Search

Owing to the inherent axial symmetry of the Earth’s magnetic field, paleomagnetic data only directly record the latitudinal and azimuthal positions of crustal blocks in the past, and paleolongitude cannot be constrained. An ability to overcome this obstacle is thus of fundamental importance to paleogeographic reconstruction. Paleomagnetic Euler pole (PEP) analysis presents a unique means to recover such information, but prior implementations of the PEP method have incorporated subjective decisions into its execution, undercutting its fidelity and rigor. Here we introduce an optimization approach to PEP analysis that addresses some of these deficiencies---namely the objective identification of change-points and small-circle arcs that together approximate an apparent polar wander path. Equipped with a new analytical approach to PEP analysis we turn to consider its feasibility in terms of its potential in the context of the theoretical and practical limitations of paleomagnetic data. In this presentation, we will share some key insights that emerged through experimentation with randomly-drawn plate kinematic models.

The last few years have been marked by a number of motivating novel ideas and methodological advancements in paleomagnetic analysis (e.g. trans-hierarchical uncertainty propagation), observational and theoretical geodynamics, and paleogeographical modeling (e.g. optimisation and Bayesian approaches). Many of these developments offer new insights on, and/or approaches to estimating, the past motions of tectonic plates—but so far these developments have largely unfolded in isolation of one another. In November 2021 an international group of 15 young scientists with highly complementary backgrounds (spanning the aforementioned fields) gathered to explore and discuss these exciting new developments and to brainstorm strategies that may enable their integration. We anticipate that the integration of these diverse new ideas and methods will open new frontiers in plate tectonic research, and notably lead to much better-constrained paleogeographic models. In this presentation, we will share some of the insights and strategies that emerged from the workshop, including the advantages of conducting paleomagnetic analysis at the site-level, the application of emerging paleomagnetic Euler pole analysis frameworks, and the use of insights extracted from Earth-like geodynamic models (which self-generate plate tectonic behavior) to further constrain the results of these paleomagnetic methods. We also present some preliminary results of early experiments putting these strategies into practice on a paleomagnetic dataset from North America.

Owing to the axial symmetry of the Earth’s magnetic field, paleomagnetic data only directly record the latitudinal and azimuthal positions of crustal blocks in the past, and paleolongitude cannot be constrained. An ability to overcome this obstacle is thus of fundamental importance to paleogeographic reconstruction. Paleomagnetic Euler pole (PEP) analysis presents a unique means to recover such information, but prior implementations of the PEP method have incorporated subjective decisions into its execution, undercutting its fidelity and rigor. Here we present an optimization approach to PEP analysis that addresses some of these deficiencies—namely the objective identification of change-points and small-circle arcs that together approximate an apparent polar wander path. We elaborate on our novel methodology and conduct some experiments with synthetic data to demonstrate its performance. We furthermore present implementations of our methods both as adaptable, stand-alone scripts in Python and as a streamlined interactive workflow that can be operated through a web browser.

