One billion years of stability in the North American midcontinent following two-stage Grenvillian structural inversion
Hodgin, Eben B., Swanson-Hysell, Nicholas L., Kylander-Clark, Andrew R. C., Turner, Andrew C., Stolper, Daniel A., Ibarra, Daniel E., Schmitz, Mark D., Zhang, Yiming, Fairchild, Luke M., and Fuentes, Anthony J.
Paleomagnetic records from pulsed magmatism in the southwestern Laurentia large igneous province and Cardenas Basalt support rapid late Mesoproterozoic plate motion
Zhang, Yiming, Anderson, Nicolas S., Mohr, Michael T., Nelson, Lyle L., Macdonald, Francis A., Schmitz, Mark D., Thurston, Olivia G., Guenthner, William R., Karlstrom, Karl E., and Swanson-Hysell, Nicholas L.
Abstract The paleogeography of Laurentia throughout the Neoproterozoic is critical for reconstructing global paleogeography due to its central position in the supercontinent Rodinia. We develop a new paleomagnetic pole from red siltstones and fine-grained sandstones of the early Neoproterozoic Jacobsville Formation which is now constrained to be ca. 990 Ma in age. High-resolution thermal demagnetization experiments resolve detrital remanent magnetizations held by hematite. These directions were reoriented within siltstone intraclasts and pass intraformational conglomerate tests—giving confidence that the magnetization is detrital and primary. An inclination-corrected mean paleomagnetic pole position for the Jacobsville Formation indicates that Laurentia’s motion slowed down significantly following the onset of the Grenvillian orogeny. Prior rapid plate motion associated with closure of the Unimos Ocean between 1,110 and 1,090 Ma transitioned to slow drift of Laurentia across the equator in the late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic. We interpret the distinct position of this well-dated pole from those in the Grenville orogen that have been assigned a similar age to indicate that the ages of the poles associated with the Grenville Loop likely need to be revised to be younger due to prolonged exhumation.
2023
Quantitative Analysis of Paleomagnetic Sampling Strategies
Sapienza, F., Gallo, L. C., Zhang, Yiming, Vaes, B., Domeier, M., and Swanson-Hysell, N. L.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth Sep 2023
Embracing Uncertainty to Resolve Polar Wander: A Case Study of Cenozoic North America
Gallo, L. C., Domeier, M., Sapienza, F., Swanson-Hysell, N. L., Vaes, B., Zhang, Yiming, Arnould, M., Eyster, A., Gürer, D., Király, Á., Robert, B., Rolf, T., Shephard, G., and Boon, A.
Abstract Our understanding of Earth’s paleogeography relies heavily on paleomagnetic apparent polar wander paths (APWPs), which represent the time-dependent position of Earth’s spin axis relative to a given block of lithosphere. However, conventional approaches to APWP construction have significant limitations. First, the paleomagnetic record contains substantial noise that is not integrated into APWPs. Second, parametric assumptions are adopted to represent spatial and temporal uncertainties even where the underlying data do not conform to the assumed distributions. The consequences of these limitations remain largely unknown. Here, we address these challenges with a bottom-up Monte Carlo uncertainty propagation scheme that operates on site-level paleomagnetic data. To demonstrate our methodology, we present an extensive compilation of site-level Cenozoic paleomagnetic data from North America, which we use to generate a high-resolution APWP. Our results demonstrate that even in the presence of substantial noise, polar wandering can be assessed with unprecedented temporal and spatial resolution.
2022
Quantifying Inclination Shallowing and Representing Flattening Uncertainty in Sedimentary Paleomagnetic Poles
Pierce, James, Zhang, Yiming, Hodgin, Eben B., and Swanson-Hysell, Nicholas L.
Final inversion of the Midcontinent Rift during the Rigolet Phase of the Grenvillian Orogeny
Hodgin, Eben B., Swanson-Hysell, Nicholas L., DeGraff, James M., Kylander-Clark, Andrew R.C., Schmitz, Mark D., Turner, Andrew C., Zhang, Yiming, and Stolper, Daniel A.
The paleogeography of Laurentia in its early years:new constraints from the Paleoproterozoic East-Central Minnesota batholith
Swanson-Hysell, Nicholas L., Avery, Margaret S., Zhang, Yiming, Hodgin, Eben B., Sherwood, Robert J., Apen, Francisco E., Boerboom, Terrence J., Keller, C. Brenhin, and Cottle, John M.