Lower-Middle Jurassic paleomagnetic data from the Mae Sot area (Thailand): Paleogeographic evolution and deformation history of Southeastern Asia

We have carried out a paleomagnetic study (12 sites, 85 samples) of Early-Middle Jurassic limestones and sandstones from the Mae Sot area of western Thailand. This area is part of the Shan-Thai-Malay (STM) block, and its geological characteristics have led some authors to suggest a Late Jurassic accretion of this region against the rest of Indochina along the Changning-Menglian zone, the latter sometimes being interpreted as a Mesozoic suture. The high-temperature (or high-coercivity) component isolated yields a paleodirection at D = 359.8 °, I = 31.4 ° (α95 = 5.0 °). The primary nature of the magnetization acquisition is ascertained at a site with reversed polarity and a positive fold test (at the 95% confidence level). Comparison of the Mae Sot paleolatitude and another one from the STM with those recently published for the Simao and Khorat blocks show no significant difference at the 95% level, showing that the STM was situated close to, or had already accreted with, the Simao or Khorat blocks in the Early-Middle Jurassic. Comparison of the latitudes from these blocks with those from China indicates a relative southward motion of 8 ± 4° of Indochina as a single entity relative to China. Most rotations of these regions relative to China are found to be clockwise (between 14 and 75°). These rotations, and most prominently the 1200 ± 500 km post-Cretaceous left-lateral motion inferred for the Red River Fault, provide quantitative estimates of the large amount of extrusion of Indochina with respect to the rest of Asia.