A 90° spin on Rodinia: possible causal links between the Neoproterozoic supercontinent, superplume, true polar wander and low-latitude glaciation

Abstract

We report here new geochronological and paleomagnetic data from the 802±10 Ma Xiaofeng dykes in South China. Together with existing data, these results suggest that Rodinia probably spread from the equator to the polar region at ca. 800 Ma, followed by a rapid ca. 90° rotation around an axis near Greenland that brought the entire supercontinent to a low-latitude position by ca. 750 Ma. We propose that it was the initiation of a mantle superplume under the polar end of Rodinia that triggered an episode of true polar wander (TPW) which brought the entire supercontinent into equatorial latitudes. An unusually extensive emerged land area at the equator increased both atmospheric CO 2 drawdown and global albedo, which, along with waning plume volcanism led directly to the low-latitude Sturtian glaciation at ca. 750–720 Ma.