Paleomagnetic data for Siberia and Baltica in the context of testing some geodynamic models of the formation of the Central Asian Mobile Belt

Abstract

The synthesis of the paleomagnetic data for the Siberian (Siberia) and East European (Baltica) platforms shows that since the Early Paleozoic they could have experienced coherent movements as a part of consolidated continental agglomeration (a composite continent), which also includes the Arctida continent. Based on the paleomagnetic data, the relative positions of the Siberia and Baltica during the Ordovician is reconstructed, and a series of paleogeographical reconstructions describing the drift of the composite continent is suggested. The results of the lithologic–facial analysis of the sedimentation settings within the Ordovician basins of the Siberian and East European platforms and paleoclimatic markers are consistent with the suggested configuration and paleogeographical position of the composite continent. The suggested reconstructions and the ages of detrital zircons from the Early Paleozoic complexes of the platform margins and some objects of the Central Asian Mobile Belt (CAMB) reasonably well agree with the hypothesis (Sengör et al., 1993) which interprets the formation of the structure of CAMB Paleozoides as a result of the evolution of the island arc stretching along the margins of Siberia and Baltica.