New Paleomagnetic Results from the Devonian-Carboniferous Successions in the Southern Yangtze Block and Their Paleogeographic Implications

A total of 316 oriented core samples collected from the Devonian-Carboniferous carbonate strata from the southern Yangtze block in the southern Guizhou Province were subjected to stepwise demagnetization. After removing the recent and Late Jurassic overprint components, inferred primary magnetic remnants was isolated from 73 samples in four rock units. There are 17, 25, 24 and 7 samples in the Early-Middle Devonian, Late Devonian, Early Carboniferous and Middle-Late Carboniferous respectively. With the available data, we have revised the apparent polar wander path (APWP) of the Yangtze Block. By APWPs fitting, it is suggested that the Yangtze block was part of Gondwana during the Early Paleozoic and Early-Middle Devonian, and located along the Great India-Australia margin of Gondwana. In the Late Devonian, the Yangtze block began to separate from the supercontinent as Gondwana significantly rotated clockwise.