New paleomagnetic results from the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in South China and their paleogeographic implications

•New paleomagnetic results obtained from the Doushantuo Formation in South China.•Previously published Doushantuo pole reflects a Paleozoic remagnetization.•South China Block moved around NW Australia during late Ediacaran time.

A new paleomagnetic pole is obtained from the top of Member 3 of the Doushantuo Formation in the Jiulongwan section of the Yangtze Gorges area in South China. A total of 191 samples from 23 sites were collected and subjected to stepwise alternating field (AF) and thermal demagnetization. After the removal of a soft component (SC) of viscous magnetic remanence acquired in present geomagnetic field, a high temperature component (HC), likely carried by magnetite, was isolated. The HC includes vectors from 147 samples using principal component analysis and arc constraints from 44 samples using remagnetization great-circle analysis. Both the vectors only and the combined vectors and arc constraints of the HC passed a reversal test. This is the first Ediacaran paleomagnetic remanence from the South China Block (SCB) that passes a reversal test, and it is interpreted as a primary remanence. The HC vectors were thus used to calculate the paleomagnetic pole, and in combination with arc constraints, were used for polarity interpretation. The vectors give a mean direction of (D = 75.2°, I = 41.0°, α95 = 2.5°, N = 147) after bedding correction, and a corresponding paleomagnetic pole at 23.9° N, 187.0° E (dm/dp = 3.0/1.8). This pole differs significantly from previously published results of the Doushantuo Formation, which may have been subjected to Paleozoic remagnetization. Our results provide a 23.5 ± 1.8° N paleolatitude for the Yangtze Gorges area of the SCB and suggest several alternative paleogeographic options for the Ediacaran–Cambrian amalgamation of East Gondwana, depending on chronostratigraphic correlations.

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