Paleomagnetic data from the New England Orogen (eastern Australia) and implications for oroclinal bending

•A Permian paleopole from the southernmost New England oroclines was obtained.•Data show no rotations relative to cratonic Australia/Gondwana after ~ 272 Ma.•Oroclinal bending occurred before 272 Ma and prior to the Hunter-Bowen Orogeny.•The New England oroclines formed in extensional setting likely by trench retreat.

Orogenic curvatures (oroclines) are common in modern and ancient orogens, but the geodynamic driving forces of many oroclines remain controversial. Here we focus on the New England oroclines of eastern Australia, the formation of which had been previously broadly constrained to the Early-Middle Permian. This time interval encompasses periods of both back-arc extension (at ~ 300-280 Ma) and subsequent contractional deformation (Hunter-Bowen Orogeny) that commenced at ~ 270 Ma along the paleo-Pacific and Gondwanan subduction plate boundary. We present new paleomagnetic data from volcanic rocks that were extruded during the transition from extension to contraction (at ~ 272 Ma), and we show that the oroclinal structure must have formed prior to the emplacement of the volcanic rocks. Our results thus indicate that oroclinal bending in the southernmost New England Orogen has been completed prior to the onset of Middle Permian contractional deformation. It is therefore concluded that the oroclines have likely formed during back-arc extension, and that a major contribution to the orogenic curvature was driven by trench retreat.

Graphical abstractDownload full-size image