Paleomagnetism

Paleozoic paleogeographies should be consistent with all available, reliable data. However, comparison of three different Devonian paleogeographies that are based largely or wholly on the data of remanent magnetism show them to be inconsistent in many regards. When these three paleogeographies are provided with possible ocean surface current circulation patterns, and have added to them lithofacies and biogeographic data, they also are shown to be inconsistent with such data. A pangaeic reconstruction positioned in the Southern Hemisphere permits the lithofacies and biogeographical data to be reconciled in a plausible manner.

@article{boucot1983a,
    author = "Boucot, A. J. and Gray, Jane",
    title = "A Paleozoic Pangaea",
    year = "1983",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "Paleozoic paleogeographies should be consistent with all available, reliable data. However, comparison of three different Devonian paleogeographies that are based largely or wholly on the data of remanent magnetism show them to be inconsistent in many regards. When these three paleogeographies are provided with possible ocean surface current circulation patterns, and have added to them lithofacies and biogeographic data, they also are shown to be inconsistent with such data. A pangaeic reconstruction positioned in the Southern Hemisphere permits the lithofacies and biogeographical data to be reconciled in a plausible manner.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.222.4624.571",
    doi = "10.1126/science.222.4624.571",
    number = "4624",
    pages = "571-581",
    volume = "222"
}

@book{crossref1984plate,
    title = "Plate Reconstruction From Paleozoic Paleomagnetism",
    year = "1984",
    booktitle = "Geodynamics Series",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1029/gd012",
    doi = "10.1029/gd012"
}

@incollection{scotese1984an,
    author = "Scotese, Christopher R.",
    title = "An introduction to this volume: Paleozoic paleomagnetism and the assembly of Pangea",
    year = "1984",
    booktitle = "Geodynamics Series",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1029/gd012p0001",
    doi = "10.1029/gd012p0001",
    pages = "1-10"
}

@misc{scotese1984paleozoic1,
    author = "Scotese, C. R",
    title = "Paleozoic Paleomagnetism and the Assembly of Pangaea, in Van der Voo, R., Scotese, C. R., and Bonhommet, N., eds., Plate Reconstruction from Paleozoic Paleomagnetism",
    year = "1984",
    howpublished = "Washington, D.C., American Geophysical Union, v. 12, p. 1-10; 136 pp",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Scotese, C. R., 1984, Paleozoic Paleomagnetism and the Assembly of Pangaea, in Van der Voo, R., Scotese, C. R., and Bonhommet, N., eds., Plate Reconstruction from Paleozoic Paleomagnetism: Washington, D.C., American Geophysical Union, v. 12, p. 1-10; 136 pp.}"
}

@incollection{khramov1987paleomagnetism,
    author = "Khramov, Aleksey N.",
    title = "Paleomagnetism and Plate Tectonics",
    year = "1987",
    booktitle = "Paleomagnetology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-71750-5\_4",
    doi = "10.1007/978-3-642-71750-5\_4",
    pages = "157-188"
}

@incollection{crossref2000paleomagnetism,
    title = "Paleomagnetism and Plate Tectonics",
    year = "2000",
    booktitle = "International Geophysics",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/s0074-6142(00)80100-x",
    doi = "10.1016/s0074-6142(00)80100-x",
    pages = "281-332"
}

The Carboniferous and Permian were crucial intervals in the establishment of terrestrial ecosystems, which occurred alongside substantial environmental and climate changes throughout the globe, as well as the final assembly of the supercontinent of Pangaea. The influence of these changes on tetrapod biogeography is highly contentious, with some authors suggesting a cosmopolitan fauna resulting from a lack of barriers, and some identifying provincialism. Here we carry out a detailed historical biogeographic analysis of late Paleozoic tetrapods to study the patterns of dispersal and vicariance. A likelihood-based approach to infer ancestral areas is combined with stochastic mapping to assess rates of vicariance and dispersal. Both the late Carboniferous and the end-Guadalupian are characterised by a decrease in dispersal and a vicariance peak in amniotes and amphibians. The first of these shifts is attributed to orogenic activity, the second to increasing climate heterogeneity.

