Paleomagnetism and question of original location of the Permian Brook Street Terrane, New Zealand

Abstract

Over 400 rock samples from 30 sites were collected for paleomagnetic study from the volcanogenic section in the Brook Street terrane within the Takitimu Mountains in western Southland, New Zealand. The section includes igneous and sedimentary rocks of the Permian Takitimu Group and White Hill Intrusive Suite. Many of the samples show a partial or complete remagnetization in the present field because of a recent acquisition of viscous remanent magnetization. An Early Permian direction (inclination = 46.1°, declination = 257°), isolated from the Heartbreak and Chimney Peaks formations of the Takitimu Group, indicates a low paleolatitude to midpaleolatitude, position (27° ± 5°) for the Brook Street terrane. Directions from the Late Permian (?) White Hill Intrusives (inclination = 64.6°, declination = 173.3°) suggest a slightly higher paleolatitude than the Early Permian Takitimu Group directions and 70°–90° of intervening clockwise rotation. Plate reconstructions and paleomagnetic data predict a high paleolatitude for the New Zealand margin of Gondwana throughout the late Paleozoic and Mesozoic. The low paleolatitude to middle paleolatitude, implied by the Early Permian Brook Street result, together with the oceanic nature of the Brook Street arc, suggest that the Brook Street terrane is allochthonous to the margin of Gondwana. A published Late Triassic/Early Jurassic paleomagnetic pole from the adjacent Murihiku terrane indicates a high paleolatitude. This suggests that the Brook Street and Murihiku terranes are genetically distinct.