A global apparent polar wander path for the last 320 Ma calculated from site-level paleomagnetic data

Vaes, Bram; van Hinsbergen, Douwe J.J.; van de Lagemaat, Suzanna H.A.; van der Wiel, Erik; Lom, Nalan; Advokaat, Eldert L.; Boschman, Lydian M.; Gallo, Leandro C.; Greve, Annika; Guilmette, Carl; Li, Shihu; Lippert, Peter C.; Montheil, Leny; Qayyum, Abdul; Langereis, Cor G.

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2023.104547

Cited by 14 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…Thus, they argue for steady TPW supporting the opinion of Torsvik et al 16 . Furthermore, a new global APWP calculated from site-level data also did not recognize the “monster shift” either 40 . The discrepancy between our study and Vaes et al 40 may be attributed to the calculation window.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Furthermore, a new global APWP calculated from site-level data also did not recognize the “monster shift” either 40 . The discrepancy between our study and Vaes et al 40 may be attributed to the calculation window. In this current study, the APWP calculated in a 10 Myr window shows a higher APW rate (~0.6°/Myr) than when calculated in a 20 Myr window (~0.2°/Myr) around 150 Ma 40 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

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Completing the loop of the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous true polar wander event

Hou,

Zhao,

Qin

et al. 2024

Nat Commun

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The reorientation of Earth through rotation of its solid shell relative to its spin axis is known as True polar wander (TPW). It is well-documented at present, but the occurrence of TPW in the geologic past remains controversial. This is especially so for Late Jurassic TPW, where the veracity and dynamics of a particularly large shift remain debated. Here, we report three palaeomagnetic poles at 153, 147, and 141 million years (Myr) ago from the North China craton that document an ~ 12° southward shift in palaeolatitude from 155–147 Myr ago (~1.5° Myr−1), immediately followed by an ~ 10° northward displacement between 147–141 Myr ago (~1.6° Myr−1). Our data support a large round-trip TPW oscillation in the past 200 Myr and we suggest that the shifting back-and-forth of the continents may contribute to the biota evolution in East Asia and the global Jurassic–Cretaceous extinction and endemism.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Completing the loop of the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous true polar wander event

Hou,

Zhao,

Qin

et al. 2024

Nat Commun

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“…This subdivision shows that the initial fit between the American continents and the Asiatic margins was located within the Pacific Ocean along the passive margin of the Tethys, which calls for a complete revision of the plate tectonic history of the Pacific domain. The shift in opening between the two Pacific domains coincides with the 'Jurassic Polar Monster shift' in APWP which occurred around 150-140 Ma in late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous times related to a major change in global plate tectonic motions (cf Torsvik et al, 2012;Vaes et al, 2023)…”

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confidence: 73%

The new global tectonic map—Analyses and implications

Dijk¹

2023

Terra Nova

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A full new tectonic model of the Earth is presented based a complete new tectonic interpretation carried out during a 10‐year project. It covers a huge amount of available geophysical and geological datasets, where ca. 11 000 tectonic elements such as faults and thrusts, transform faults, rift zones, passive margins and oceanic extension ridges and numerous other features have been mapped, and classified following the geological literature. The complete surface of the Earth has been subdivided into 1.180 larger and smaller tectonic terranes, in the domains of continental blocks, oceanic plates and mobile zones. Numerical multiscale statistical fabric analyses on orientation, length and area are presented on the digitised tectonic elements and the classified terranes using the first Digital Twin of the Earth. Graphical representation through maps with different projections and viewpoints, and planetary views, are presented to illustrate the new subdivision. Some important implications for plate tectonic reconstructions are being discussed.

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“…The West Kamchatka terrane is overthrusted by the Olyutorsky island-arc terrane along a thrust front that extends along the entire length of Kamchatka (Figs. 2,3,and 5). The geological structure of the collision zone and the timing of collision/obduction are notably different in the southern part of Kamchatka (in the Sredinny Range) compared to the northern part (Kamchatka isthmus and Koryak Highlands; e.g., Shapiro et al, 2008).…”

Section: Kamchatkamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…if reason for exclusion was provided; (2) were not analyzed using principle component analysis (Kirschvink, 1980); (3) were (most likely) remagnetized according to the original authors; (4) include less than four samples for sedimentary or igneous sites, or less than four lava sites for volcanic localities; (5) have k-values (precision parameter of Fisher, 1953) below 50 for volcanic sites, or an A95 value exceeding A95max, or below A95min sensu (Deenen et al, 2011) for igneous or sedimentary sites. We excluded paleomagnetic localities that were based on an average of multiple sedimentary site averages if statistical details on a per-site level were not reported.…”

Section: Compilation Of Paleomagnetic Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

On pole position

Vaes¹

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Paleomagnetism provides the only quantitative tool to reconstruct the position and motion of tectonic plates and continents in deep geological time. These reconstructions often rely on apparent polar wander paths (APWPs), which describe the past position and motion of plates relative to the Earth’s spin axis. In addition to providing a paleomagnetic reference frame for paleogeography, these paths serve to quantify relative tectonic displacements with other lithospheric blocks. A long-discussed problem is that conventional approaches to computing polar wander do not propagate key sources of uncertainty in the underlying data, such as data scatter or age uncertainty, but proposed solutions remained mostly qualitative. Recently, this problem became more urgent: Rowley (2019, Tectonics) showed that as much as 50% of the data that underlie the currently most widely used global APWP are statistically significantly displaced relative to that APWP. This implies that the resolution at which a geologically meaningful statistical difference between a paleomagnetic dataset and an APWP may be determined, is strongly limited, which undermines the current tectonic and paleogeographic applications of paleomagnetism. This thesis aims to examine the causes of dispersion of paleomagnetic data behind APWPs and to build a global APWP in which key data uncertainties are propagated, such that it may be used to determine geologically meaningful relative displacements. We show that the uncertainty of APWPs computed from paleomagnetic poles, which is the current standard, is mostly determined by the arbitrary choice of how many datapoints are used per pole. This thesis then develops a novel approach in which apparent polar wander paths are computed from site-level paleomagnetic data instead of paleomagnetic poles. In this approach, larger weight is assigned to larger datasets and temporal and spatial uncertainties in the paleomagnetic data are incorporated. We present a global apparent polar wander path for the last 320 Ma using the new statistical approach proposed in this thesis, as well as using a fully updated paleomagnetic database. We find that the first-order geometry of this path is similar to previous models but with smaller uncertainties. Moreover, we show that correcting for temporal bias in the paleomagnetic data allows improved quantification of polar wander rates, and that previously observed peaks in polar wander likely resulted from such bias. We introduce the open-source web application APWP-online.org that provides user-friendly tools to compute apparent polar wander paths using our new methodology as well as the computation of relative paleomagnetic displacements. The website also hosts a community platform for the continuous improvement of the path in the future through the addition of new high-quality paleomagnetic data. Finally, we provide new quantitative estimates of true polar wander during the last 320 Ma by comparing our new global apparent polar wander path with existing mantle reference frames. The computed true polar wander paths suggest that the true polar wander rotations occurred about two roughly orthogonal axes in the equatorial plane. We discuss the geodynamic implications of these findings and highlight future opportunities for the identification and quantification of true polar wander on geological timescales.

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A global apparent polar wander path for the last 320 Ma calculated from site-level paleomagnetic data

Cited by 14 publications

References 408 publications

Completing the loop of the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous true polar wander event

Completing the loop of the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous true polar wander event

The new global tectonic map—Analyses and implications

On pole position

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