Paleomagnetic age of ferruginous weathering beneath the Hamersley Surface, Pilbara, Western Australia, and the Cenozoic apparent polar wander path

ABSTRACTDuring the Mesozoic and Paleogene, the Precambrian rocks in the Pilbara, Western Australia, underwent erosion and deep weathering that produced an undulating landform now represented by the duricrusted and partly eroded Hamersley Surface. A reddened, ferruginous weathering zone occurs immediately beneath this duricrusted surface. Oriented block samples of ferruginised strata of the Neoarchean–early Paleoproterozoic Hamersley Group exposed within approximately 15 m below the duricrust were collected at 20 sites in roadcuts along the Great Northern Highway between Munjina and Newman and exposures along the adjoining Karijini Drive. Stepwise thermal demagnetisation of cored specimens revealed a stable, high-temperature (680°C) component carried by hematite, with a mean direction (n = 55 specimens) of declination D = 182.0°, inclination I = 52.9° (α95 = 3.6°), indicating a pole position at latitude λp = 77.6°S, longitude ϕp = 113.2°E (A95 = 4.3°) and a paleolatitude λ = 33.5 +3.6/–3.3°S. Both normal a...