Paleozoic terranes of eastern Australia and the drift history of Gondwana

Paleozoic terranes of eastern Australia and

the drift history of Gondwana

Michael W. McElhinny*, Chris McA. Powell, Sergei A. Pisarevsky

Tectonics Special Research Centre, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia

Received 16 November 2000; received in revised form 7 July 2001; accepted 10 July 2001

Abstract

Critical assessment of Paleozoic paleomagnetic results from Australia shows that paleopoles from locations on the main

craton and in the various terranes of the Tasman Fold Belt of eastern Australia follow the same path since 400 Ma for the

Lachlan and Thomson superterranes, but not until 250 Ma or younger for the New England superterrane. Most of the paleopoles

from the Tasman Fold Belt are derived from the Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane of the Thomson superterrane and the Molong-

Monaro terrane of the Lachlan superterrane. Consideration of the paleomagnetic data and geological constraints suggests that

these terranes were amalgamated with cratonic Australia by the late Early Devonian. The Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane is

interpreted to have undergone a 90j clockwise rotation between 425 and 380 Ma. Although the Tamworth terrane of the

western New England superterrane is thought to have amalgamated with the Lachlan superterrane by the Late Carboniferous,

geological syntheses suggest that movements between these regions may have persisted until the Middle Triassic. This view is

supported by the available paleomagnetic data. With these constraints, an apparent polar wander path for Gondwana during the

Paleozoic has been constructed after review of the Gondwana paleomagnetic data. The drift history of Gondwana with respect

to Laurentia and Baltica during the Paleozoic is shown in a series of paleogeographic maps.

D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Paleozoic; Paleomagnetism; Australia; Gondwana; Tasman Fold Belt

1. Introduction

The apparent polar wander path (APWP) for

Gondwana during the Paleozoic has been the subject

of much debate for more than 25 years because many

of the paleomagnetic poles for the Silurian and

Devonian are derived from the Tasman Fold Belt of

eastern Australia. It has been argued (e.g. Van der

Voo, 1993) that some of the crucial data are derived

from suspect terranes and therefore cannot be used

with any certainty in deriving the APWP for cratonic

Australia. Fig. 1 provides a brief history of the

development of the Paleozoic APWP for Gondwana.

The APWP in each case is plotted in NW Africa

coordinates. It was originally believed that the Cam-

brian and Ordovician (south) poles plotted in the

region of northwest Africa and that the pole path

moved rapidly to southern Africa by the Early Devon-

ian (e.g. McElhinny, 1973). With the advent of plate

tectonics, the interpretation of the geology of the

0040-1951/02/$ - see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/S0040-1951(02)00630-3

* Corresponding author. Permanent address: Gondwana Con-

sultants, 31 Laguna Place, Port Macquarie, New South Wales 2444,

Australia. Fax: +61-2-6584-6483.

E-mail address: [email protected]

(M.W. McElhinny).

www.elsevier.com/locate/tecto

Tectonophysics 362 (2003) 41–65

Tasman Fold Belt of eastern Australia created an

additional degree of freedom resulting in several

possible interpretations.

McElhinny and Embleton (1974) proposed a ter-

rane model for eastern Australia in which the Tasman

Fold Belt only became amalgamated to cratonic

Fig. 1. Development of the Paleozoic APWP for Gondwana. The South Pole path is plotted on a Gondwana reconstruction in NW Africa

coordinates as explained in the text. Ages are indicated in Ma. (a) Simple Gondwana APWP (solid line) after McElhinny (1973) with the terrane

model of the Tasman Fold Belt (dashed line) following McElhinny and Embleton (1974). (b) X and Y paths of Morel and Irving (1978). (c)

Smoothed path after Bachtadse and Briden (1990). (d) Most recent version of the SLP path of Schmidt et al. (1990) after McElhinny and

McFadden (2000). (e) Alternative version of the SLP path of (d) after Schmidt and Clark (2000).

M.W. McElhinny et al. / Tectonophysics 362 (2003) 41–6542

Australia during the Middle Devonian as is illustrated

in Fig. 1a. The dashed line shows the Siluro-Devonian

APWP for the Tasman Fold Belt merging with the

Gondwana APWP at about 380 Ma. With the avail-

ability of new data, Morel and Irving (1978)

expressed this possibility in similar fashion, proposing

two possible paths, X and Y (Fig. 1b), where the

simpler path X ignored Siluro-Devonian results from

eastern Australia and the more complex path Y

incorporated them (Schmidt and Morris, 1977). Since

that time most workers have followed the Y path

concept of Morel and Irving (1978). Bachtadse and

Briden (1990) proposed the APWP shown in Fig. 1c

by applying a smoothing technique using a cubic

spline. However, the most significant development

was the proposal of Schmidt et al. (1990) that the

Devonian to Early Carboniferous section of the path

moved from south of southern Africa to Central

Africa, based upon data from the Tasman Fold Belt.

This section of the path has been referred to as the

SLP (Schmidt–Li–Powell) path (Fig. 1d) and has

been confirmed by Middle Devonian (Givetian) to

Early Carboniferous (Visean) results from cratonic

Australia (Northern Territory) as summarised by Chen

et al. (1993, 1994). The most recently defined APWP,

still following the SLP model, is that of McElhinny

and McFadden (2000) in their book as illustrated in

Fig. 1d. This path shows an excursion of the pole to

the east at 425 Ma (Silurian) to a position off northern

Arabia based solely on the result from the Mereenie

Sandstone of central Australia (Li et al., 1991).

Unfortunately, the age of the Mereenie Sandstone is

not well known, occupying the interval between the

underlying Late Ordovician Carmichael Sandstone

and the overlying Givetian Parke Siltstone. There

follows a very rapid polar shift of 112j to a position

south of South Africa and Patagonia in a time span of

only 30 my between the Silurian and Early Devonian.

An alternative path is shown in Fig. 1e, in which this

polar shift is reduced to 68j by assuming that the

Gondwana poles off north Africa and Arabia are north

poles, so that the south pole path is minimised

(Schmidt and Clark, 2000). Since McElhinny and

McFadden (2000) wrote their book, many new pale-

omagnetic data have become available for Australia

that enable some of the uncertainties associated with

the data from eastern Australia to be resolved. There-

fore, in this paper we review the improved Australian

database in the context of the terrane geology of the

Tasman Fold Belt of eastern Australia and show how

this enables a new APWP for Gondwana to be derived

with some certainty.

2. Terranes of the Tasman Fold Belt, eastern

Australia

In his review of paleomagnetic data from Gond-

wana, Van der Voo (1993) pointed out the continuing

problem of how to decide whether pre-Late Carbon-

iferous data from eastern Australia can be regarded as

being truly representative of cratonic Australia. Many

data in the crucial time range from Silurian to Late

Carboniferous are derived from suspect terranes of the

Tasman Fold Belt. Fig. 2 provides summary geo-

logical information for Australia (Fig. 2a), the Tasman

Fold Belt (Fig. 2b) and its subdivision into terranes

(Fig. 2c) using the terrane maps of eastern Australia of

Scheibner and Basden (1996, 1998) and as summar-

ised by Scheibner and Veevers (2000). Most of the

paleomagnetic data from the Tasman Fold Belt are

restricted to the Molong-Monaro terrane of New

South Wales and the Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane

of northeast Queensland, as shown in Fig. 2c.

The western two-thirds of Australia (Fig. 2a) is the

main cratonic part made up of several older cratonic

nuclei (Yilgarn, Pilbara, Gawler, etc.). It is considered

to have remained a unit during the Neoproterozoic

when it was a part of the ancient supercontinent of

Rodinia. The Tasman Line represents the eastern

boundary of the Australian Proterozoic along which

late Neoproterozoic rifting took place when Laurentia

broke away from Australia around 750 Ma (Powell et

al., 1993, 1994; Wingate and Giddings, 2000). During

the late Neoproterozoic and Early Cambrian, the Tas-

man Fold Belt accumulated quartzose turbidites in a

passive margin setting, which changed in the late

Early Cambrian to convergence associated with the

Cambro–Ordovician Ross–Delamerian orogeny.

Commencing during the early Paleozoic, the vari-

ous terranes of the Tasman Fold Belt (Fig. 2c)

accreted to the main craton along the Tasman Line

with the boundary of the craton extending eastwards

as each of the terranes accreted to the craton in turn

(Powell et al., 1990). Some exotic terranes could have

been added between ca. 520 and 490 Ma, after which

M.W. McElhinny et al. / Tectonophysics 362 (2003) 41–65 43

Fig. 2. Outline of the geology of Australia. (a) Main Precambrian cratons and the Tasman Fold Belt. (b) Superterranes of the Tasman Fold Belt.

(c) Subdivision of the Tasman Fold Belt into terranes. The locations of paleomagnetic sampling sites are indicated by the solid squares.


the western part of the Tasman Fold Belt became a

marginal sea behind an oceanic island arc, fragments

of which are preserved in the Molong-Monaro terrane

and in the Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane in northern

Queensland. Most of the terranes of the Lachlan and

Thomson Fold Belts are floored by Ordovician quartz-

ose turbidites laid down on the floor of this marginal

sea. Tasmania was in its Gondwana position relative

to Australia by the Late Cambrian (Li et al., 1997).

The Tasman Fold Belt as shown in Fig. 2b can be

divided into five major orogenic realms (superter-

ranes): Kanmantoo, Lachlan, Thomson, Hodgkin-

son–Broken River and New England Fold Belts.

