Late Neoproterozoic assembly of East Gondwana

Late Pan-African granitoids from the Grove Mountains, East Antarctica: Age, origin and tectonic implications

“…Paleomagnetic data showed that the apparent polar wander path for the India and Australo-Antarctic continental blocks did not form a spatially and temporally coherent pattern until ca. 550 Ma (Meert and Van der voo, 1997;Powell and Pisarevsky, 2001). All these data strongly suggest that East Gondwana was not assembled until late Pan-African time.…”

Paleomagnetic Constraints on Neoproterozoic ‘Snowball Earth' Continental Reconstructions

“…The vestiges of the Rodinia supercontinent broke apart during the terminal Neoproterozoic and the timing of that breakup is broadly synchronous with the assembly of Gondwana Powell and Pisarevsky, 2002;Boger et al, 2002;Torsvik et al, 1996). The existence of a younger, ephemeral supercontinent called Panottia is dependent on the time of rift-drift transition between Laurentia and the elements of western Gondwana (traditionally Amazonia-Rio Plata) and the final assembly of Gondwana.…”

“…This would require well-constrained end points (for example a well-resolved 600 Ma paleogeography) and some knowledge of the tectonic and geodynamic conditions of the planet during that interval. For example, it is fairly well-documented that the Gondwana continent was assembled during the interval from 700-530 Ma Powell and Pisarevsky, 2002;Stern, 1994) and that the Iapetus Ocean opened between Laurentia and Gondwana sometime during the 600-530 Ma (McCausland and Hodych, 1998;Cawood et al, 2001). These observations might allow us to estimate the approximate positions of the various Gondwana elements by assuming plate velocities.…”

The Precambrian-Cambrian biosphere (r)evolution: Insights from the Chinese Yangtze Platform

“…It apparently formed part of the northern Rodinia margin in low southern latitudes and had largely been covered by a stable shallow-marine platform by ca 800 Ma (Powell & Pisarevsky 2002, Veevers 2003. Subsequent sedimentation was mostly counterbalanced by tectonic subsidence and thus preserves a sedimentary record ranging with only minor hiatuses from the Proterozoic into the Triassic.…”