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We studied more than 80 lava flows from a ∼600-m-thick pile of Upper Devonian (Frasnian) basalts and andesites of the Aral Formation in the North Tien Shan (Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia). With the aid of stepwise thermal demagnetization, a high-temperature, dual-polarity component was reliably isolated from most flows. The primary origin of the high-temperature component is demonstrated by positive reversal, conglomerate and fold tests. The most prominent and intriguing feature of this Late Devonian data set involves a clear distinction in angular dispersion between the lower and upper parts of the studied section. A rather low concentration parameter (k = 13) and several directional anomalies characterize the lower section; in contrast, a much better grouping (k = 46) and a lack of directional outliers is observed for the dual-polarity vectors from the upper flow sequence of the formation. We analysed different mechanisms to account for this directional pattern and found that it is possible in just two ways. One is to assume that secular variation (SV) in the upper sequence is strongly underrepresented, and it is a coincidence that the mean directions of both polarities are statistically antipodal, and the corresponding concentration parameters are statistically equal. The other explanation is to hypothesize that the magnitude of SV can vary several-fold at the same palaeolatitude and over time intervals estimated as 105–106 yr. This is in sharp contrast with other models of SV, where this magnitude has been assumed to be rather time-independent (for a given latitude). Our hypothesis accounts for the observed irregularities in palaeomagnetic data, but makes attempts to establish a correlation between SV and other parameters (geographic latitude, reversal frequency, age, etc.) more difficult. We are aware, however, that more data are needed to refute or confirm it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three new Middle–Late Ordovician and two new Early Carboniferous paleomagnetic poles have been obtained from the North Tien Shan Zone (NTZ) of the Ural–Mongol belt in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Paleolatitudes for the Carboniferous are unambiguously northerly and average 15.5°N, whereas the Ordovician paleolatitudes (6°, 9°, and 9°) are inferred to be southerly, given that a very large (∼180°) rotation of the NTZ would be necessary during the middle Paleozoic if the other polarity option was chosen. Thus, the NTZ drifted northward during much of the Paleozoic; east–west drift cannot be determined, as is well known, from paleomagnetic data. In addition, detailed thermal demagnetization analysis reveals two overprints, one of recent age and the other of Permian age, which is a time of strong deformation in the NTZ. The paleolatitude of the combined Permian overprint is 30.5+2°N. The paleolatitudes collectively track those predicted for the area by extrapolation from Baltica very well, but are different from those of Siberia for Ordovician times. This finding is compatible with Sengo¨r and Natal'in's [Sengo¨r, A.M.C., Natal'in, B.A., 1996. Paleotectonics of Asia: fragments of a synthesis. In: Yin A., Harrison, M. (Eds.), The Tectonic Evolution of Asia. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, pp. 486–640] model of tectonic evolution of the Ural–Mongol belt and disagrees with the models of other researchers. Declinations of the Ordovician and Early Carboniferous results range from northwesterly to northeasterly, and are clearly affected by local relative rotations, which seem characteristic for the entire NTZ, because the Permian overprint declinations also show such a spread. Apparently, the important latest Paleozoic–Triassic deformation involved shear zone-related rotations as well as folding and significant granitic intrusions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]