Paleomagnetism of Permian through Early Triassic sequences in central Spitsbergen: implications for paleogeography

Upper Carboniferous through Lower Triassic sediments from Spitsbergen have yielded paleomagnetic results, with those for the Late Gzhelian-Early Permian being the more reliable. The corresponding pole (38 degrees N, 171 degrees E) is fully concordant with the Early Permian segment of the apparent polar wander path for Baltica. It does not support hypotheses about post-Carboniferous mobilism of Spitsbergen with respect to Stable Europe. Neither Mesozoic nor later rifting processes changed the position of Spitsbergen considerably in relation to the Stable Europe. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.