Late Paleozoic paleomagnetic poles and the opening of the Atlantic Ocean

The Permian and Carboniferous paleomagnetic poles have been replotted using the geometrical reconstruction of the continents proposed by Bullard, Everett, and Smith. The grouping of the poles is significantly better after reconstruction for the Permian but not for the Carboniferous. It is concluded that the continental rotations deduced by these workers from the fit of the continents around the Atlantic are consistent with the paleomagnetic data.