The James Ross Basin, in the northern Antarctic Peninsula, exposes which is probably the world thickest and most complete Late Cretaceous sedimentary succession of southern high latitudes. Despite its very good exposures and varied and abundant fossil fauna, precise chronological determination of its infill is still lacking. We report results from a magnetostratigraphic study on shelfal sedimentary rocks of the Marambio Group, southeastern James Ross Basin, Antarctica. The succession studied covers a ~1,200 m-thick stratigraphic interval within the Hamilton Point, Sanctuary Cliffs and Karlsen Cliffs Members of the Snow Hill Island Formation, the Haslum Crag Formation, and the lower López de Bertodano Formation. The basic chronological reference framework is given by ammonite assemblages, which indicate a Late Campanian – Early Maastrichtian age for the studied units. Magnetostratigraphic samples were obtained from five partial sections located on James Ross and Snow Hill islands, the results from which agree partially with this previous biostratigraphical framework. Seven geomagnetic polarity reversals are identified in this work, allowing to identify the Chron C32/C33 boundary in Ammonite Assemblage 8-1, confirming the Late Campanian age of the Hamilton Point Member. However, the identification of the Chron C32/C31 boundary in Ammonite Assemblage 8-2 assigns the base of the Sanctuary Cliffs Member to the early Maastrichtian, which differs from the Late Campanian age previously assigned by ammonite biostratigraphy. This magnetostratigraphy spans ~14 Ma of sedimentary succession and together with previous partial magnetostratigraphies on Early-Mid Campanian and Middle Maastrichtian to Danian columns permits a complete and continuous record of the Late Cretaceous distal deposits of the James Ross Basin. This provides the required chronological resolution to solve the intra-basin and global correlation problems of the Late Cretaceous in the Southern Hemisphere in general and in the Weddellian province in particular, given by endemism and diachronic extinctions on invertebrate fossils, including ammonites. The new chronostratigraphic scheme allowed us to calculate sediment accumulation rates for almost the entire Late Cretaceous infill of the distal James Ross Basin (the Marambio Group), showing a monotonous accumulation for more than 8 Myr during the upper Campanian and a dramatic increase during the early Maastrichtian, controlled by tectonic and/or eustatic causes. Fil: Milanese, Florencia Nidia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Olivero, Eduardo Bernardo. Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina Fil: Raffi, María Eugenia. Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina Fil: Franceschinis, Pablo Reinaldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Gallo, Leandro César. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Skinner, Steven M.. California State University; Estados Unidos Fil: Mitchell, Ross N.. California Institute of Technology; Estados Unidos Fil: Kirschvink, Joseph L.. California Institute of Technology; Estados Unidos. Tokyo Institute of Technology; Japón Fil: Rapalini, Augusto Ernesto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina

New paleomagnetic and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) studies were performed in the southern Subandes of Bolivia in order to assess vertical axis rotations in a poorly studied area. Due to the presence of polarity reversals, it was possible to perform a reversal test that provided evidence of a reliable paleomagnetic record interpreted to be primary. In an area where vertical axis rotations are a principal component of deformation, we have developed a nonparametric method for the determination of tectonic rotations. We calculated a paleomagnetic pole for the Miocene Tariquia Formation (Lat. = 78.4° S, Long. = 113.1° E, A95 = 3.5°, N = 72, K = 23.73, Slat = 22.08°, SLon = 64.06°) and from our results, rotations around vertical axes, commonly sought around the Arica-Santa Cruz bend were ruled out. From the integration of paleomagnetic and AMS results, it was seen that the magnetic lineation lies within the bedding plane, consistent with the early stages of layer parallel shortening. However, it is not parallel to the structural trend, implying material displacement parallel to it. In concomitance with paleomagnetic results, this allows us to argue that a local change in the azimuth of the structures at this latitude could be the consequence of an asymmetric or heterogeneous basement and/or exogenous agents like differences in erosion along the course of the structures during the evolution of the Bolivian fold and thrust belt. Fil: Calvagno, Juan Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Gallo, Leandro César. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Tomezzoli, Renata Nela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Cristallini, Ernesto Osvaldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber"; Argentina Fil: Dalenz Farjat, Alejandra. XR-GEOMAP; Argentina Fil: Hernández, Roberto Mario. La - Te Andes S.a. Laboratorio de Termocronologia de Los Andes.; Argentina. XR-GEOMAP; Argentina

The paleogeography of prebreakup Pangea at the beginning of the Atlantic Spreading has been a subject of debate for the past 50 years. Reconciling this debate involves theoretical corrections that cast doubt on available data and paleomagnetism as an effective tool for performing paleoreconstructions. This 50 year old debate focuses specifically on magnetic remanence and its ability to correctly record the inclination of the paleomagnetic field. In this paper, a selection of paleopoles was made to find the great circles containing the paleomagnetic pole and the respective sampling site. The true dipole pole (TDP) was then calculated by intersecting these great circles, effectively avoiding nondipolar contributions and inclination shallowing, in an innovative method. The great circle distance between each of these TDPs and the paleomagnetic means show the accuracy of paleomagnetic determinations in the context of a dominantly geocentric, axial, and dipolar geomagnetic field. The TDPs calculated allowed a bootstrap analysis to be performed to further consider the flattening factor that should be applied to the sedimentary-derived paleopoles. It is argued that the application of a single theoretical correction factor for clastic sedimentary-derived records could lead to a bias in the paleolatitude calculation and therefore to incorrect paleogeographic reconstructions. The unbiased APWP makes it necessary to slide Laurentia to the west in relation to Gondwana in a B-type Pangea during the Upper Carboniferous, later evolving, during the Early Permian, to reach the final A-type Pangea configuration of the Upper Permian. © 2017. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

