Abstract Orientated carbonate (calcite twinning strains; n = 78 with 2414 twin measurements) and quartzites (finite strains; n = 15) were collected around Gondwana to study the deformational history associated with the amalgamation of the supercontinent. The Buzios orogen (545–500 Ma), within interior Gondwana, records the high-grade collisional orogen between the São Francisco Craton (Brazil) and the Congo–Angola Craton (Angola and Namibia), and twinning strains in calc-silicates record a SE–NW shortening fabric parallel to the thrust transport. Along Gondwana's southern margin, the Saldanian–Ross–Delamerian orogen (590–480 Ma) is marked by a regional unconformity that cuts into deformed Neoproterozoic–Ordovician sedimentary rocks and associated intrusions. Cambrian carbonate is preserved in the central part of the southern Gondwana margin, namely in the Kango Inlier of the Cape Fold Belt and the Ellsworth, Pensacola and Transantarctic mountains. Paleozoic carbonate is not preserved in the Ventana Mountains in Argentina, in the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas or in Tasmania. Twinning strains in these Cambrian carbonate strata and synorogenic veins record a complex, overprinted deformation history with no stable foreland strain reference. The Kurgiakh orogen (490 Ma) along Gondwana's northern margin is also defined by a regional Ordovician unconformity throughout the Himalaya; these rocks record a mix of layer-parallel and layer-normal twinning strains with a likely Himalayan (40 Ma) strain overprint and no autochthonous foreland strain site. Conversely, the Gondwanide orogen (250 Ma) along Gondwana's southern margin has three foreland (autochthonous) sites for comparison with 59 allochthonous thrust-belt strain analyses. From west to east, these include: finite strains from Devonian quartzite preserve a layer-parallel shortening (LPS) strain rotated clockwise in the Ventana Mountains of Argentina; frontal (calcite twins) and internal (quartzite strains) samples in the Cape Fold Belt preserve a LPS fabric that is rotated clockwise from the autochthonous north–south horizontal shortening in the foreland strain site; Falkland Devonian quartzite shows the same clockwise rotation of the LPS fabric; and Permian limestone and veins in Tasmania record a thrust transport-parallel LPS fabric. Early amalgamation of Gondwana (Ordovician) is preserved by local layer-parallel and layer-normal strain without evidence of far-field deformation, whereas the Gondwanide orogen (Permian) is dominated by layer-parallel shortening, locally rotated by dextral shear along the margin, that propagated across the supercontinent.

Abstract: Climate plays an important role in controlling both the depositional and erosional settings. Tasmania provides spectacular outcrops where the rock record is well preserved and can be utilized to study the role of climate on sedimentation, especially, in the Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician. In this study a synthesis of field observation and mapping coupled with thin section analysis has been carried out to understand the climate control on the deposition of Late Cambrian–Early Ordovician siliciclastics which are exposed along the western and northwestern Tasmania, Australia. These siliciclastic sediments were deposited in syn-rift half grabens formed by Late Cambrian extension. The siliciclastics are mainly comprised of conglomerate, sandstone, and minor mudstone successions. Our analysis and interpretation suggest that these sediments were deposited in range of depositional settings. We have identified five broad facies that include sheet flows, braided fluvial, alluvial fans, intertidal and shallow marine environment. The stratigraphic build-ups of the study area suggest a strong influence of paleoclimate on the depositional processes. Globally, comparable sediments are different in term of depositional styles from their present day depositional analogues. This is principally due to different parameters controlling the overall depositional style, such as vegetation state, global sea level changes and climate conditions.