Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

Geological Magazine

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by VIZAN, H. Articles by CLARKE, P. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Late Neoproterozoic to Early Palaeozoic palaeogeography of Avalonia: some palaeomagnetic constraints from Nuneaton, central England

HAROLDO VIZAN^*,*, JOHN N. CARNEY, PETER TURNER, ROBERT A. IXER, MARK TOMASSO^,, ROBERT P. MULLEN and PAUL CLARKE

^* CONICET in Departamento de Ciencias Geologicas, FCEN-UBA, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón 2, (1428) Buenos Aires, Argentina
British Geological Survey, Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK
School of Earth Sciences, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Now at: Department of Geology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

^* Author for correspondence: haroldo{at}gl.fcen.uba.ar

Palaeomagnetic studies have been carried out on Neoproterozoic, Cambrian and Ordovician rocks in the Nuneaton inlier, England (52.5° N, 1.5° W). Three magnetic components were recognized, which provide a consistent structural and magnetic history of the inlier. Neoproterozoic volcaniclastic and intrusive rocks acquired a characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) dated at 603 Ma. Late Ordovician rocks are represented by lamprophyre and diorite intrusions and their ChRMs were probably imprinted during their emplacement, at about 442 Ma. The Lower Cambrian sedimentary sequence of the Hartshill Sandstone Formation, which unconformably overlies the Neoproterozoic rocks and hosts the Ordovician intrusions, does not preserve a primary magnetization but shows the imprints of the Late Ordovician (442 Ma) remagnetization, as well as a probable end-Carboniferous remagnetization. Palaeolatitudes calculated for the late Neoproterozoic rocks and Ordovician intrusions are in good agreement with other palaeolatitudes calculated for Avalonia during those times. Both the late Neoproterozoic and Late Ordovician rocks additionally show ChRMs with declination anomalies indicating a large tectonic rotation of the Nuneaton area, possibly during one of the Caledonian phases of deformation affecting southern Britain.

Key Words: Avalonia • palaeogeography • palaeomagnetism • Neoproterozoic • Ordovician

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M.D. Thompson, A.M. Grunow, and J. Ramezani Late Neoproterozoic paleogeography of the Southeastern New England Avalon Zone: Insights from U-Pb geochronology and paleomagnetism Geological Society of America Bulletin, May 1, 2007; 119(5-6): 681 - 696. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]