A long-standing debate regarding the configuration of Pangea during the Late Paleozoic has been going on among the paleomagnetic community concerning the validity of one of two significantly different Pangea reconstructions (Pangea A vs Pangea B) since the proposal of Pangea B. Although, Pangea B avoids any continental overlap marring classical Pangea A configuration (Wegener's type), it requires a Carboniferous-Permian megashear of up to 1500 km to achieve the pre-Jurassic configuration. The existence of this megashear is controversial and has led to a wide range of hypotheses, in order to avoid Pangea A continental overlaps and consequently the need for major intra-Pangea movements and to accommodate the paleomagnetic database within a Pangea A reconstruction. We present paleomagnetic results from Permian volcanic rocks of the El Centinela, La Pampa, Argentina. Undeformed volcanic rocks are not affected by any inclination bias and are, therefore, ideal to test different paleogeographic models. The presence of two different paleopole positions, at the base and the top of the same stratigraphic sequence, makes this location optimal to constrain the track of the Gondwana's path during the Late Paleozoic, which shows the transition from Pangea B during the Carboniferous-Permian, to Pangea A at the Permian - Triassic boundary. Fil: Tomezzoli, Renata Nela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas; Argentina Fil: Tickyj, Hugo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Pampa. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Geología; Argentina Fil: Rapalini, Augusto Ernesto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas; Argentina Fil: Gallo, Leandro César. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas; Argentina Fil: Cristallini, Ernesto Osvaldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber"; Argentina Fil: Arzadún, Guadalupe. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Chemale, Farid. Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos; Brasil

Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) has been used as an important tool to study magnetic fabrics and as a basis of interpretation of depositional conditions and post-depositional processes in sedimentary successions. This contribution presents results of standard AMS and magnetic mineralogy analysis performed in core samples from the PANG 0003 well, located at the Claromeco Basin, Buenos Aires province, Argentina. The sedimentary sequence analyzed has been assigned to the Tunas Formation (Permian), upper Pillahuinco Group, southwestern of the Gondwana boundary. Additionally, obtained results were compared with previous Tunas Formation outcrop data at the Sierras Australes and Claromeco Basin area. Measured AMS parameters vary with depth, reflecting changes in postdepositional conditions such as mechanical compaction and the influence of tectonic stress. Analyses of the mean magnetic susceptibility, thermomagnetic properties and petrographic studies indicate that paramagnetic minerals as Fe-phyllosilicates are the main contributors for the AMS of this sequence. Obtained AMS parameters are mainly characterized by triaxial to oblate AMS ellipsoids and shortening directions (Kmin) with a tendency to cluster in vertical positions, parallel to the bedding plane poles, assigned to sedimentary or weak deformed magnetic fabrics. By contrast, toward the base of the sequence, strongly oblate AMS ellipsoid shapes and Kmin axes that migrate to horizontal positions indicate a high deformation degree product of tectonic stress. The presented results are consistent with geological, AMS and paleomagnetic data from Tunas Formation outcrops and confirm that deformation degree was gradually attenuated upwards in the sequence, to the younger strata and toward the foreland Claromeco basin. The study of AMS parameters and magnetic mineralogy have proven to be important tools to interpret the processes that acted during the burial history of Tunas Formation, increasing the knowledge about the evolution of the Claromeco Basin.