@article{brocklehurst2018physical,
    author = "Brocklehurst, Neil and Dunne, Emma M. and Cashmore, Daniel D. and Frӧbisch, Jӧrg",
    title = "Physical and environmental drivers of Paleozoic tetrapod dispersal across Pangaea",
    year = "2018",
    journal = "Nature Communications",
    abstract = "The Carboniferous and Permian were crucial intervals in the establishment of terrestrial ecosystems, which occurred alongside substantial environmental and climate changes throughout the globe, as well as the final assembly of the supercontinent of Pangaea. The influence of these changes on tetrapod biogeography is highly contentious, with some authors suggesting a cosmopolitan fauna resulting from a lack of barriers, and some identifying provincialism. Here we carry out a detailed historical biogeographic analysis of late Paleozoic tetrapods to study the patterns of dispersal and vicariance. A likelihood-based approach to infer ancestral areas is combined with stochastic mapping to assess rates of vicariance and dispersal. Both the late Carboniferous and the end-Guadalupian are characterised by a decrease in dispersal and a vicariance peak in amniotes and amphibians. The first of these shifts is attributed to orogenic activity, the second to increasing climate heterogeneity.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07623-x",
    doi = "10.1038/s41467-018-07623-x",
    number = "1",
    volume = "9"
}

Three supercontinents have been suggested to have existed in the last 1 Gyr. The supercontinent status of Pangaea and Rodinia is undisputed. In contrast, there is ongoing controversy on whether Pannotia existed at all. Here, we test the hypothesis of a Pannotian supercontinent. Using first-order tectonic constraints, we reconstruct the Paleozoic kinematics of major continents relative to the East European Craton. Back-rotation from Pangaea results in a supercontinent constellation in the early Paleozoic corroborating the existence of Pannotia. The presented model explains first-order constraints for both the break-up of Pannotia and the subsequent assembly of Pangaea. The break-up of Pannotia comprises (1) the early Paleozoic opening of Iapetus II and in turn the Rheic Ocean, concomitant with the subduction of the Neoproterozoic Iapetus I Ocean and (2) the coeval opening of the Palaeo-Arctic Ocean, which separated Siberia from the North American Craton. The subsequent convergence of the North American Craton, Avalonia, Gondwana and Siberia with the East European Craton resulted in Paleozoic collisional orogenies at different plate boundary zones. The existence of Rodinia, Pannotia and Pangaea as pari passu supercontinents implicates two complete supercontinent cycles from Rodinia to Pannotia and from Pannotia to Pangaea in the Neoproterozoic and the Paleozoic, respectively.

@article{kroner2021paleozoic,
    author = "Kroner, Uwe and Stephan, Tobias and Romer, Rolf L. and Roscher, Marco",
    title = "Paleozoic plate kinematics during the Pannotia–Pangaea supercontinent cycle",
    year = "2021",
    journal = "Geological Society, London, Special Publications",
    abstract = "Three supercontinents have been suggested to have existed in the last 1 Gyr. The supercontinent status of Pangaea and Rodinia is undisputed. In contrast, there is ongoing controversy on whether Pannotia existed at all. Here, we test the hypothesis of a Pannotian supercontinent. Using first-order tectonic constraints, we reconstruct the Paleozoic kinematics of major continents relative to the East European Craton. Back-rotation from Pangaea results in a supercontinent constellation in the early Paleozoic corroborating the existence of Pannotia. The presented model explains first-order constraints for both the break-up of Pannotia and the subsequent assembly of Pangaea. The break-up of Pannotia comprises (1) the early Paleozoic opening of Iapetus II and in turn the Rheic Ocean, concomitant with the subduction of the Neoproterozoic Iapetus I Ocean and (2) the coeval opening of the Palaeo-Arctic Ocean, which separated Siberia from the North American Craton. The subsequent convergence of the North American Craton, Avalonia, Gondwana and Siberia with the East European Craton resulted in Paleozoic collisional orogenies at different plate boundary zones. The existence of Rodinia, Pannotia and Pangaea as pari passu supercontinents implicates two complete supercontinent cycles from Rodinia to Pannotia and from Pannotia to Pangaea in the Neoproterozoic and the Paleozoic, respectively.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1144/sp503-2020-15",
    doi = "10.1144/sp503-2020-15",
    number = "1",
    pages = "83-104",
    volume = "503"
}

