Abstract The North Qiangtang Block occupies a pivotal position within the eastern Tethyan realm, and its paleogeographic reconstruction is critical for constraining Tethyan geometry and evolution. However, its Late Paleozoic paleogeography and Paleo‐Tethyan Ocean–continent configuration remain controversial due to limited reliable age‐constrained paleomagnetic data. Here we present paleomagnetic and geochronological data from Late Carboniferous limestones of the Walongshan Formation, providing an absolute‐age‐constrained paleomagnetic pole. Stepwise demagnetization of 126 specimens from 19 sites isolated a pre‐folding characteristic remanent magnetization carried by magnetite, indicating a paleolatitude of 19.5 ± 5.2°S at 317 ± 11.6 Ma. Together with published paleomagnetic and geologic constraints, these results suggest that the North Qiangtang–Indochina “central continental domain” remained at middle to low latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere from the Late Carboniferous to the Middle Permian, favoring a dual‐branch Paleo‐Tethys configuration with a northern Jinshajiang oceanic basin (∼5,500 km) and a southern Longmu Co–Shuanghu oceanic basin (∼3,300 km).
Zhang et al. (Wed,) studied this question.