Neotethys opening and the Pangea Transformation during the Permian

We studied the stratigraphy, composition, and paleomagnetism of lateritic weathering profiles of Permian age from north Iran and western Karakoram, Pakistan. A limited set of samples yielded stable low inclination paleomagnetic components carried essentially by hematite of chemical origin isolated in massive, fine- grained, and homogeneous ferricrete facies. These laterites demonstrably originated at equatorial paleolatitudes characterized by intense weathering processes under warm and humid climatic conditions. Paleomagnetic estimates of paleolatitude from Iran, Karakoram, and north Tibet from this study and the literature, albeit sparse, provide testable constraints on the motion of the Cimmerian terranes as the result of the opening of the Neotethys Ocean along the eastern margin of Gondwana during the Permian. We confirm and help refine previous suggestions that the Cimmerian terranes migrated from southern Gondwanan paleolatitudes in the Early Permian to subequatorial paleolatitudes by the Middle Permian to Early Triassic. As a novel conclusion, we find that the timing, rates, and geometry of Cimmerian windshield wiper tectonics are broadly compatible with Neotethyan opening taking place during the internal transformation of Pangea essentially in the Permian.