Geodynamic models for Pangaea assembly require knowledge of Paleozoic mantle convection patterns. Application of basic geodynamic principles to Neoproterozoic–Paleozoic plate reconstructions yields Pangaea in the incorrect configuration (predicting that it should have formed by consumption of the exterior palaeo-Pacific Ocean instead of the Iapetus, Rheic and Proto-Tethys oceans). We contend that the mantle legacy of Late Neoproterozoic–Cambrian amalgamation of Gondwana must be factored into models for Pangaea amalgamation. Proxy data suggest that the mantle downwelling driving Pan-African collisions and Gondwana assembly evolved into a mantle upwelling as evidenced by the interplay between subduction-related and plume-related tectonics around the periphery of Gondwana. Orthoversion theory, whereby a supercontinent assembles c. 90° away from the centre of the previous supercontinent, suggests that Gondwana amalgamated above an intense downwelling along a meridional subduction girdle that bisected two antipodal sub-equatorial upwellings. Several processes beneath and around Gondwana reduced the intensity of the original downwelling, as evidenced by plume-related activity along its margins, initiation of subduction zone rollback, and the export of terranes from Gondwana that collided with the margin of Laurentia–Baltica. As upwelling beneath it intensified, Gondwana migrated along the girdle until it collided with Laurentia–Baltica, resulting in the final assembly of Pangaea.

@article{murphy2024the,
    author = "Murphy, J. Brendan and Nance, R. Damian and Mitchell, Ross N.",
    title = "The assembly of Pangaea: geodynamic conundrums revisited",
    year = "2024",
    journal = "Journal of the Geological Society",
    abstract = "Geodynamic models for Pangaea assembly require knowledge of Paleozoic mantle convection patterns. Application of basic geodynamic principles to Neoproterozoic–Paleozoic plate reconstructions yields Pangaea in the incorrect configuration (predicting that it should have formed by consumption of the exterior palaeo-Pacific Ocean instead of the Iapetus, Rheic and Proto-Tethys oceans). We contend that the mantle legacy of Late Neoproterozoic–Cambrian amalgamation of Gondwana must be factored into models for Pangaea amalgamation. Proxy data suggest that the mantle downwelling driving Pan-African collisions and Gondwana assembly evolved into a mantle upwelling as evidenced by the interplay between subduction-related and plume-related tectonics around the periphery of Gondwana. Orthoversion theory, whereby a supercontinent assembles c. 90° away from the centre of the previous supercontinent, suggests that Gondwana amalgamated above an intense downwelling along a meridional subduction girdle that bisected two antipodal sub-equatorial upwellings. Several processes beneath and around Gondwana reduced the intensity of the original downwelling, as evidenced by plume-related activity along its margins, initiation of subduction zone rollback, and the export of terranes from Gondwana that collided with the margin of Laurentia–Baltica. As upwelling beneath it intensified, Gondwana migrated along the girdle until it collided with Laurentia–Baltica, resulting in the final assembly of Pangaea.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2024-006",
    doi = "10.1144/jgs2024-006",
    number = "5",
    volume = "181"
}

@misc{crossrefNonepaleomagnetism,
    title = "Paleomagnetism and plate tectonics",
    year = "None",
    booktitle = "SpringerReference",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/springerreference\_4195",
    doi = "10.1007/springerreference\_4195"
}

@incollection{gordonNonepaleomagnetism,
    author = "Gordon, Richard G. and Acton, Gary",
    title = "Paleomagnetism and plate tectonics",
    year = "None",
    booktitle = "Encyclopedia of Earth Science",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30752-4\_111",
    doi = "10.1007/0-387-30752-4\_111",
    pages = "909-923"
}