Powell (1984) and Coney et al. (1990) have summar-

ised the geological histories of these superterranes and

Powell et al. (1990) have placed the locations of the

then-available paleomagnetic data in the context of

these histories. Although the geological histories of

these superterranes overlap, each is distinctive. The

Kanmantoo superterrane was provenance-linked to

the Australian craton in the Early Cambrian, and

accreted to Australia by the Late Cambrian (Powell

et al., 1990; Li et al., 1997). In the Lachlan super-

terrane the most important geological feature is the

occurrence of a mineralogically and texturally mature

Ordovician quartzose flysch. In many places the

quartzose flysch is so uniform that assignment to a

terrane on the basis of outcrop appearance alone is

impossible. It appears that the Ordovician quartzose

turbidite succession is an overlap assemblage cover-

ing fragmentary Cambrian outcrops, which belong to

several possible terranes.

The Ordovician overlap sequence suggests that the

terranes of the western Lachlan Fold Belt (Stawell,

Howqua, Melbourne–Mathinna) must have lain

alongside the Australian continental margin since the

Cambrian. The Ordovician overlap sequence com-

prises terrestrial to shallow-marine conglomerate,

sandstone and limestone that define an east-facing

shoreline trending NNW from Tasmania to far western

New South Wales (Webby, 1978; Powell, 1984, Figs.

201 and 202). Rotations and lateral displacements east

of the West Lachlan superterrane are possible, but any

post-Cambrian exotic terranes are unlikely (cf. Chap-

pell et al., 1988). In the eastern Lachlan Fold Belt

(Wagga-Omeo, Girilambone and Molong-Monaro ter-

ranes) evidence for provenance linking with the west-

ern Lachlan Fold Belt (apart from the Ordovician) is

tenuous until the Devonian. The divergence in geo-

logical history of the eastern Lachlan Fold Belt begins

in the Early Silurian and concludes in the Middle

Devonian, when the widespread Tabberabberan defor-

mation affected all the terranes.

2.1. Molong-Monaro terrane

Extensive deformation in the eastern half of the

Lachlan and Thomson Fold Belts in the Early Silurian

to Middle Devonian interval contrasted with continu-

ation of passive margin sedimentation in the western

parts of this zone (Powell et al., 1990). The formerly

continuous Ordovician quartzose turbidite apron was

disrupted as smaller blocks or terranes in the east were

shuffled along the eastern Paleo-Pacific margin of the

Tasman Fold Belt. The Molong-Monaro terrane is one

of these larger groups of small blocks that could have

been displaced along the former passive Gondwanan

margin in the mid-Silurian to mid-Devonian interval,

possibly in a dextral sense (Powell, 1983). However,

the Molong-Monaro terrane is not exotic to Gondwa-

naland, because it contains the same Ordovician

turbidites that are characteristic of the more inboard

part of the Lachlan and Thomson Fold Belts. The

issue is one of displacement along the Gondwanan

margin rather than origin from the other side of the

Paleo-Pacific Ocean. Whether displacement was more

than a few hundreds of kilometres is an open ques-

tion.

All terranes in the eastern Lachlan Fold Belt are

overlain by a quartzose shallow-marine to terrestrial

overlap assemblage, typified by the Upper Devonian

to lowermost Carboniferous Lambie Group in the

eastern Lachlan Fold Belt. The base of this overlap

assemblage, called the Lambie Facies overlap assem-

blage, is Late Silurian to earliest Devonian in western

Victoria and western New South Wales, and becomes

progressively younger eastwards (Powell et al., 1990,

Fig. 2). All the reliable Early Paleozoic paleomagnetic

poles from the Lachlan Fold Belt, with the exception

of the Snowy River Volcanics pole (SRV), lie in the

Lambie Facies overlap assemblage (Li et al., 1991,

Fig. 3). The Molong-Monaro terrane was firmly

accreted to the Gondwanan margin by the Middle

Devonian, when the Tabberabberan orogeny

deformed both the eastern and western parts of the

Tasman Fold Belt (Powell et al., 1990). Indeed,


Powell et al. (1990) suggested that these terranes can

be considered to have been a single terrane since at

least the Early Devonian. In Tasmania, amalgamation

of eastern Tasmania with the Western Tasmania ter-

rane occurred during the Middle Devonian Tabber-

abberan deformation (Powell and Baillie, 1992).

2.2. Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane

To the north of the Thomson Fold Belt lies the

Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane, bounded to the north

by the Camel Creek and Hodgkinson terranes (Fig.

2c). The Precambrian Georgetown Inlier lies on the

western side of the Tasman Line. The most striking

feature of the Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane is the

ENE structural trend of the Seventy Mile Range

Group in the otherwise NNW trending Tasman Oro-

gen (Henderson, 1986). This terrane (the Mt. Windsor

Subprovince) was interpreted by Henderson (1986) as

part of a continental margin calc-alkaline succession

that extended from North Queensland over 2500 km

south to Tasmania. Henderson (1986) noted the

anomalous ENE structural trends, which extend across

the whole terrane and which are confirmed by elon-

gate, large amplitude, long wavelength regional grav-

ity and magnetic anomalies (Wellman, 1995).

The ages of Siluro-Devonian granitoids in the

Reedy Springs (west), Lolworth (centre) and Ravens-

wood (east) Batholiths of the Lolworth-Ravenswood

terrane are all similar to those found in the George-

town Inlier on the main craton (385–425 Ma, e.g.

Bain and Draper, 1997). Inherited zircons in the

Fig. 3. Australian Paleozoic paleomagnetic (south) poles plotted on a reconstruction of Gondwana in NW Africa coordinates. The poles that

refer to the main craton are circled in age groups as shown. Pole APB is part of the 535 Ma group but plots off the diagram to the west. Poles

from the Molong-Monaro terrane do not agree with those from cratonic Australia prior to 400 Ma.


Reedy Springs Batholith have similar ages to those

reported for the Georgetown Inlier (f 2000 and

1500–1550 Ma) and isotopic data suggest similar

protolith compositions for the granites of the two

areas (Hutton et al., 1996). The Lolworth Batholith

has similar inherited zircon ages, but in addition ages

off 1100 Ma are also found. The isotopic data

suggest that the source material of the Ravenswood

Batholith also has an age of f 1100 Ma. It is there-

fore argued that the Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane is

underlain by Proterozoic continental crust varying in

age from west to east, but with clear links to the main

craton (Hutton et al., 1996).

Henderson (1986) also noted the similarity of the

Seventy Mile Range Group to the deformed silicic

metavolcanics and interlayered metasediments on the

eastern edge of the Georgetown Inlier to the northwest.

From the above it is argued that the Lolworth-Ravens-

wood terrane must have been adjacent to the main

craton by the mid-Silurian or earlier. It could well have

lain adjacent to the Georgetown Inlier with a more

NNW orientation from which it has been rotated

during deposition of Late Silurian to Early Devonian

sediments in the Camel Creek terrane. When the

structural trend of the Mt. Windsor Subprovince

(ENE, Henderson, 1986) is compared with the regional

340–345j trend of the northeastern Tasman Fold Belt,

a ca. 90j rotation of the Lolworth-Ravenswood terraneis implied. Support for the dextral sense of rotation is

found in the sense of movement along bounding

structures in the Camel Creek terrane (Henderson,

1987). This would have occurred betweenf 425 and

380 Ma, the older limit being constrained by the age of

plutons in the Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane and the

Georgetown Inlier and the younger age being provided

by the oldest sediments in the overlying NNW-trend-

ing Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous Drummond

Basin.

2.3. Tamworth terrane

The New England Fold Belt superterrane can be

divided into the narrow Yarrol-Tamworth terrane in

the west and an eastern collage of at least six terranes

in New South Wales (e.g. Leitch and Scheibner,

1987). By the latest Devonian, a new Andean-style

magmatic arc has been established along the Paleo-

Pacific margin of the Thomson and Lachlan Fold

Belts, and the first indications of a connection of the

New England and the Lachlan-Thomson Fold Belts

were established (Li and Powell, 2001). The northern

part of the Yarrol-Tamworth terrane (Yarrol terrane) is

presumed to have accreted to the Thomson Fold Belt

by the Middle Devonian (Murray, 1986; Scheibner

and Basden, 1996, 1998). Accretion of the southern

part of the Yarrol-Tamworth terrane (Tamworth ter-

rane) to the Lachlan Fold Belt has been proposed as

early as Late Devonian, but this is based upon the

occurrence of quartzite clasts of supposed Lachlan

origin in Famennian sediments (Flood and Aitchison,

1992; Aitchison and Flood, 1995). Powell et al.

(1990) and Skilbeck and Cawood (1994) have pointed

out that such an interpretation is not unique as there

are many sources of such clasts. There is some

sedimentary evidence of provenance linking between

the eastern Lachlan and western New England Fold

Belts in the Early Carboniferous, but unequivocal

provenance linking between the New England and

Lachlan Fold Belts does not occur until the Late

Carboniferous. This is when the early Westphalian

Rocky Creek Conglomerate containing abundant

clasts of Lachlan Fold Belt plutonic rocks establishes

the link. The overlying Sydney Basin, with latest

Carboniferous basal sediments, provides a sedimen-

tary overlap connecting the two Fold Belts.

Although amalgamation of the Tamworth terrane

with the Lachlan Fold Belt is proposed to have

occurred by the Late Carboniferous, extensive strike-

slip movements between them could have persisted

until the Middle Triassic. The New England Fold Belt

became separated from the Lachlan Fold Belt during

the formation of the Bowen–Gunnedah–Sydney

Basin, which originated as a rift basin during the Late

Carboniferous. Considerable dextral displacement

between the New England and Lachlan Fold Belts

has been proposed in the Late Carboniferous and

earliest Permian (Harrington and Korsch, 1985a).

