A REMAINING OPEN PALEOGEOGRAPHY OF PALEO-ASIAN OCEAN BY EARLY PERMIAN: PALEOMAGNETIC CONSTRAINTS FROM THE PERMIAN VOLCANIC ROCKS IN MIDDLE-EAST INNER MONGOLIA, NE CHINA

Abstract

We report a paleomagnetic investigation on Permian volcanic rocks in the middle-east Inner Mongolia, NE China, aiming to puzzle out the timing and position of the final closure of the eastern Paleo-Asian ocean (PAO) and further to better understand tectonic evolution of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). Two pre-folding characteristic components are isolated from the Sanmianjing and Elitu formations (~283–266 Ma) in the northern margin of the North China block (NMNCB) and the Dashizhai Formation (~280 Ma) in the Songliao-Xilinhot block (SXB), respectively.