Abstract:

Palaeomagnetic data from samples collected in a rock sequence of tuffs and shales (Suri Formation), exposed in northwestern Argentina, indicate that the geomagnetic field had reversed polarity in Llanvirnian time. The samples from the top of the sequence also record, at least, an excursion of the geomagnetic field. The palaeomagnetic study carried out on samples collected in a rock sequence of shallow marine sediments of Late Precambrian age (La Tinta Formation), exposed in central-eastern Argentina, indicates that the geomagnetic field had alternating periods of normal and reversed polarity in that geological time. The positions of the palaeomagnetic poles for the Suri and La Tinta Formations are consistent with the interpretation that Gondwana was a unit as far back as Late Precambrian and with the occurrences of Upper Ordovician and Upper Precambrian glacial depths across Africa and Australia, respectively. They do not, however, exclude models involving the opening and closing of minor seas. Particularly, the position of La Tinta pole is consistent with the interpretation which suggests that the sediments of this formation and those of the Nama Group (Africa) were deposited in a common shallow marine basin. -Author