Paleomagnetotectonics of East Asia in the Proto-Tethys Ocean

Abstract

Seven paleomagnetic poles are obtained from Early Ordovician, Late Carboniferous, Permo-Triassic, Jurassic, Early Cretaceous, Miocene and Quaternary rocks in Korea. These poles define the apparent polar wander path for the southern part of Korean Peninsula. The comparisons of APWPs from the North China Block, Yangtze Block and Korea reveals that the East Asia is comprised of two blocks, the North Sino-Korean and South Sino-Korean, which were parts of Gondwana during the Paleozoic time. The North Sino-Korean Block was migrated northwards in Late Permian and accreted with Laurasia in Triassic time. During Middle–Late Triassic time, the North Sino-Korean Block collided with the South Sino-Korean, and subsequently divided into two. The western part of the North Sino-Korean Block suffered counter-clockwise rotation, while the eastern part rotated clockwise until Jurassic time. Complicated shear senses of the Early Mesozoic fault systems in East Asia are well matched by this scenario.