The southern part of the New England Fold Belt is

characterised by oroclines that were formed during the

Late Carboniferous to mid-Permian interval (Harring-

ton and Korsch, 1985a; Murray et al., 1987). The

Tamworth terrane was later overthrust on to the Syd-

ney-Gunnedah Basin during the latest Permian to

Middle Triassic main phase of the Hunter-Bowen

orogeny (Harrington and Korsch, 1985a,b; Veevers

et al., 1994).


Table 1

Paleomagnetic (north) poles for Australia for the Cambrian to Permian (545–250 Ma)

Code Age Age range N Plat(N) Plong(E) Rockunit Q index Refno Resultno

Cratonic Australia z 250 Ma

GV 253 249–257 11 44.0 312.0 Gerringong Volcanics, NSW xxx-x-x 5 995 1852

RV 270 250–290 9 55.0 312.0 Rookwood Volcanics, Qld -xx-x-x 4 3265 8585

LMB 280 276–285 1 46.0 302.0 Lower Marine Basalt, NSW x- - -x-x 3 995 1853

MLI 286 280–292 34 43.2 317.3 Mt. Leyshon Intrusives, Qld xxxxxxx 7 3262 8401

TIC 287 284–291 42 47.5 323.0 Tuckers Igneous Complex, Qld xxx-x-x 5 3262 8402

NRV 290 283–330 10 65.7 307.1 Newcastle Range Volcs, Qld -xx-xxx 5 3270 8416

FV 292 280–305 6 43.0 311.7 Featherbed Volcanics, Qld xxx-x-x 5 3266 8412

BV 300 293–305 12 40.4 315.5 Bulgonunna Volcanics, Qld xxx-x-x 5 3330 8531

MSF1 320 310–330 16 33.8 301.2 Mt. Eclipse Sandstone Synfold, NT xxxxxxx 7 2185 5709

MSF2 320 310–330 9 32.1 299.5 Mt. Eclipse Sandstone Synfold, NT xxxxx-x 6 2866 7472

CNV 325 315–330 13 46.0 280.0 Connors Volcanics, Qld xxx-x-x 5 3265 8406

PCV 325 317–345 1 23.3 317.2 Percy Creek Volcanics, Qld x- - -x-x 3 406 1877

BB 326 319–332 33 45.3 251.9 Bathurst Batholith, NSW xxx-xxx 6 3264 8405

MES 345 339–350 10 37.6 232.6 Mt. Eclipse Sandstone, NT xxxxxxx 7 2866 7471

HG 365 363–367 8 54.4 204.1 Hervey Group, NSW xxx-xxx 6 1579 1031

WP 365 363–367 13 67.9 208.6 Worange Point Fmn, NSW xxx-xxx 6 2191 5722

BCG 365 363–367 8 47.1 221.0 Brewer Conglomerate, NT xxxxxxx 7 2726 7089

CB1 370 363–377 7 49.0 218.0 Canning Basin Reef Complexes, WA xxx-xxx 6 1345 452

CB2 370 365–374 10 62.0 302.2 Canning Basin Reef Complexes, WA xxxxxxx 7 2942 7659

HS 374 367–381 3 61.0 180.9 Hermannsburg Sandstone, NT x-x-xxx 5 2574 6649

CV 374 370–379 11 76.9 150.7 Comerong Volcanics, NSW xxxxxxx 7 1565 1003

PS 384 377–391 1 60.9 138.1 Parke Siltstone, NT x-x-xxx 5 2574 6650

MLD 398 382–415 9 78.0 18.0 Mt. Leyshon Devonian Dykes, Qld xxxx- -x 5 3262 8404

SRV 404 391–417 10 74.3 42.7 Snowy River Volcanics, NSW xxxx-xx 6 1365 486

MS 425 391–458 6 � 15.7 242.7 Mereenie Sandstone, NT - -x-xxx 4 2574 6648

TS 465 443–495 6 26.7 213.7 Tumblagooda Sandstone, WA xxxxx-x 6 2437 6293

JF 482 470–495 7 13.0 205.0 Jinduckin Formation, NT x- - -xxx 4 202 1903

CNF 495 485–500 6 � 3.1 234.1 Chatswood Lst, Ninmaroo Fmns, Qld xxx-xx 5 3082 8082

ULF 495 495–505 2 16.0 205.0 Upper Lake Frome Group, SA x- -x-xx 4 206 1919

NWT 500 500–505 11 18.3a 212.3a Northwest Tasmania Sediments xxxx-xx 6 3155 8202

BHN 500 495–501 2 37.5 214.4 Black Hill Norite, SA x-x-x-x 4 2971 7736

LLF 510 505–514 14 31.4 206.9 Lower Lake Frome Group, SA xxx- -xx 5 1769 1401

GCD 510 505–518 3 38.3 204.5 Giles Creek Dolomite, NT xxx-xxx 6 1769 1410

PG 510 505–545 6 32.7 191.5 Pertaoorta Group, NT xxx-xxx 6 1769 1407

AD 510 505–525 1 36.0 213.0 Aroona Dam Sediments, SA x- - - -xx 3 206 1921

BCF 515 512–525 11 37.4 200.1 Billy Creek Formation, SA xxx- -xx 5 1769 1403

KI 515 515–525 16 33.8 195.1 Kangaroo Island Sediments, SA xxx- -xx 5 1769 1405

USF 520 505–525 1 � 14.9 214.9 Upper Shannon Formation, NT x-x-x-x 4 1769 1413

HF 520 505–535 2 � 18.0 199.0 Hudson Formation, WA x- - -x-x 3 202 1902

HRS 520 505–535 1 � 11.0 217.0 Hugh River Shale, NT - - - -xxx 3 210 1900

APB 535 520–570 14 9.0 160.0 Antrim Plateau Basalts, NT -x- -xxx 4 634 1896

HWG 538 530–545 15 21.3 194.9 Hawker Group, SA xxx- -xx 5 1769 1402

TRD 540 530–545 3 43.2 159.9 Todd River Dolomite, NT xxxxxxx 7 1070 1959

UAS 545 530–560 6 46.6 152.8 Upper Arumbera Sandstone, NT xxxxxxx 7 1070 1958

ABD 560 520–600 10 37.8 166.9 Albany Belt Dykes, WA - -x-xxx 4 2920 7585

Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane z 410 Ma

RB 425 422–428 22 � 17.5 (57.0b) 232.7 (175.2b) Ravenswood Batholith, Qld

(Rotated 90j counterclockwise)

xxxx-xx 6 3262 8403

MLS 425 422–428 9 � 21.7 (53.4b) 231.9 (179.2b) Mt. Leyshon Silurian Dykes, Qld

(Rotated 90j counterclockwise)

x-xx-xx 5 3262 8418


2.4. Summary

In summary, therefore, extensive geological syn-

thesis of the Tasman Fold Belt by Powell (1984),

Harrington and Korsch (1985a,b), Henderson (1986,

1987), Murray et al. (1987), Veevers et al. (1994),

Scheibner and Basden (1996, 1998) and Scheibner

and Veevers (2000) suggest the following conclusions

that are relevant to the interpretation of the paleo-

magnetic data.

1. The Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane probably lay

adjacent to the Georgetown Inlier prior to the

Middle Silurian. It rotated to its present orientation

and amalgamated with cratonic Australia by the

late Middle Devonian.

2. The Molong-Monaro terrane was amalgamated

with Australia by the Middle Devonian and

possibly as early as late Early Devonian.

3. The northern part of the Yarrol-Tamworth terrane

(Yarrol terrane) amalgamated with the Thomson

Fold Belt by the Middle Devonian. The Tamworth

terrane (southern part) amalgamated with the

Lachlan Fold Belt by the Late Carboniferous.

However, extensive movements between the Tam-

worth terrane and the Lachlan Fold Belt may have

persisted until the Middle Triassic.

3. Early Paleozoic paleomagnetic data from

Australia

A summary of the paleomagnetic data for Australia

for the whole of the Paleozoic is given in Table 1.

Only those results that have a Quality Index of Qz 3

following Van der Voo (1990) are included in this list.

Results from the early Paleozoic are plotted on a

reconstruction of Gondwana in Fig. 3 and are identi-

fied according to the locations of the various rock

units. Details of this Gondwana reconstruction are

given later in the paper. Since we are dealing only

with Australian data at this stage, the details of the

reconstruction are not important. However, most read-

ers are more familiar with the results from Gondwana

when the south poles are plotted on a Gondwana

reconstruction.

