Abstract
Results of a systematic paleomagnetic study are reported based on Late Carboniferous to Early Permian sedimentary rocks on the north slope of the Tanggula Mountains, in the northern Qiangtang terrane (NQT), Tibet, China. Data revealed that magnetic minerals in limestone samples from the Zarigen Formation (CP^z)are primarily composed of magnetite, while those in sandstone samples from the Nuoribagaribao Formation (Pnr) are dominated by hematite alone, or hematite and magnetite in combination. Progressive thermal, or alternating field, demagnetization allowed us to isolate a stable high temperature component (HTC) in 127 specimens from 16 sites which successfully passed the conglomerate test, consistent with primary remnance. The tilt-corrected mean direction for Late Carboniferous to Early Permian rocks in the northern Qiangtang terrane is D s=30.2°, I s=- 40.9°, k s=269.0, α 95=2.3°, N=16, which yields a corresponding paleomagnetic pole at 25.7°N, 241.5°E (dp/dm=2.8°/1.7°), and a paleolatitude of 23.4°S. Our results, together with previously reported paleomagnetic data, indicate that: (1) the NQT in Tibet, China, was located at a low latitude in the southern hemisphere, and may have belonged to the northern margin of Gondwana during the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian; (2) the Paleo-Tethys Ocean was large during the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian, and (3) the NQT subsequently moved rapidly northwards, perhaps related to the fact that the Paleo-Tethys Ocean was rapidly contracting from the Late Permian to Late Triassic while the Bangong Lake-Nujiang Ocean, the northern branch of the Neo-Tethys Ocean, expanded rapidly during this time.
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Acknowledgments
We are deeply indebted to Academician Zhu Rixiang and Professor Huang Baochun for considerable help and guidance, and sincerely appreciate the assistance with laboratory experiments provided by Yi Zhiyu, Qin Huafeng, Cai Shuhui, and Zhou Canfen. Finally, we are extremely grateful to the anonymous reviewers of this paper whose constructive comments and suggestions greatly improved the manuscript. This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41304049 and 41421002) and the Special Fund for Strategic Pilot Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB03010000).
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Yang, X., Cheng, X., Zhou, Y. et al. Paleomagnetic results from Late Carboniferous to Early Permian rocks in the northern Qiangtang terrane, Tibet, China, and their tectonic implications. Sci. China Earth Sci. 60, 124–134 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-015-5462-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-015-5462-7