Cretaceous and Early Tertiary paleomagnetic results from the Antarctic Peninsula

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Abstract
Paleomagnetic results are presented for early Tertiary and Cretaceous igneous and volcanic units from the northern Antarctic Peninsula. When combined with previously published data, they permit the construction of a polar wander path that is very similar to one derived for the East Antarctic craton by rotating Tertiary and Cretaceous poles from India and Australia into the Antarctic frame of reference. When considered in this context, the paleomagnetic data from the Orville Coast, which was previously interpreted as evidence in favor of oroclinal bending or relative rotation of the southern Antarctic Peninsula with respect to the northern part, may be considered as an in situ resulte The implications of the new data are as follows: (1) The Antarctic Peninsula down to the Orville Coast has been a part of the Antarctic plate since 100 m.y. ago. (2) Movement of the Antarctic Peninsula required to avoid overlap in reconstructions of Gondwanaland must have occurred before 100 m.y. ago.