Table 1 (continued)

Code Age Age range N Plat(N) Plong(E) Rockunit Q index Refno Resultno

Molong-Monaro terrane z 410 Ma

WC 410 377–417 4 42.2 71.8 Wellington-Cowra Seds, NSW x-x- -xx 4 1612 1104

LDV 415 410–428 13 54.0 91.0 Laidlaw-Duoro Volcs, NSW xx- - -xx 4 182 1910

BG 420 412–423 7 64.0 225.0 Bowning Group, NSW xx-x- -x 4 182 1909

CT-MH2 422 417–428 4 44.5 174.0 Cowra Trough-Molong High xxxx-xx 6 1612 1103

CT-MH1 433 423–443 4 40.0 211.7 Cowra Trough-Molong High xxxx-xx 6 1612 1102

MHF 456 443–470 3 � 9.6 203.9 Molong High Seds, NSW xxxx-xx 6 1612 1101

WMP 482 470–495 2 12.2 183.3 Walli-Mt. Pleasant Andesites x-x- -xx 4 1612 1099

Tamworth terrane z 250 Ma

KLS 258 245–270 9 38.0 342.3 Kiah Limestone Synfold, NSW xxxx- -x 5 2973 7738

WB2 273 256–290 6 57.2 350.3 Werrie Basalt, NSW xxxx—x 5 2973 7739

WB1 273 256–290 3 37.3 0.6 Werrie Basalt, NSW x-x- - -x 3 2591 6682

LHF 308 305–311 7 46.6 337.4 Lark Hill Fmn, Rocky Creek syncline xxxx- -x 5 3348 8589

RCG 313 311–316 23 53.9 323.7 Rocky Creek Conglom., RC syncline xxxx- -x 5 3348 8590

CLF 318 316–321 29 57.6 330.9 Clifden Formation, RC syncline xxxx-xx 6 3348 8591

CUF 310 305–314 29 44.6 308.9 Currabubula Fmn, Werrie syncline xxxx- -x 5 3348 8592

WSU 322 311–333 7 69.2 319.7 Werrie Syncline Upp Volcanics, NSW x-x—xx 4 2591 6681

IGV 342 333–350 11 73.0 34.0 Isismurra and Gilmore Volcanics, NSW x- - - -xx 3 182 1906

WSL 348 333–363 9 66.1 135.9 Werrie Syncline Lwr Volcanics, NSW xxx- - -x 4 2591 6680

N is the number of sites in each study. The Q index follows Van der Voo (1990). Refno and Resultno are the Reference number and Result

number in the Global Paleomagnetic Database (GPMDB) Ver. 4.1 (May 2001) following McElhinny and Lock (1996). Ages follow the

timescale given in the GPMDB—Harland et al. (1990) as modified by Tucker and McKerrow (1995) for the Early Paleozoic.a Rotated from 19.4jN, 208.9jE as explained in the text.b Counterclockwise vertical axis rotation of 90j applied as discussed in the text.


The paleomagnetic south poles plotted in Fig. 3

cover the time interval from Cambrian to Early

Devonian (545–400 Ma). Groups of poles have been

ringed and a mean age for each group is indicated.

The pole for the Antrim Plateau Basalts (APB) plots

off the diagram to the west, but its age is probably

Early Cambrian (535 Ma group). The age of the

Tumblagooda Sandstone (TS) of Western Australia

is known only within rather broad limits and is

generally regarded as being of Ordovician age,

although stratigraphically the range could include

the Middle Cambrian and Early Silurian. The TS pole

plots with other Ordovician poles in Fig. 3. The pole

(CNF) from the Chatswood Limestone and Ninmaroo

Formation of the Georgina Basin (Ripperdan and

Kirschvink, 1992) does not plot near other poles

corresponding to the Cambrian/Ordovician boundary.

Either these rocks have been remagnetized, in which

case the magnetostratigraphy deduced is incorrect, or

this region has been subjected to some unknown

tectonic effects.

When assigning a Quality Index to results from the

Adelaide Fold Belt of South Australia, we have fol-

lowed the rather conservative view taken by Van der

Voo (1993) that coherence with the main craton is not

necessarily guaranteed during the early Paleozoic. In

Fig. 3, the results from South Australia have been

separately identified from those from the craton and the

agreement of these results within the 510 and 485 Ma

groups confirms that this region has been firmly

attached to the craton at least since the Early Cambrian.

Two results (RB and MLS) from the Silurian (425

Ma) of the Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane (Clark,

1996) plot off north Arabia and lie close to the pole

from the Mereenie Sandstone (MS) of central Aus-

tralia (Li et al., 1991). The age of the Mereenie

Sandstone is only constrained to lie between Late

Ordovician and Early Devonian and is therefore

usually regarded as being of Silurian age. The close

proximity of the MS pole to the Silurian poles (RB

and MLS) from the Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane

would appear to confirm the Silurian age of the

Mereenie Sandstone. However, the Early Devonian

pole (MLD) from the Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane

lies to the south of Africa and South America in close

agreement with that from the Snowy River Volcanics

(SRV) from the Molong-Monaro terrane. This agree-

ment is either coincidental or else strongly suggests

that the Molong-Monaro and Lolworth-Ravenswood

terranes were coherent in Early Devonian times and

hence also coherent with the main craton at that time.

This implies a polar shift of 120j for the Lolworth-

Ravenswood terrane between 425 and 400 Ma, similar

to that shown for Gondwana in Fig. 1d. Generally

speaking, large polar shifts for small terranes are

usually associated with rotations. Switching the polar-

ity of the older age poles would reduce this to 60j as

in Fig. 1e. However, the paleogeographic consequen-

ces of switching the polarity of the Cambrian and

Ordovician poles are unacceptable. We note that the

results from the Mereenie Sandstone of Li et al.

(1991) are not well grouped with the Fisher precision

k = 7.8 after structural correction. Indeed, the six site

mean declinations range from 252j to 322j, stronglysuggesting local rotations or poorly determined mag-

netic directions may be involved. The authors show

that the six sites means could well be divided into two

significantly separate groups each with three sites

stratigraphically separated from one another. There-

fore, we are not confident that the pole from the

Mereenie Sandstone is truly representative of the

Silurian of Australia.

The most reasonable explanation of the observed

120j polar shift is that the Lolworth-Ravenswood

terrane was not attached to the main craton in its

present orientation at 425 Ma as was discussed

previously. In the Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane

(location 20.1jS, 146.4jE), the combined Silurian

(425 Ma) observed direction of magnetization for

the Ravenswood Batholith and the Mt. Leyshon

Silurian dykes is D = 286.5j, I=� 19.1j with a95 =4.1j. Correcting for the 90j local clockwise rotation

that is proposed to have occurred between f 425 and

380 Ma gives an in situ direction of magnetization of

D = 196.5j, I =� 19.1j. The corresponding pole posi-

tion then lies at 56.0jN, 176.4jE. At the present time

we believe this represents the best estimate of the

Silurian (425 Ma) pole for Australia. Since the Early

Devonian (400 Ma) pole from the Lolworth-Ravens-

wood terrane agrees with that from the Snowy River

Volcanics of the Molong-Monaro terrane 2000 km to

the south, it appears that the 90j clockwise rotation of

the Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane could have taken

place between 425 and 400 Ma.

We now consider the pre-400 Ma results from the

Molong-Monaro terrane, which are plotted in Fig. 3.


These results are mainly based upon those reported by

Goleby (1980) and have been critically assessed by

Schmidt and Embleton (1987) as being unsuitable for

paleogeographic analysis. However, we have assigned

Q indices to these results and they all give Qz 3, so

until further work is carried out on these rocks, we

feel it is unreasonable to reject them arbitrarily. Bear-

ing these comments in mind, we make the following

general observations. The Early (WMP-482 Ma)

Ordovician result does not agree with the correspond-

ing group of poles from the craton. However, the

proximity of this pole position to the equivalents from

the craton suggests that the Molong-Monaro terrane

was located close to the Gondwanan cratonic margin

during the Ordovician and subsequently rotated into

its present position on amalgamation. The Silurian

results are strung out between the Ordovician (485

Ma) and the Early Devonian (400 Ma) results.

Although it is unlikely that the Molong-Monaro

terrane was amalgamated with the craton during this

time interval and, considering the uncertainties sug-

gested for the pre-400 Ma data, there is general

support for the view that the terrane lay close to the

craton as suggested by the geological observations

discussed previously. In all cases the deviations from

the cratonic poles can be explained by local rotations.

4. Late Paleozoic paleomagnetic data from

Australia

Results from the Devonian and Carboniferous of

the main craton and the Tasman Fold Belt are shown in

Fig. 4. The pole positions are plotted on a Gondwana

reconstruction but in Australian coordinates so that the

poles listed in Table 1 are more easily identified. The

oldest poles from central Australia (main craton), as

shown in Fig. 4a, are derived from a stratigraphic

succession in the Amadeus Basin and in sequence

from oldest to youngest are Parke Siltstone (PS—early

Middle Devonian), Hermannsburg Sandstone (HS—

late Middle to early Late Devonian) and the Brewer

Conglomerate (BCG—Famennian). This sequence

produces a series of poles that runs from the region

of southern Africa to central Africa. Placed within

this sequence in the appropriate place are poles from

the Canning Basin Reef Complexes in Western Aus-

tralia (CB1 and CB2—Late Frasnian to Early Famen-

nian). This sequence of poles from the craton ends

with the Early Carboniferous Mount Eclipse Sand-

stone (MES—Early to mid-Visean). This succession

of poles must be compared with a similar succession

derived from the Molong-Monaro terrane, including

the Comerong Volcanics (CV—Givetian/Frasnian

boundary), Worange Point Formation (WP—Famen-

nian) and the Hervey Group (HG—Famennian) that

form a similar sequence.

For the Early Devonian the pole from the Snowy

River Volcanics agrees with that from the Mt. Ley-

shon Devonian dykes of the Lolworth-Ravenswood

terrane in northeast Queensland. Therefore the evi-

dence is overwhelming that the paths for the main

craton and the Molong-Monaro terrane coincide since

at least Early Devonian times. This is entirely con-

sistent with the geological evidence presented earlier.

For times earlier than the Early Devonian, the poles

from the Molong-Monaro terrane are different from

the main craton in the Ordovician, and there is no

reliable data for the craton in the Silurian with which

they can be compared (Fig. 3). The implied pole path

for the Molong-Monaro terrane, however, does follow

the likely APWP for Gondwana, implying that during

the Late Ordovician to Early Devonian, the terrane

was near the Australian Gondwanan margin (Fig. 4b).

