significant distance from the Taimyr margin of the Siberian paleocontinent.     

Magnetic field hyperactivity during the early Neoproterozoic: A paleomagnetic and cyclostratigraphic study of the Katav Formation,southern Urals,Russia

We present a detailed magnetostratigraphic and cyclostratigraphic profile through the Riphean (Tonian) Katav Formation in the southern Urals. The study confirms the primary nature of the magnetization in these rocks. The cyclostratigraphic study identified several orbital periods including the 405 ka long eccentricity. This allows us to quantify the reversal frequency in the Katav and our estimates range of 7–12 reversals per million years. Based on our study, we identify an interval of magnetic field reversal hyperactivity in the Neoproterozoic interval. Age estimates for the Katav are contentious and range somewhere between 800 Ma and 900 Ma based on carbonate Pb-Pb ages and stable isotope correlations. The paleomagnetic poles obtained in this study of the Katav (and overlying Inzer) Formation do not fit anywhere on the Baltica apparent polar wander path between 1100 Ma and 900 Ma. Furthermore, they lie 90° away from the 900 Ma segment of the path. We tentatively estimate their age to be closer to 800 Ma and perhaps confirm a previously hypothesized pulse of rapid true polar wander between 825 Ma and 790 Ma.     

Integrated Paleomagnetism and U-Pb Geochronology of Mafic Dikes of the Eastern Anabar Shield Region, Siberia: Implications for Mesoproterozoic Paleolatitude of Siberia and Comparison with Laurentia

This article reports the first joint paleomagnetic and U-Pb geochronologic study of Precambrian diabase dikes in the Anabar Shield and adjacent Riphean cover of Siberia. It was undertaken to allow comparison with similar published studies in Laurentia and to test Proterozoic reconstructions of Siberia and Laurentia. An east-trending Kuonamka dike yielded a provisional U-Pb baddeleyite emplacement age of 1503+/-5 Ma and a virtual geomagnetic pole at 16 degrees S, 221 degrees E (dm=17&j0;, dp=10&j0;). A paleomagnetic pole at 6 degrees N, 234 degrees E (dm=28&j0;, dp=14&j0;) was obtained from five Kuonamka dikes. An east-southeast-trending Chieress dike yielded a U-Pb baddeleyite emplacement age of 1384+/-2 Ma and a virtual geomagnetic pole at 4 degrees N, 258 degrees E (dm=9&j0;, dp=5&j0;). Kuonamka and Chieress poles are interpreted to be primary but do not average out secular variation. Assuming that the Siberian Plate has remained intact since the Mesoproterozoic, except for mid-Paleozoic opening of the Viljuy Rift, then the above results indicate that the Siberian Plate was in low latitudes at ca. 1503 and 1384 Ma, broadly similar to low latitudes determined for Laurentia from well-dated paleopoles at 1460-1420, 1320-1290, and 1267 Ma. This would allow Laurentia and Siberia to have been attached in the Mesoproterozoic, as suggested in several recent studies based on geological criteria. However, because paleomagnetic results from the Anabar Shield region do not average out secular variation and the ages of poles from Siberia and Laurentia are not well matched, it is not yet possible to distinguish between these reconstructions or to rule out other configurations that also maintain the two cratons at low paleolatitudes.     

The first paleomagnetic data on dolerites from Jeannette Island (New Siberian Islands,Arctic)

The first paleomagnetic data on dolerite dikes from the volcanogenic–sedimentary section of Jeannette Island (De Long Archipelago, New Siberian Islands) are discussed. The petromagnetic data and results of the baked contact and fold tests are used to substantiate the nature of the characteristic magnetization component, which in combination with the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates implies its likely Late Precambrian–Early Paleozoic age. The calculated paleomagnetic pole makes it possible to extend the trajectory of the apparent polar movement for the New Siberian Islands block and confirms the assumption that this structural element of the Arctic shelf evolved as a terrane. Two variants of paleotectonic interpretation of the obtained data and their consistency with the available data on the geology and tectonics of the New Siberian Islands are considered.     

