On the origins of the Iapetus Ocean

The Iapetus Ocean opened during the fission of the supercontinent Rodinia, from the breakup of three of its core continental constituents: Laurentia, Baltica and Amazonia. The timing of Iapetus opening is still much debated, with estimates ranging from 700 to 550 Ma. Similarly debated is exactly how Laurentia, Baltica and Amazonia were positioned relative to each other immediately before their breakup. In this study, we reconsider the timing and framework of Iapetus opening by integrating the fragmentary mid-Neoproterozoic to early Cambrian observational records from these continents. We first demonstrate that paleomagnetic data, despite being both sparse and probably contaminated by some global-scale, non-uniformitarian process in Ediacaran time, support the existence of a wide ocean between these continents by 575 Ma. However, the paleomagnetic data alone are insufficient to allow the formulation of more specific conclusions concerning the timing and paleogeography of Iapetus opening. We therefore conduct an extensive review of the mid-Neoproterozoic to Cambrian geology of eastern Laurentia, western Baltica and western Amazonia which, jointly interpreted with the paleomagnetic constraints, allow us to construct a self-consistent and geodynamically feasible plate tectonic model. In this model, the breakup of Laurentia, Baltica and Amazonia was polyphase, involving the spalling of multiple marginal terranes from Laurentia and the successive opening of several oceans, including a composite ‘Iapetus Ocean’. The first phase of continental breakup occurred between eastern Laurentia and western Amazonia at 750–700 Ma, leading to the opening of the Puncoviscana Ocean. This was followed by the opening of the eastern branch of the Iapetus Ocean, between Laurentia and Baltica, at ~590 Ma, which may have been instigated by emplacement of the Central Iapetus Magmatic Province. The western branch of Iapetus subsequently opened at ~550 Ma by the detachment of marginal terranes from eastern Laurentia, following a protracted phase of rifting. We contend that our preferred scenario is the simplest solution given the presently available evidence but throughout this review we underline key outstanding questions and the attendant uncertainties in our preferred model.