The poles from the Tamworth terrane of the New

England Fold Belt (Table 1) tend to support the

overall geological view that extensive movements

between the Tamworth terrane and the Lachlan Fold

Belt may have persisted at least until the end of the

Permian. Recent paleomagnetic results confirm this

view (Geeve et al., 2002). The Tamworth terrane is

currently the subject of substantial paleomagnetic

investigation, so we will not discuss these results in

detail here. However, of particular interest is the major

study of the basal sequence of the Kiaman Superchron

published by Opdyke et al. (2000) from the Rocky

Creek and Werrie synclines as listed in Table 1. Poles

from the Rocky Creek syncline (LHF, RCC, CLF) lie

to the east of poles of corresponding age shown in

Fig. 4b. However, the pole from the Werrie syncline

(CUF) is more westerly. This difference becomes

more apparent when compared with poles of similar

age from Gondwana (see Table 3 below). The best

estimate of the Gondwana pole for 310 Ma can be

found by interpolating between the mean poles listed

for 300 and 320 Ma. This gives a Gondwana pole


Fig. 4. Paleozoic paleomagnetic (south) poles for Australia plotted on a reconstruction of Gondwana in Australian coordinates. (a) Poles ranging

from 400 to 300 Ma. The solid line is the derived APWP. (b) Derived APWP from (a) compared with pre-400 Ma poles from the Molong-

Monaro terrane.


lying at 25jN, 240jE in NWAfrica coordinates or at

45.6jN, 297.3jE in Australian coordinates. This pole

(south pole at 45.6jS, 117.3jE) lies significantly to

the west of the Rocky Creek syncline poles obtained

by Opdyke et al. (2000), as Fig. 4 shows. The pole for

the Werrie syncline lies more westerly, as might be

expected for results of this age from the main craton

and is not significantly different to that expected for

Gondwana as calculated above. Indeed, the mean

directions of magnetization listed by Opdyke et al.

(2000) for the Rocky Creek and Werrie synclines

differ by 9.6j and are significantly different at the

95% confidence level (critical angle is 6.1j). We

have no simple explanation for these differences,

except to observe that extensive movements between

the Tamworth terrane and the Lachlan Fold Belt

(Geeve et al., 2002) may have persisted up until

the Middle Triassic. Therefore, we do not consider

any of the results from the Tamworth terrane during

the Carboniferous and Permian to be representative

of cratonic Australia.

5. The Paleozoic apparent polar wander path for

Gondwana

Table 2 summarises all the Paleozoic pole positions

from the Gondwana continents with Quality Index

Qz 3. Each result is referenced by the Refno and

Resultno in the Global Paleomagnetic Database of

McElhinny and Lock (1996) using the latest version

(4.1 of May 2001). As discussed above, for Australia

pre-Devonian results from the Molong-Monaro and

Paleozoic results from the Tamworth terrane as listed

in Table 1 have been omitted. Pole positions are given

in NWAfrica coordinates according to the reconstruc-

tion parameters of Lottes and Rowley (1990). In

addition to these parameters, the Parana Basin and

southern parts of South America have been rotated

using modified rotations following Nurnberger and

Muller (1991). Tasmania has been rotated to Australia

following Powell et al. (1988). The complete set of

rotations is as follows:

1. Southern Africa to NW Africa: 9.3jN, 5.7jE,angle of � 7.8j.

2. Northeast Africa to NWAfrica: 19.2jN, 352.6jE,angle of � 6.3j.

3. Arabia to NW Africa: 26.2jN, 11.2jE, angle of

� 14.2j.4. South America (north of Parana Basin) to NW

Africa: 53jN, 325jE, angle of + 51.0j.5. Parana Basin subplate to South America: 9.6jS,

300.6jE, angle of + 4.1j.6. To NWAfrica: 48.8jN, 324.9jE, angle of + 52.8j.7. Colorado subplate to South America: 7.4jN,

299.6jE, angle of + 4.6j.8. To NWAfrica: 49.2jN, 324.2jE, angle of + 54.0j.9. India to NW Africa: 26.7jN, 37.3jE, angle of

� 69.4j.10. Australia to NW Africa: 28.1jS, 293.2jE, angle

of + 52.1j.11. Tasmania to Australia: 47.0jN, 4.0jE, angle of

+ 3.6j.12. To NWAfrica: 24.1jS, 294.3jE, angle of + 51.7

13. Antarctica to NWAfrica: 12.4jS, 326.2jE, angleof + 53.3j.

14. Madagascar to NW Africa: 14.9jS, 277.6jE,angle of + 15.7j.

It has been suggested that some counterclockwise

rotation of the Salt Range has occurred and that the

Cambrian and Permian results from this region should

not be used in Gondwana reconstructions (Opdyke et

al., 1982). The poles listed in Table 2 have been

grouped in approximately 20 my bands. Our obser-

vation is that the Middle to Late Cambrian (510 Ma)

group and the mid- to Late Permian (260 Ma) group

change very little whether results from the Salt Range

are included or not (both calculations are listed in

Table 2). This suggests that any rotations involved are

small and within the range of the reconstruction errors

in transforming the poles.

Some poles do not agree with those of similar age.

The Talchir Series pole appears to contain an over-

print as suggested by Van der Voo (1993). The pole

from the Gilif Hills Volcanics (primary component C)

appears out of place. The tectonic situation at the

sampling location may be more complex than sup-

posed and we suggest that this result comes from a

possibly rotated block. The result from the Silurian

Lipeon Formation of northwest Argentina does not

agree with those from Australia in either their present-

day or restored position. It is derived from ferruginous

horizons assumed to be diagenetic, and, although

there is a positive fold test, the folding is Late Tertiary


Table 2

Gondwana (north) paleomagnetic poles in NW Africa coordinates for the Cambrian to Permian (545–250 Ma)

Age N Plat(N) Plong(E) Rockunit Q index Refno Resultno

Mid- to Late Permian (250–270)—260 Ma

250 2 38.9 233.3 Kamthi Beds, Tadoba, India x-x-xxx 5 593 3163

253 11 32.6 248.4 Gerringong Volcanics, NSW, Australia xxx-x-x 5 995 1852

255 8 45.1 239.0 Choique Mahuida Formation, Argentina xx- -x-x 4 2649 689

257 10 34.5 262.9 Permian Redbeds, Tanzania xxxxx-x 6 2736 7104

257 4 35.3 268.0 K3 Beds, Songwe-Kiwira, Tanzania xx- -x-x 4 324 3448

263 4 50.5 229.7 Porphyritic Series, Argentina xx- -xx- 4 2648 1205

265 3 50.7 229.9 La Colina Fmn, Los Colorados, Argentina xx- -x- - 3 166 2721

270 9 47.6 279.8 Speckled Sandstone, Salt Range, Pakistan -xx- - -x 3 172 2895

270 5 42.3 224.6 Lowest Middle Paganzo, Argentina xx- -x-x 4 283 3505

270 2 51.9 228.9 Middle Paganzo II, Upper Beds, Argentina x- - -x-x 3 620 3035

270 16 51.7 237.9 Tambillos Formation, Argentina xxx-x- - 4 2475 6376

Early Permian (270–290)—280 Ma

270 9 38.0 236.6 Rookwood Volcanics, Qld, Australia -xx-x-x 4 3265 8585

273 11 24.0 243.8 Djebel Tarhat Redbeds, Morocco xx- -x-x 4 1080 2037

273 1 38.7 236.8 Taztot Trachyandesite, Morocco x- - -x-x 3 723 2280

273 5 32.2 244.1 Chougrane Redbeds, Morocco xx-xx-x 5 723 2279

273 8 28.0 250.3 Gebel Farsh el Azraq, Egypt - -x-x-x 3 2353 6128

273 13 29.0 240.0 Serie d’Abadla, Upper Unit, Morocco xxx-x-x 5 1459 685

275 11 29.1 237.8 Serie d’Abadla, Lower Unit, Morocco xxx-x-x 5 3275 8422

275 20 30.0 244.8 Tunas Formation, Argentina xxxxx-x 6 3293 8459

278 1 32.6 235.8 Middle Paganzo II, Huaco, Argentina x- - -x-x 3 620 3038

278 3 29.1 235.0 Middle Paganzo II, Lower Beds, Argentina xx- -x-x 4 620 3036

280 1 27.9 241.8 Lower Marine Basalt, NSW, Australia x- - -x-x 3 995 1853

280 4 36.0 238.0 Chougrane Volcanics, Morocco x-x-x-x 4 1859 1618

286 3 38.5 237.5 Upper El Adeb Larache Formation, Algeria xxx-x-x 5 2540 6531

286 34 35.4 251.6 Mt. Leyshon Complex, Queensland, Australia xxxxx-x 6 3262 8401

287 42 41.0 249.2 Tuckers Igneous Complex, Qld, Australia xxx-x-x 5 3262 8402

290 10 40.0 222.7 Newcastle Range Volcanics, Qld, Australia -xx- -xx 4 3270 8416

290 5 42.0 245.9 Sakoa Group, Madagascar xx- -x-x 4 748 2378

Late Carboniferous 2 (290–310)—300 Ma

290 6 31.9 249.2 Featherbed Volcanics, Qld, Australia xxx-x-x 5 3266 8412

290 7 33.8 241.4 Lower Tiguentourine Formation, Algeria xxx-x-x 5 2728 7092

290 3 32.9 251.2 Alozai Formation, Pakistan -x- -x-x 3 1236 233

300 12 32.8 253.6 Bulgonunna Volcanics, Qld, Australia xxx-x-x 5 3330 8531

300 10 32.0 229.3 Pilar and Cas Formations, Chile xxxx-xx 6 1420 598

300 4 36.9 233.8 La Colina Basalt, Argentina x- - -xxx 4 178 2490

305 22 27.3 244.8 Dwyka Varves, South and Central Africa xxxxxxx 7 (A) –

306 9 31.2 240.8 Abu Durba Sediments, Sinai, Egypt xxx-xxx 6 2784 7224

306*a 2 28.9 280.1 Talchir Series, India x-x-x-x 4*a 545 3336

310 1 30.6 233.4 Itarare Subgroup, Tubarao Group, Brazil x- - -x-x 3 798 2369

310 10 28.7 235.8 Lower El Adeb Larache Formation, Algeria xxx-x-x 5 2540 6529

310 10 27.3 224.6 La Tabla Formation, Chile -xxx- -x 4 1420 597

310 2 26.9 222.8 Piaui Formation, Brazil x- - -x-x 3 613 3134


310 6 23.3 221.4 La Colina Formation, Argentina xxx-x-x 5 1144 7

315 13 16.5 230.8 Connors Volcanics, Qld, Australia xxx-x-x 5 3265 8406

316 11 25.4 234.8 Ain Ech Chebbe Formation, Algeria xxx-x-x 5 1629 1133

318 5 26.7 237.9 Sediments, Algeria xx- -x-x 4 1794 1470

320 2 25.0 225.0 Ain Ech Chebbe Formation, Morocco x- - -x-x 3 181 3205


Table 2 (continued)