Paleomagnetism and U–Pb geochronology of the Black Range dykes,Pilbara Craton,Western Australia: a Neoarchean crossing of the polar circle

We report a new paleomagnetic pole for the Black Range Dolerite Suite of dykes, Pilbara craton, Western Australia. We replicate previous paleomagnetic results from the Black Range Dyke itself, but find that its magnetic remanence direction lies at the margin of a distribution of nine dyke mean directions. We also report two new minimum ID-TIMS ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb baddeleyite ages from the swarm, one from the Black Range Dyke itself (>2769 ± 1 Ma) and another from a parallel dyke whose remanence direction lies near the centre of the dataset (>2764 ± 3 Ma). Both ages are slightly younger than a previous combined SHRIMP ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb baddeleyite weighted mean date from the same swarm, with slight discordance interpreted as being caused by thin metamorphic zircon overgrowths. The updated Black Range suite mean remanence direction (D = 031.5°, I = 78.7°, k = 40, α₉₅ = 8.3°) corresponds to a paleomagnetic pole calculated from the mean of nine virtual geomagnetic poles at 03.8°S, 130.4°E, K = 13 and A₉₅ = 15.0°. The pole's reliability is bolstered by a positive inverse baked-contact test on a younger Round Hummock dyke, a tentatively positive phreatomagmatic conglomerate test, and dissimilarity to all younger paleomagnetic poles from the Pilbara region and contiguous portions of Australia. The Black Range pole is distinct from that of the Mt Roe Basalt (or so-called ‘Package 1’ of the Fortescue Group), which had previously been correlated with the Black Range dykes based on regional stratigraphy and imprecise SHRIMP U–Pb ages. We suggest that the Mt Roe Basalt is penecontemporaneous to the Black Range dykes, but with a slight age difference resolvable by paleomagnetic directions through a time of rapid drift of the Pilbara craton across the Neoarchean polar circle.     

A Late Cretaceous pole for the Pacific plate: implications for apparent and true polar wander and the drift of hotspots

We present a Late Cretaceous (81 Ma) pole position for the Pacific plate derived from paleomagnetic analyses of basalt samples from Detroit Seamount (of the Hawaiian–Emperor seamounts) that were oriented using Brunhes-age overprints. This pole is at much higher latitudes than the previously published Late Cretaceous pole positions based on the modeling of magnetic anomalies observed during marine surveys over seamounts. Our new pole suggests that the Pacific plate would have moved rapidly between 95 and 81 Ma at speeds as high as 19.8 (−10.8/+11.2) cm/year. The Pacific plate at this time was smaller than the present-day plate and had a substantial subducting boundary. The high-velocity estimates are comparable with those of other paleoplates having similar characteristics. Therefore, plate tectonic driving forces can explain the motion and there is no need to invoke true polar wander. Decreases in mantle drag associated with vigorous Late Cretaceous volcanism in the Pacific, however, may have contributed to the rapid plate speed. The new pole position, together with other reliable paleomagnetic indicators of Pacific apparent polar wander, further supports the notion of drift of the Hawaiian hotspot during the Late Cretaceous.     

Paleomagnetism of the Society Cliffs dolostone and the age of the Nanisivik zinc deposits, Baffin Island, Canada

Dolostones of the ∼1200 Ma Society Cliffs Formation within the hydrothermal zone surrounding the Nanisivik zinc deposits retain a stable characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) on alternating field and thermal step demagnetization. Based on the thermal data and saturation isothermal remanence analyses, the ChRM resides in pseudosingle domain magnetite and hematite. A paleomagnetic fold test favours a post-folding ChRM, and a paleomagnetic contact test, using a Franklin gabbro dike, indicates that the ChRM predates ∼720 Ma. The pole position calculated from the ChRM direction is at 168.2°E, 42.8°N (δ_p=4.9°, δ_m=6.8°), giving an age of 1095 ± 10 Ma on the well-defined “Logan Loop” portion of the North American apparent polar wander path. This age is considered to date recrystallization of the dolostone host rocks in the halo around the hydrothermal sulfide deposits. No evidence is found for a postulated Cretaceous remagnetization event in the region. Received: 9 January 1999 / Accepted: 3 March 2000     