The Permo-Carboniferous encompasses the deterioration of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA), one of the most important glacial events in Earth's history. However, the key drivers behind the demise of the ice sheets remain controversial. Recent advances attained from high precision zircon ages provide chronostratigraphic frameworks for key basins across Gondwana, but the location and geographic extent of ice centers in west-central Gondwana remain ambiguous. Permo-Carboniferous strata from the Tarija Basin in southern Bolivia are analogous to many late Paleozoic basins across South America and provide key evidence regarding the LPIA and its demise. Detailed sedimentologic data from the Mandiyuti and Cuevo Groups exposed in the Iniguazu anticline shows a pattern of climate-sensitive facies that records a shift from cold-humid to warm-arid conditions, in accordance with the long-term transition from icehouse-to-greenhouse conditions widely recognized across western Gondwana. Although it has been long recognized that the main drivers behind the LPIA establishment resulted from past latitudinal plate motions over the polar regions, the northward drift of Gondwana away from the South Pole remains poorly constrained owing to debates around the paleogeography of Pangea. Here, from a thorough probabilistic assessment of paleomagnetic data, we have determined a robust estimator of the varying paleolatitude through the late Paleozoic that provides a much needed paleolatitudinal framework for the Tarija basin. Independent evidence from the paleomagnetic analysis has shown that the Tarija basin was within the polar circle for the Upper Devonian but started to move rapidly towards the equator during the Carboniferous and remained essentially isolatitudinal throughout the Permian. According to these findings, we conclude that the key driver controlling the icehouse-greenhouse transition in this region was the continental drift of Gondwana across zonal climate belts.

Pyroclastic levels are descripted in Sierras Australes outcrops and Claromeco Basin sub-surface records, interbedded with mudrocks and coal beds in the base of the Tunas Formation sequence that correspond to the Permian South West margin of Gondwana. The pyroclastic levels classify as fine tuff. SHRIMP zircon ages obtained are 291.7 ± 2.9 Ma in the outcrop and 295.5 ± 8.0 Ma in the subsurface. These ages are consistent with other zircon SHRIMP ages of other outcrops tuff of the Tunas Formation, with Permian flora, and with tuff ages of correlated Gondwana areas, in the Paraná, Karoo and Paganzo basins. These data, in addition with other geological evidences, support a tectonically active and changing environment during the Permian of Gondwana. The ages allowed calculating a northward latitudinal speed of 2.7 cm/year for Gondwana during the Permian. This latitudinal movement is explained as the consequence of the final coupling of several continental microplates, gradually amalgamated from the southern margins of Gondwana and from the northern of Laurentia to configure the final Pangea during the Triassic. Since the main accretions in the southwestern margin of Gondwana could have started during the Devonian - Carboniferous, this Permian orogeny (San Rafael Orogenic Phase in Argentina) would be representing the post - collisional deformation, with a peak of compression in the Early Permian that was attenuating towards the foreland during the Late Permian - Early Triassic. With these results, it is also possible to constraint the age of the upper Paleozoic glaciation up to 295, previous to the deposition of the Tunas Formation in the Sauce Grande Formation. Fil: Arzadún, Guadalupe. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. La.Te. Andes; Argentina Fil: Tomezzoli, Renata Nela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Ferreira Da Trindade, Ricardo Ivan. Universidade de Sao Paulo; Brasil Fil: Gallo, Leandro César. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Cesaretti, Nora Noemi. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Geología; Argentina Fil: Calvagno, Juan Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina

The fitting of a plane to data points is essential to the geosciences. However, it is recognized that the reliability of these best fit planes depends upon the point set distribution and geometry, evaluated in terms of the eigen-based parameters derived from the moment of inertia analysis. Despite its significance, few studies have addressed the uncertainties of the analysis, which can adversely affect the reproduction of results one of the cornerstones of scientific endeavor. Aiming to contribute toward the neglected issue of the moment of inertia precision, we have developed a bootstrap resampling scheme to empirically discover the distribution of uncertainties in the orientation of best fit planes. Dispersion of the bootstrapped normal vectors to the best fit plane is regarded as a measure of precision, evaluated with the maximum angular distance from the optimal solution. This rationale was tested using Monte Carlo-generated samples covering a comprehensive range of shape parameters to assess the dependence between eigen parameters and their inherent bias. Our results show that the oblateness of the point cloud is a robust parameter to assess the reliability of the best fit plane. Given this, the method was then applied to a publicly available lidar data set. We argue that georeferenced point clouds with an oblateness parameter greater than 3 and 1.5 may be placed at 95% confidence levels of 5° and 10°, respectively. We propose using these values as thresholds to obtain robust best fit planes, guaranteeing reproducible results for scientific research. Fil: Gallo, Leandro César. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Cristallini, Ernesto Osvaldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber"; Argentina Fil: Svarc, Marcela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de San Andrés; Argentina