320 16 19.8 251.8 Mt. Eclipse Sandstone Synfold, NT, Australia xxxxxxx 7 2185 5709

320 9 17.6 252.2 Mt. Eclipse Sandstone Synfold, NT, Australia xxxxx-x 6 2866 7472

320 2 13.1 227.2 Hoyade Verde Synfold, Argentina x-xx- -x 4 2475 6378

325 1 23.7 270.2 Percy Creek Volcanics, Qld, Australia x- - -x-x 3 406 1877

330 4 16.1 242.5 Basalts, Diorite and Contact, Morocco x- -xx-x 4 1080 2038

Early Carboniferous (330–350)—340 Ma

330 33 5.1 214.5 Bathurst Batholith, NSW, Australia xxx-xxx 6 3264 8405

342 10 � 0.1 236.4 Djebel Hadid Redbeds, Morocco x- - -x-x 3 1080 2040

342 8 7.6 232.5 Oued Draa Aftez Limestone, Morocco xx- -x-x 4 1080 2039

345 10 � 6.6 203.3 Mt. Eclipse Sandstone, NT, Australia xxxxxxx 7 2866 7471

Late Devonian/Early Carboniferous (350–370)—360 Ma

350 16 19.8 193.1 Tepuel Group, Patagonia, Argentina xxxx- -x 5 2805 7252

365 8 9.4 183.2 Hervey Group, NSW, Australia xxx-xxx 6 1579 1031

365 13 22.5 187.2 Worange Point Formation, NSW, Australia xxx-xxx 6 2191 5722

365 8 1.7 193.5 Brewer Comglomerate, NT, Australia xxxxxxx 7 2726 7089

368 7 3.5 191.4 Canning Basin Reefs, WA, Australia xxx-xxx 6 1345 452

368 10 17.0 183.9 Canning Basin Reefs, WA, Australia xxxxxxx 7 2942 7659

370 1 � 8.8 195.0 Bokkeveld Group, South Africa x-x-xxx 5 1416 591

Middle Devonian (370–390)—380 Ma

370 3 19.2 199.8 Beni-Zireg Limestones, Morocco xxxxx-x 6 2521 6480

370 5 21.0 199.0 Griotte Limestones, Algeria xxxxx-x 6 2725 7086

377 3 19.3 173.0 Hermannsburg Sandstone, NT, Australia x-x-xxx 5 2574 6649

377 11 38.0 175.1 Comerong Volcanics, NSW, Australia xxxxxxx 7 1565 1003

377*b 11 � 23.9 192.1 Gilif Hills Volcanics, Sudan xxx- -xx 5*b 2189 5717

379*c 3 16.2 241.7 Hazzel Matti Formation, Algeria -xxxx- -4*c 2884 7506

384 1 32.7 155.5 Parke Siltstone, NT, Australia x-x-xxx 5 2574 6650

390 1 21.5 189.0 Picos and Passagem Series, Brazil x- - -xxx 4 613 3135

Early Devonian (390–417)—405 Ma

398 9 55.7 196.8 Mt. Leyshon Devonian Dykes, Qld, Australia xxxx- -x 5 3262 8404

404*d 3 � 16.1 159.6 Redbeds, Bolivia x- - -x-x 3*d 613 3126

404 10 60.0 186.7 Snowy River Volcanics, NSW, Australia xxxx-xx 6 1365 486

407 12 43.4 188.6 Air Intrusives, Niger xxx-x-x 5 1364 485

417 2 44.7 178.0 Herrada Member, Sierra Grande, Argentina x-xx- -x 4 2639 6904

Silurian (417–443)—425 Ma

425*b 6 � 53.5 236.6 Mereenie Sandstone, NT, Australia - -x-xxx 4*b 2574 6648

425 9 12.8+ 168.7+ Mt. Leyshon Silurian Dykes, Qld, Australia x-xx-xx 5 3262 8418

425 22 17.1+ 168.3+ Ravenswood Batholith, Qld, Australia xxxx-xx 6 3262 8403

435*e 6 71.0 255.1 Lipeon Formation, Argentina - -xxxx-4*e 2934 7637

Late Ordovician (443–465)—455 Ma

446 3 � 27.8 165.3 Pakhuis and Cedarberg Fms, South Africa x-x-xxx 5 1416 590

450 1 � 2.4 162.0 Redbeds, Bolivia - - -xxxx 4 613 3127

450 1 � 14.3 201.0 Mt. Keineth Monzogranite, Antarctica x-x-x-x 4 3187 8273

465 6 � 18.6 187.9 Tumblagooda Sandstone, WA, Australia -xxxx-x 5 2437 6293

(continued on next page)


Table 2 (continued)


Early/Middle Ordovician (470–500)—485 Ma

470 7 � 41.8 152.2 Salala Ring Complex, Sudan xxx-xxx 6 2715 6780

470 3 � 25.1 183.8 Jujuy Redbeds, Argentina -x-xx-x 4 613 3142

484 4 � 32.2 187.3 Lamprophyre Dykes, Antarctica x-x-x-x 4 1079 2165

472 10 � 35.8 180.3 Vanda Porphyry, Antarctica xxx-x-x 5 1599 1078

477 10 � 38.7 169.0 Granitic Rocks, Antarctica - -xxx-x 4 1599 1077

479 4 � 27.6 183.0 Teall Nunatak, Antarctica xxx-x-x 5 3187 8272

482 7 � 31.6 177.4 Jinduckin Formation, NT, Australia x- - -xxx 4 202 1903

484 7 � 36.9 184.1 Lake Vanda Porphyry Dykes, Antarctica xxx-x-x 5 2966 7716

485 12 � 26.7 196.7 Graafwater Formation, South Africa xxx-xxx 6 1416 589

495 11 � 25.8 182.6 NW Tasmania Sediments, Australia xxxx-xx 6 3155 8202

495 2 � 28.7 178.0 Upper Lake Frome Group, SA, Australia x- -x-xx 4 206 1919

495*b 6 � 45.7 216.4 Chatswood Limestone, Qld, Australia xxx- -xx 5*b 3082 8082

498 3 � 30.9 173.8 Granite Harbour Pink Granite, Antarctica x-x-x-x 4 2966 8605

498 5 � 32.8 169.0 Granite Harbour Mafic Dykes, Antarctica xxx-x-x 5 2966 8606

498 5 � 33.8 178.4 Granite Harbour Grey Granite, Antarctica xxx-x-x 5 2966 8607

499 4 � 33.6 187.8 Lake Vanda Bonny Pluton, Antarctica xxx-x-x 5 2966 8604

499 6 � 31.0 180.7 Killer Ridge/Mt. Loke Diorites, Antarctica xxx-x-x 5 3373 8603