Ediacaran–Early Ordovician paleomagnetism of Baltica: A review

The Ediacaran–Early Ordovician interval is of great interest to paleogeographer's due to the vast evolutionary changes that occurred during this interval as well as other global changes in the marine, atmospheric and terrestrial systems. It is; however, precisely this time period where there are often wildly contradictory paleomagnetic results from similar-age rocks. These contradictions are often explained with a variety of innovative (and non-uniformitarian) scenarios such as intertial interchange true polar wander, true polar wander and/or non-dipolar magnetic fields. While these novel explanations may be the cause of the seemingly contradictory data, it is important to examine the paleomagnetic database for other potential issues.This review takes a careful and critical look at the paleomagnetic database from Baltica. Based on some new data and a re-evaluation of older data, the relationships between Baltica and Laurentia are examined for ~ 600–500 Ma interval. The new data from the Hedmark Group (Norway) confirms suspicions about possible remagnetization of the Fen Complex pole. For other Baltica results, data from sedimentary units were evaluated for the effects of inclination shallowing. In this review, a small correction was applied to sedimentary paleomagnetic data from Baltica. The filtered dataset does not demand extreme rates of latitudinal drift or apparent polar wander, but it does require complex gyrations of Baltica over the pole. In particular, average rates of APW range from 1.5° to 2.0°/Myr. This range of APW rates is consistent with ‘normal’ plate motion although the total path length (and its oscillatory nature) may indicate a component of true polar wander. In the TPW scenario, the motion of Baltica results in a back and forth path over the south pole between 600 and 550 Ma and again between 550 and 500 Ma. The rapid motion of Baltica over the pole is consistent with the extant database, but other explanations are possible given the relative paucity of high-quality paleomagnetic data during the Ediacaran–Cambrian interval from Baltica and other continental blocks.A sequence of three paleogeographic maps for Laurentia and Baltica is presented. Given the caveats involved in these reconstructions (polarity ambiguity, longitudinal uncertainty and errors), the data are consistent with geological models that posit the opening of the Iapetus Ocean around 600 Ma and subsequent evolution of the Baltica–Laurentia margin in the Late Ediacaran to Early Ordovician, but the complexity of the motion implied by the APWP remains enigmatic.     

A New Late Middle Cambrian Paleomagnetic Pole for the Ellsworth Mountains, Antarctica

A paleomagnetic study of the late Middle to possibly early Late Cambrian Liberty Hills Formation in the Ellsworth Mountains, Antarctica, reveals a stable magnetization with positive fold and reversal tests. The paleopole is based on 16 sites from volcanic and sedimentary rocks and lies at lat 7.3 degrees N and long 326.3 degrees E (A95=6.0&j0;). The new paleomagnetic data support the view that the Ellsworth Mountains are part of a microplate-the Ellsworth-Whitmore Mountains crustal block-that rotated independently of the main Gondwana continental blocks during breakup. The Liberty Hills pole differs from both previous poles recovered from Cambrian rocks in the Ellsworth Mountains and from the available Gondwana reference pole data. Our pole indicates a more northerly prebreakup position for the Ellsworth Mountains than previously suggested, contradicting the overwhelming geologic evidence for a prebreakup position close to southern Africa. The reasons for this are uncertain, but we suggest that problems with the Gondwana apparent polar wander path may be important. More well constrained, early Paleozoic paleomagnetic data are required from the Ellsworth Mountains and the Gondwana continents if the data are to constrain further the Middle-Late Cambrian location of the Ellsworth-Whitmore Mountains block.     

