Palaeomagnetic Study on the Precambrian-Cambrian Boundary Candidate Stratotype Section at Meishucun, Yunnan

The Meishucun secton has been recommended as an international candidate stratotype secton of thePrecambrian-Cambrian boundary. The paper deals with the palaeomagnetic study on the section. A total of159 palaeomagnetic samples were successively collected from the platform-facies sequence of carbonates andphosphates at the section. Thermal demagnetization results indicate a great majority of the rocks at the sectionhave been strongly overprinted by recent magnetic field, but 57 samples have preserved remanentmagnetization with antipodal directions (mean D/I=4.2°/ 7.1°, K=9, α;= 6.6°). Baaed on calculation,the location of the palaeomagnetic pole was at 68.8°N and 270.7°E, which is different from any palaeopolesobtained from younger Phanerozoic rocks in South China. The results reveal a polarity zonation which in-cludes at least 9 reversal events. A comparison of China’s magnetostratigraphic records with those fromSiberia, Australia and the western U.S.A. shows that all the sections are characterized by frequent polarity re-versals.