Middle to Late Cambrian (500–515)—510 Ma

500 3 � 7.1 185.2 Sor Rondane Intrusions, Antarctica x-x-x-x 4 546 3283

500 2 � 8.0 188.8 Black Hill Norite, SA, Australia x-x- - -x 3 2971 7736

510 14 � 13.7 182.1 Lower Lake Frome Group, SA, Australia xxx- -xx 5 1769 1401

510 6 � 9.6 169.4 Pertaoorta Group, NT, Australia xxx-xxx 6 1769 1407

511 3 � 6.6 181.0 Giles Creek Dolomite, NT, Australia xxx-xxx 6 1769 1410

511 6 � 3.7 166.8 Salt Pseudomorph Beds, Pakistan xx- - -xx 4 209 2716

515 11 � 6.9 177.4 Billy Creek Formation etc, SA, Australia xxx- -xx 5 1769 1403

515 16 � 9.4 172.6 Kangaroo Island Sediments, SA, Australia xxx- -xx 5 1769 1405

515 2 6.0 180.3 Jutana Formation, Pakistan x-x- -xx 4 1412 574

515 1 8.5 163.4 Khewra Sandstone, Pakistan x-x- - -x 3 1412 573

515 1 � 4.0 164.9 Purple Sandstone, Pakistan x- - - -xx 3 577 3170

515 1 � 9.5 187.6 Aroona Dam Sediments, SA, Australia x- - - -xx 3 206 1921

Early to Middle Cambrian (515–525)—520 Ma

515 1 � 49.8 196.5 Briggs Hill Bonny Pluton, Antarctica x-x-x-x 4 2966 8608

515 1 � 60.4 187.7 Upper Shannon Formation, NT, Australia x-x-x-x 4 1769 1413

520 2 � 59.9 156.2 Hudson Formation, WA, Australia x- - -x-x 3 202 1902

520 1 � 56.5 191.7 Hugh River Shales, NT, Australia - - -xxx 3 210 1900

520 5 � 42.1 181.5 Mirnyy Charnokites, Antarctica -xx-x-x 4 207 2715

521 9 � 38.5 196.1 Zanuck Granite, Antarctica xxx- - -x 4 3298 8468

525 11 � 47.8 195.2 Wyall and Akerman Formations, Antarctica xxxx-xx 6 3298 8467

Early Cambrian (525–540)—530 Ma

525 7 � 30.4 167.7 Ntonya Ring Structure, Malawi xxx-x-x 5 404 3353

525 1 � 33.9 151.6 Diorite Stock, Saudi Arabia - -x-x-x 3 1664 1197

531 2 � 24.6 159.2 Abu Durba Sediments, Sinai, Egypt x-x-x-x 4 2784 7221

535 14 � 16.5 131.4 Antrim Plateau Volcanics, NT, Australia -x- -xxx 4 634 1896

538 15 � 21.4 169.0 Hawker Group, SA, Australia xxx- -xx 5 1769 1402

Precambrian/Cambrian boundary (540–560)—545 Ma

540 3 11.0 152.1 Todd River Dolomite, NT, Australia xxxxxxx 7 1070 1959

545 6 14.8 152.8 Upper Arumbera Sandstone, NT, Australia xxxxxxx 7 1070 1958

547 4 23.2 135.2 Sinyai Metadolerite, Kenya xxx-xxx 6 3106 8126


in age. The pole position lies close to Triassic–

Jurassic results from South America and Gondwana

and the authors (Conti et al., 1995) were unable to

eliminate the possibility of remagnetization at that

time. Pole positions obtained by Creer (1970) from

supposed Early Devonian rocks in Bolivia do not

agree with results from the rest of Gondwana, and

here it is presumed that the age assignment for this

early study may be in error. We have already dis-

cussed the problem relating to the pole from the

Mereenie Sandstone of central Australia. The results

from the Chatswood Limestone and Ninmaroo For-

Table 2 (continued)


Precambrian/Cambrian boundary (540–560)—545 Ma

560 18 7.7 149.4 Bhander and Rewa Sandstones, India -x- -xxx 4 1084 2048

560 10 3.5 153.4 Albany Belt Dykes, WA, Australia - -x-xxx 4 2920 7585

N is the number of sites in each study. The Q index follows Van der Voo (1990). Refno and Resultno are the Reference number and Result

number in the Global Paleomagnetic Database (GPMDB) Ver. 4.1 (May 2001) following McElhinny and Lock (1996). Ages follow the

timescale given in the GPMDB (see Table 1).

(A) Opdyke et al. (2001).

*Result omitted from means as described below.+Counterclockwise vertical axis rotation of 90j applied as discussed in the text.

(a) Contains overprint component.

(b) Rotated block?

(c) Mid-Carboniferous remagnetization.

(d) Age assigned incorrect?

(e) Triassic– Jurassic remagnetization.

Table 3

Paleozoic APWP for Gondwana in NW Africa coordinates using the data as listed in Table 2

Geological age Age (Ma) Mean m N k Mean pole A95 (j)(Ma)

Lat N Lon E

Mid- to Late Permian 250–270 260 11 74 5.273 44.6 248.1 8.0

Mid- to Late Permiana 250–270 260 10 65 6.766 43.6 244.2 7.3

Early Permian 270–290 280 17 181 9.897 34.8 244.3 3.5

Late Carboniferous 2 290–310 300 12 96 11.551 30.7 240.0 4.4

Late Carboniferous 1 310–330 320 10 69 7.579 20.8 239.8 6.7

Early Carboniferous 330–350 340 4 63 2.995 2.6 219.3 12.6

Late Devonian/Early

Carboniferous

350–370 360 7 63 8.992 13.3 189.0 6.3

Middle Devonian 370–390 380 6 24 7.263 29.4 183.5 11.8

Early Devonian 390–417 405 4 33 10.352 51.9 189.5 8.2

Middle/Late Silurianb 420–430 425 2 31 55.156 15.9 168.4 3.5

Late Ordovician 443–465 455 4 11 9.701 � 19.7 180.8 15.4

Early/Middle Ordovician 470–500 485 16 100 10.553 � 32.8 179.9 4.6

Middle/Late Cambrian 500–515 510 13 69 16.129 � 8.8 175.4 4.4

Middle/Late Cambriana 500–515 510 10 65 15.574 � 9.6 175.6 4.6

Early/Middle Cambrian 515–525 520 7 30 15.597 � 46.1 191.0 6.9

Early Cambrian 525–540 530 5 39 3.226 � 22.9 154.1 15.3

Precambrian/Cambrian

boundary

540–560 545 5 41 12.173 9.5 149.8 6.7

Means are calculated using the method of McFadden and McElhinny (1995) for combining groups of poles. m is the number of poles; N is total

number of sites; k is the estimate of Fisher (1953) precision; A95 is the radius of circle of 95% confidence about the mean pole position. Ages are

based on the timescale used in the GPMDB (see Table 1).a Mean calculated omitting results from the Salt Range, Pakistan.b Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane, Australia rotated about vertical axis by 90j counterclockwise.


mation, a Cambro-Ordovician boundary sequence in

the Georgina Basin, Australia, do not agree with their

counterparts from the rest of Gondwana. There may

be some local tectonic effects or later remagnetization

involved.

In the Early/Middle Cambrian (520 Ma mean

pole), the results are from Australia and Antarctica

and seem to form two separate groups from each

continent. Two of the Antarctic poles come from the

Transantarctic Mountains (Grunow and Encarnacion,

2000) whereas the Mirnyy Charnokites clearly come

from the craton. These poles agree well, suggesting

the results from the Transantarctic Mountains are not

derived from exotic terranes. It is possible that the

differences between the Australian and Antarctic

results in this group may merely reflect age differ-

ences, but the Australian poles are of poor quality and

we are not confident that this mean pole at 520 Ma has

been correctly defined.

Using the groupings from Table 2, mean pole

positions have been calculated using the method of

combining groups of poles of McFadden and McEl-

hinny (1995). The method enables the mean pole

position to be calculated from m pole positions where

the poles are derived from widely different numbers

of sites (N). The advantage of the method is that one

does not have to consider whether each individual

result by itself is sufficient to average out secular

variation and even a single VGP can be included. The

mean pole positions for each group of poles using this

method are listed in Table 3 in NWAfrica coordinates.

It should be noted that the method assumes that the

precision of the site means (Fisher, 1953) for each

pole position is the same and then attempts to calcu-

Fig. 5. Paleozoic (south pole) APWP for Gondwana using the mean poles (solid circles) as listed in Table 3. Ages are given in Ma and circles of

95% confidence are drawn around each mean pole. The 425 Ma pole (open circle) is that derived from the Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane in

eastern Australia after counterclockwise rotation through 90j.


late that precision that would best represent all the site

means from the entire group of poles. Obviously this

assumption is not strictly valid, especially when one is

dealing with a mixture of results derived from vol-

canics on the one hand and sediments on the other. As

a consequence the calculated optimum precision of

the site means in each group tends to be in the range

of 4–10. This then leads to a very conservative

estimate of the polar error based upon the total

number of sites in each group of poles. Although

the group mean poles of Table 3 have been calculated

using all those results with quality index Qz 3, the

means are changed insignificantly if only results with

Qz 4 are included. Therefore we believe that using

Q = 3 as the cut-off point for accepting data is quite

reasonable.

Table 3 gives the mean north paleomagnetic poles

for each time interval, even though it is common to

plot the south pole APWP as shown in Fig. 5 (see also

Fig. 1). There is some difference between this APWP

for the Paleozoic and that shown in Fig. 1d as derived

by McElhinny and McFadden (2000). For this ana-

lysis we have also included data at the Precambrian/

Cambrian boundary and this provides more detail in

the early Paleozoic path. The main difference is the

elimination of the 112j polar shift between 425 and

405 Ma. This was based on the pole position from the

Mereenie Sandstone that we have now excluded. It

should be noted that the age of the Air ring complexes

of Niger, West Africa is now determined as 407F 8

Ma from the mean of the Rb–Sr isochrons determined

from several complexes (Moreau et al., 1994). The

inferred 425 Ma pole for Gondwana is that derived by

rotating the Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane of eastern

Australia 90j back to its likely mid-Silurian position

adjacent to the Georgetown Inlier of the Gondwanan

craton (Fig. 2c). When this pole is rotated to NW

Africa coordinates in the Gondwana reconstruction, it

lies at 15.9jN, 168.4jE (north pole). The correspond-

ing south pole (15.9jS, 348.4jE) is then placed

between the Late Ordovician (455 Ma) and Early

Devonian (405 Ma) poles for Gondwana shown in

Fig. 5. This inferred 425 Ma (Silurian) pole position

places Bolivia and adjacent regions in a near polar

position (f 85j latitude). This is supported by sed-

imentological evidence for Silurian glaciation in Boli-

via at this time (Caputo and Crowell, 1985). The

questionable pole derived from the Mereenie Sand-

stone gives a low-latitude (f 5j) position for Bolivia,inconsistent with the geological information.

