Palaeomagnetic evidence from the Ordovician and Silurian of northwest Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

The Ordovician and Silurian Setul Limestone of the Langkawi Islands, northwest Peninsular Malaysia, has a mean magnetic vector ofD = 338°,I = 62° after cleaning and correction for tilt. This is equivalent to a palaeolatitude of 43°, and a palaeomagnetic pole at 46°N, 76°E. The Silurian part of the Setul limestone also shows a similar direction. The Ordovician results are equivalent to a palaeolatitude of 43°, N or S. Recent reconstructions, based on palaeontology, place Indochina and China in the northern hemisphere in the Ordovician; if this is correct, a palaeolatitide of 43° for Langkawi would imply that Malaya-Indochina was the most northerly continental fragment at that time.