Palaeogeography of the Siberian platform during middle Palaeozoic Times (∼450–400 Ma): new palaeomagnetic evidence from the Lena and Nyuya rivers

New reliable palaeomagnetic data from the Siberian platform help in deciphering its palaeogeography during ∼450–400 Ma. Geochronology of late Devonian mafic sills provides time constraints for tectonic deformation along the southern margin of the Siberian Platform and thus a minimum age for the regional magnetic overprint. From a late Ordovician–Silurian sedimentary section of the Nyuya syncline in the southern part of the Siberian platform with the Devonian sills hosted nearby in early Palaeozoic sediments, pre-folding presumably primary magnetization was isolated from the sediments during stepwise thermal cleaning. High unblocking temperatures imply that haematite is the main carrier of magnetization. The sample-mean direction for 37 Ordovician samples from nine sites in stratigraphic coordinates is Ds = 168.5, Is = −5, ks = 22.3 and α95 = 5.1 and for 77 Silurian samples from six sites is Ds = 193.9, Is = 20.9, ks = 16 and α95 = 4.2. Another component recorded in both the Silurian and Ordovician samples is pre-folding, with a sample-mean direction of Ds = 204.4, Is = 37.9, ks = 27.2 and α95 = 2.7 for 104 samples from eight sites. This component was probably formed during a regional remagnetization event, which took place in post-early Silurian time. Putting this secondary component into a framework with available Palaeozoic data and geochronology further constrains its age to be early Devonian. The isolated components yield new late Ordovician, early Silurian and early-middle Devonian palaeomagnetic poles. The revised middle Palaeozoic segment of the apparent polar wander path (APWP) for the Siberian platform provides new palaeogeographic constraints. Our data suggest that in late Ordovician the platform was situated in equatorial latitudes and was rotated 180° with respect to its present position. During middle-late Ordovician time, the platform did not experience any notable latitudinal drift. It started drifting to the north in the late Ordovician, and by the late Silurian it had travelled ∼1500 km northwards and had rotated ∼30° counter-clockwise (CCW). During late Silurian time, the platform continued northward drift and CCW rotation, and by the early Devonian it had drifted ∼1100 km northwards and rotated 10° CCW relative to its Silurian position. After that, the rotation of the platform changed to clockwise (CW), and by the late Devonian had drifted another 1500 km to the north and had rotated ∼60° CW. We evaluated palaeomagnetically viable positions from 450–400 Ma of the three largest Laurasian cratons, Siberia, Baltica and Laurentia, based on the new data and previously published APWPs. Contrary to several published reconstructions, the Siberian platform could not have been situated to the north of the Caledonian suture in mid-Silurian time, but was probably located either at the eastern or the western side of Laurussia. The new data are compatible with an early Devonian position of Siberia similar to the modern Eurasian configuration. They also support the post- early or middle Devonian relative rotation between the Aldan and Angara blocks of the Siberian platform.