Palaeomagnetic correlations of Precambrian formations of east-central Africa and their tectonic implications

Palaeomagnetic poles derived from Precambrian formations can be valuable for determining relative, and sometimes absolute, ages of the formations. In this paper palaeomagnetic results are presented from a variety of these formations in Tanzania and Zambia. The Ikorongo Group sediments of Tanzania give a pole at 80° E, 25° S commensurate with an age of 900–1000 m.y. The lower Buanji Series of southern Tanzania yields a pole at 263°E,87°N indicating an age of either Late Precambrian (c. 650 m.y.) or Early Cambrian. The Plateau Series outcrop at the southern end of Lake Tanganyika gives several poles falling on the Late Precambrian to Ordovician apparent polar wander loop recognized by McElhinny et al. (1974), and a small amount of evidence from the Abercorn Sandstone and southern part of the Plateau Series outcrop suggests an age of c. 900 m.y. for these rocks. Dating of formations at the southern end of the Lake Tanganyika depression gives an estimate of 1500 m for the minimum amount of downthrow at this end of the rift system. Five sites from the Mbozi gabbro—syenite complex of southern Tanzania give a pole at 68° E, 72° N and two sites from Mbala dolerites of Zambia yield a pole close to one from the Bukoban dolerites of Tanzania and a similar age (c. 806 m.y.) is suggested.Some palaeomagnetic information is now available from all the Proterozoic platform sediments margining the Tanganyika craton and a correlation scheme is given which incorporates this information together with geochronological data. These formations postdate geosynclinal sequences involved in the Kibaran (c. 1300 m.y.) and Irumide (c. 1100 m.y.) mobile belts, and geological environment and situation demonstrate that the Tanganyika craton was subject to intermittent uplift between about 1000 m.y. and Cambrian times.     

Apparent polar wandering for the Atlantic-bordering continents: Late Carboniferous to Eocene

We present a compilation of reliable paleomagnetic pole positions from five continental plates (North America, Europe, the Iberian Peninsula, Africa, and South America) for ten time intervals ranging from Late Carboniferous to Eocene. Only well-dated results obtained by demagnetization techniques have been used. Paleomagnetic poles are plotted with respect to the paleo-positions of the continents, as reconstructed from correlations of marine magnetic anomalies in the Atlantic Ocean by Pitman and Talwani and from the fit by Bullard et al. The poles from North America, Europe and the younger poles from Africa show a very good grouping for most of the ten intervals considered, and a continuous apparent polar wandering path is obtained. These data have been used to construct paleolatitude maps for most intervals; thus the relative positions of the continents were established from sea-floor spreading data and their absolute positions on the globe were determined from paleomagnetic data. The older data from South America and the other Gondwana continents show a systematic deviation from those of the northern continents for Late Paleozoic and Early Triassic time periods. An explanation is offered in a different continental reconstruction between Laurasia and Gondwanaland before Middle Triassic times.     

Late Eocene and Maastrichtian paleomagnetic poles for the Pacific plate: implications for the validity of seamount paleomagnetic data

Mean paleomagnetic poles for the Pacific plate have been calculated for the Late Eocene (39 Ma) and the Maastrichtian (69 Ma). The former is located at 77.6°N, 7.6°E, the latter at 69.9°N, 0.9°E. Although these pole positions are little changed from previous calculations they are better constrained with additional data. Slightly less than half of the data are derived from the inversion of seamount magnetic fields providing an excellent opportunity to compare such data with other paleomagnetic data of the same age. As no significant systematic difference between the two types of data is evident, it is inferred that most seamount paleomagnetic data are probably useful indicators of the paleomagnetic field direction.     

