Goran Andjić , Bram Vaes, Suzanna H.A. van de Lagemaat, Lydian M. Boschman, Mark J. Dekkers, Stephen T Johnston, Douwe J.J. van Hinsbergen 

The allochthonous origin of the Wrangellia superterrane relative to North America has been established in the early days of plate tectonics using paleomagnetic and geological data. However, long-standing disagreement between paleomagnetic and structural studies on magnitude of northward translation of the Wrangellia superterrane during the Latest Cretaceous–earliest Cenozoic has cast doubt on the validity of the paleomagnetic data of the superterrane, including data from Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks. Here, we compile all paleomagnetic data from the superterrane and present new results from uppermost Triassic limestones and lowermost Jurassic lavas of the Bonanza arc, which confirm that the Wrangellia superterrane was at those times at a much lower latitude than today, either ~25–35° North or ~25–35° South. Moreover, declinations reveal a coherent, major clockwise or counterclockwise rotation, depending on hemispheric origin. When correcting for previously documented true polar wander–the wholesale rotation of the solid Earth relative to the Earth’s spin axis–at the approximate longitude of the Wrangellia superterrane, new and existing paleomagnetic data allows for two possible scenarios of Mesozoic kinematic evolution: from 190 Ma to 80 Ma, the Wrangellia superterrane was either transported ~5000 km northward while rotating ~110° clockwise at a north-dipping subduction zone or remained at northern middle latitudes while rotating ~70° counterclockwise at a south-dipping subduction zone. The robust and reproducible Triassic–lowermost Jurassic and Cretaceous paleomagnetic data make previously speculated systematic artifacts unlikely solutions for the kinematic debate on the Late Cretaceous to Eocene tectonic history of the Wrangellia superterrane.