AN INTEGRATED MAGNETOSTRATIGRAPHIC AND 
PALEOLATITUDINAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE LATE 
TRIASSIC NEWARK SUPERGROUP

	KENT, Dennis V., and OLSEN, Paul E., Lamont-Doherty 	
		Earth Observatory,  Columbia University, Palisades, 
		NY, 10964

An astronomically calibrated geomagnetic polarity time scale and 
paleolatitudinal record have been developed from a complete section 
obtained by scientific coring in the Newark Basin.  The paleomagnetic 
data from the Newark section show 59 polarity intervals and 
northward motion of about 7°  (2.5°  to 9.5°  North) over 30 million 
years, providing a spatiotemporal framework for high resolution 
correlation and paleogeographic analysis in the Late Triassic.
	We illustrate the utility of this integrated reference sequence in 
studies of several other Newark rift basins, including a ~3000 meter 
exposed section of the Leakesville Formation of mainly Carnian age 
from the Dan River/Danville Basin, and in preliminary results from a 
~300 m cored section of the Blomidon Formation of Norian-
ēRhaetianē age from the Fundy Basin.  There is a very close match in 
polarity stratigraphies between the Dan River/Danville and Newark 
Basins, confirming the general age-equivalence of the thick upper 
Cow Branch Member of the Leakesville Formation and the Lockatong 
Formation.  Paleopoles from the coeval intervals also agree, indicating 
that there has been no significant vertical-axis tectonic rotations 
between these distant basins.  The preliminary magnetostratigraphic 
data from the Blomidon Formation suggest that this unit encompasses 
the age-equivalent of the upper half of the Passaic Formation, 
implying that the average sedimentation accumulation rate in this part 
of the Fundy section (~30 m/m.y.) was considerably lower than in the 
Newark section (~200 m/m.y.).  These and related results that 
combine magnetostratigraphic correlation and cycle stratigraphy in a 
paleolatitudinal context are providing a powerful means to chart the 
development of continental lithofacies in terms of paleoclimate and 
local tectonic controls, and to improve paleogeographic 
reconstructions of Pangea in general.


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