A late Neoproterozoic paleomagnetic pole for the Congo craton: Tectonic setting, paleomagnetism and geochronology of the Nola dike swarm (Central African Republic)

New structural, geochronological and paleomagnetic data were obtained on dolerite dikes of the Nola region (Central African Republic) at the northern border of the Congo craton. In this region, metavolcanic successions were thrust southward onto the craton during the Panafrican orogenic events. Our structural data reveal at least two structural klippes south of the present-day limits of the Panafrican nappe suggesting that it has once covered the whole Nola region, promoting the pervasive hydrothermal greenschist metamorphism observed in the underlying cratonic basement and also in the intrusive dolerite dikes. Paleomagnetic measurements revealed a stable dual-polarity low-inclination magnetization component in nine dikes (47 samples), carried by pyrrhotite and magnetite. This component corresponds to a paleopole at 304.8°E and 61.8°S (dp = 5.4, dm = 10.7) graded at Q = 6. Both metamorphism and magnetic resetting were dated by the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method on amphibole grains separated from the dikes at 571 ± 6 Ma. The Nola pole is the first well-dated paleomagnetic pole for the Congo craton between 580 and 550 Ma. It marks a sudden change in direction of the Congo craton apparent polar wander path at the waning stages of the Panafrican orogenic events.     

Paleomagnetic Study of the Juiz de Fora Complex, SE Brazil: Implications for Gondwana

The Juiz de Fora Complex is mainly composed of granulites, and granodioritic-migmatite gneisses and is a cratonic basement of the Ribeira belt. Paleomagnetic analysis on samples from 64 sites widely distributed along the Além Paraíba dextral shear zone (SE Brazil, Rio de Janeiro State) yielded a northeastern, steep downward inclination direction (Dm=40.4°, Im=75.4, a₉₅=6.0°, K=20.1) for 30 sites. The corresponding paleomagnetic pole (RB) is situated at 335.2°E; 0.6°S (a₉₅=10.0°; K=7.9). Rock magnetism indicates that both (titano)magnetite and titanohematite are the main magnetic minerals responsible for this direction. Anisotropy of low-field magnetic susceptibility (AMS) measurements were used to correct the ChRM directions and consequently its corresponding paleomagnetic pole. This correction yielded a new mean ChRM (Dm = 2.9°, Im = 75.4°, a₉₅ = 6.4°, K = 17.9) whose paleomagnetic pole RBc is located at 320.1°E, 4.2° N (a₉₅=10.3°, K=7.5). Both mean ChRM and paleomagnetic pole obtained from uncorrected and corrected data are statistically different at the 95% confidence circle. Geological and geochronological data suggest that the age of the Juiz de Fora Complex pole is probably between 535–500 Ma, and paleomagnetic results permit further constraint on these ages to the interval 520–500 Ma by comparison with high quality paleomagnetic poles in the 560–500 Ma Gondwana APW path.     

Paleomagnetism and geochronology of the Gwalior Sills,Bundelkhand craton,Northern India Block: New constraints on Greater India assembly

We present an updated paleomagnetic pole from the Gwalior Sills in the Bundelkhand craton within the Northern India Block (NIB). Geochronological results from baddeleyite grains from one of the sills yielded an age of 1719 ± 7 Ma which together with a previously published age indicates the emplacement of sills between 1712 and 1756 Ma (∼1730 Ma). The paleomagnetic pole calculated from additional sites in this study, combined with previous studies, falls at 13.5°N, 173.7°E (A95 = 3.6°, K = 98) indicating near equatorial latitudes for northern India. Limestone sampled a few meters above the contact with the sill exhibits similar directions consistent with having been baked by the sill. The pole does not resemble any younger poles from Peninsular India and receives a reliability score of R = 5. Dykes in the Singhbhum craton are slightly older (1765 Ma) and indicate low paleolatitudes for the Southern Indian Block (SIB). Although the Gwalior and Singhbhum poles data indicate low latitudes for both the NIB and SIB, they are statistically different and indicate that a rotation of at least 65° is required to bring the poles into accord. We propose that the NIB and SIB were in proximity but were separated by an ocean basin. We propose the name Gotosindhu (‘Ancient Sea’) for the body of water separating the NIB and SIB. We also review previous models for the assembly of the Columbia supercontinent during this time and critically examine the position of the NIB/SIB in those reconstructions.