6. Paleogeographic implications

The consequences of this revised Gondwana

APWP for the paleogeographic relationships between

Baltica, Gondwana, Laurentia and Siberia are illus-

trated for 10 time slices between 530 and 320 Ma

(Fig. 6). The positions of Baltica and Laurentia are

derived from mean pole positions calculated by

McElhinny and McFadden (2000); Siberia’s position

has been derived from the poles listed by Smethurst et

al. (1998), updated with results from Gallet and

Pavlov (1996), Pavlov and Gallet (1998) and Pisar-

evsky et al. (1997). In constructing the maps, we have

adjusted the positions of the major continental blocks

within the 95% confidence limits of the mean paleo-

magnetic poles to fit geological constraints. The

rotation parameters used for the maps are listed in

Table 4.

The Iapetus Ocean between Laurentia and the

Amazonia margin of Gondwana opened in the latest

Neoproterozoic, between 575 and 550 Ma. The best

estimate of the rift–drift transition on the East Lau-

rentian margin is latest Precambrian (Bond et al.,

1984). Baltica had separated from its Neoproterozoic

position adjacent to East Greenland before ca. 580 Ma

(Torsvik et al., 1996), and Siberia had separated from

northern Laurentia by 530 Ma (Pelechaty, 1996). By

Early Cambrian, Laurentia lay astride the Equator

with Gondwana extending from the South Pole in

northwest Africa to the northern tropics in Australia

(Fig. 6a).

The Iapetus Ocean continued to widen until around

513 Ma, the age of the oldest inferred intra-Iapetus

subduction (Van Staal et al., 1998). Laurentia stayed

near the Equator in the Cambrian and Early Ordovi-

cian. By the Early Ordovician, the South American

margin of Gondwana was converging with Laurentia

(cf. Fig. 6b and c), and Iapetus was closing along both

its Laurentian and NW Gondwanan margins (Van

Staal et al., 1998). Baltica and Siberia remained

separated from Laurentia.

The Precordillera terrane, widely accepted as hav-

ing been derived from the Ouachita embayment in the

southeastern Laurentian continental margin in the


Fig. 6. Paleogeographic reconstructions at (a) 530 Ma; A=Amazonia, B =Baltica, G =Gondwana, L= Laurentia, S = Siberia, (b) 510 Ma, (c) 485

Ma, (d) 455 Ma, O =Ouachita embayment, P= Precordillera terrane, (e) 425 Ma, (f) 405 Ma, (g) 380 Ma, (h) 360 Ma, (i) 340 Ma, (j) 320 Ma.


Early Cambrian (Thomas, 1991; Dalziel et al., 1994;

Rapalini and Astini, 1998), was accreted to the

Pampean margin of Argentina in South America in

the mid-Ordovician (Fig. 6d; Astini et al., 1995). Two

views have been expressed on how the Precordillera

travelled from Laurentia to Gondwana. Dalziel et al.

(1994) considered that the Precordillera terrane was

never more than several hundred km distant from

southeastern Laurentia, and travelled as a promon-

tory of Laurentia, much like the continental Falk-

land-Malvinas plateau travels as part of the South

American plate today. Dalziel et al. (1994) consid-

ered that the Precordilleran promontory of Laurentia

collided with Gondwana when Iapetus contracted in

the Late Ordovician. By contrast, Astini et al. (1995)

considered that once the Precordillera broke away

from Laurentia, it continued to drift across Iapetus

as a separate terrane until it collided with the

Pampean margin of South America around 455

Ma. Both interpretations agree on the rifting and

separation from Laurentia as Early Cambrian, around

525 Ma, but in the Dalziel et al. (1994) model

divergence stopped after separation of several hun-

dred kilometres from Laurentia, following which the

Precordillera travelled as part of Laurentia. Our

reconstructions show that the Precordillera need

never have been more than 1000 km away from

its pre-breakup position in Laurentia for it to have

collided with South America by 455 Ma (Fig. 6a–

d), so that Dalziel et al.’s (1994) hypothesis is

viable. To distinguish whether the Precordillera trav-

elled with Laurentia or independently as suggested

by Astini et al. (1995), paleomagnetic information is

required from the Late Cambrian–Early Ordovician

rocks of the Precordillera so that its motion relative

to Laurentia can be tested.

Continued convergence of Gondwana with Lau-

rentia during the Ordovician led to the obduction of

intraoceanic Iapetan island arcs on to the Laurentian

margin in the Late Ordovician. There was possibly

also continental collision between Gondwana and

the Oaxaca (Mexico) margin of Laurentia in the

Late Ordovician–Early Silurian (Ortega-Gutierrez et

al., 1999). Keppie et al. (1996) cautioned that there

was still some ocean between Oaxaca and Laurentia;

this view is consistent with the paleomagnetic data

(Fig. 6d).

Western Iapetus was probably closed in the Late

Ordovician (Fig. 6d; Van Staal et al., 1998). The

Avalonian terranes began to separate from the north-

west African, or possibly the South American, margin

Table 4

Euler poles of rotation for the plates on Fig. 6

Age (Ma) Latitude (j) Longitude (j) Angle (j)

Laurentia to absolute framework

530.0 12.98 � 126.33 � 89.80

510.0 18.78 � 127.39 � 93.38

485.0 25.81 � 129.84 � 86.82

455.0 18.54 � 140.23 � 79.47

425.0 7.80 � 153.11 � 74.46

405.0 3.03 18.80 85.66

380.0 5.19 � 160.18 � 78.15

360.0 18.10 � 156.64 � 69.91

340.0 16.71 � 158.44 � 67.69

320.0 24.29 � 157.64 � 63.05

Gondwana (in W African coordinates) to Laurentia

530.0 10.24 � 23.57 � 139.62

510.0 7.62 � 13.11 � 142.86

485.0 13.33 � 19.07 � 136.72

455.0 18.22 � 32.48 � 130.68

425.0 11.59 � 34.19 � 81.34

405.0 17.66 � 6.57 � 88.22

380.0 19.68 � 18.79 � 83.52

360.0 20.74 � 29.39 � 81.60

340.0 7.87 � 14.18 � 130.58

320.0 72.34 � 43.40 � 94.17

Siberia to Laurentia

530.0 5.87 � 112.41 � 48.84

510.0 7.70 79.63 49.36

485.0 19.77 91.21 53.95

455.0 14.87 92.85 58.98

425.0 7.65 95.90 61.60

405.0 7.86 � 76.26 � 52.55

380.0 13.61 106.76 44.38

360.0 41.69 107.66 47.33

340.0 10.27 127.10 42.21

320.0 47.83 � 80.72 � 28.01

Baltica to Laurentia

530.0 35.69 18.52 � 154.52

510.0 37.89 7.40 � 126.28

485.0 39.08 � 7.51 � 99.54

455.0 50.87 � 18.82 � 73.23

425.0 68.29 � 37.46 � 48.75

405.0 83.47 � 42.27 � 45.40

380.0 85.74 � 41.20 � 44.88

360.0 83.94 � 36.29 � 44.75

340.0 83.94 � 36.29 � 44.75

320.0 83.94 � 36.29 � 44.75


of Gondwana in the Early Ordovician (Nance and

Murphy, 1996). In their wake, a new ocean, the Rheic

Ocean, developed between Gondwana and Laurentia

while Iapetus was closing. By the Middle Silurian, the

Rheic Ocean was several thousand kilometres wide,

with the Bolivian part of South America lying near the

South Pole, and the Laurentian margin around 30jS(Fig. 6e). Baltica and Siberia were converging with

northeastern Laurentia.

The eastern part of the Rheic Ocean closed in the

latest Silurian–Early Devonian (Fig. 6f), giving rise to

the Caledonian–Arcadian orogeny in NW Europe and

northeastern Laurentia. The paleogeographic maps

imply that there could have been considerable sinistral

transpressional movement between Baltica and north-

eastern Laurentia (cf. Fig. 6e and f). We note that the

western Rheic Ocean, which faced the southeastern

margin of Laurentia at this time, remained wide (Fig.

6f) even though the southeastern Laurentian margin

drifted to around 45–50jS.By the end of the Early Devonian (Fig. 6g),

Baltica was attached to Laurentia, which was sepa-

rated from northwestern Gondwana by a 2000-km-

wide Rheic Ocean. The Rheic Ocean continued to

widen through the Devonian, by the end of which the

South Pole lay in Central Africa (Fig. 6h). The Rheic

Ocean began to contract in the Early Carboniferous,

with closure accompanied by continental collision

between NW Gondwana and southeastern Laurentia

around 320 Ma (Fig. 6i and j). This continental

collision, which marks the beginning of Pangea,

was accompanied by the global orogenesis. In

Europe, Pangean collision is marked by the Hercy-

nian/Variscan orogeny, in Laurentia by the Appala-

chian orogeny, and deformation extends along the

Panthalassan margin of Pangea through South Amer-

ica and Antarctica to Australia, where it is known as

the Kanimblan orogeny (Veevers et al., 1994). This

completes the Paleozoic cycle of opening and closing

of the ocean between Laurentia and Gondwana with

a duration of 230 million years.

Acknowledgements

MWMcE acknowledges a Distinguished Visitor

award from The University of Western Australia. SAP

thanks The University of Western Australia for the

award of a Gledden Senior Visiting Fellowship. Neil

Opdyke kindly provided a preprint of his paper on the

Dwyka glacial deposits in Africa and gave us

permission to use this result prior to publication.

The work was supported by the Australian Research

Council through its research centres program. Recon-

structions were made in the Western Australian

Geotectonic Mapping Facility with the PLATES

program from the University of Texas at Austin. We

thank Phil Schmidt and an anonymous reviewer for

their helpful comments that have improved the final

version of this paper, which is Tectonics Special

Research Centre publication no. 156.

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Paleozoic terranes of eastern Australia and the drift history of Gondwana

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