Palaeomagnetic evidence for the rotation of seram, indonesia

Abstract

Upper Triassic shale from central Seram gives a direction of magnetization (D=82, I=23) which (assuming, as seems probable, that it was acquired before folding, and during a period of reversed magnetization) indicates Seram lay in 12±7°S latitude and has rotated anticlockwise 98° since the late Triassic. The equivalent (south) palaeomagnetic pole is at 8 °N, 207°E. Pillow basalt of late Miocene age, from Kelang Island, west Seram has a magnetic vector D=106, I—9, indicating extrusion in 5°S latitude, and anticlockwise rotation of 74°. The equivalent (south) palaeomagnetic pole is at 16°S, 214°E. These results, although only of a reconnaissance nature, are consistent with the postulations of various authors that Seram has rotated anticlockwise in late Cainozoic. © 1978, The Seismological Society of Japan, The Volcanological Society of Japan, The Geodetic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.