Precambrian Research 110 (2001) 93 – 108 A palaeomagnetic study of Empress 1A, a stratigraphic drillhole in the Officer Basin: evidence for a low-latitude position of Australia in the Neoproterozoic S.A. Pisarevsky a, *, Z.X. Li a , K. Grey b , M.K. Stevens b a Department of Geology and Geophysics, Tectonics Special Research Centre, The Uniersity of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia b Department of Minerals and Energy, Geological Surey of Western Australia, 100 Plain Street, East Perth, Western Australia 6004, Australia Abstract A palaeomagnetic study of the continuously cored Empress 1A deep stratigraphic drillhole in the Officer Basin, Western Australia, has revealed a stable high-temperature remanence component for the Early Palaeozoic Table Hill Volcanics, and the Neoproterozoic Lupton, Steptoe, Kanpa, Hussar, and Browne Formations. The low inclination of the remanence supports a low-latitude position for Australia in the Neoproterozoic and Early Palaeozoic. These palaeolatitudinal estimates are consistent with the results of previous palaeomagnetic studies of Australian Neoproterozoic rocks, and support a low-latitude position during deposition of glaciogenic rocks in the Marinoan Lupton Formation. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Australia; Glaciation; Neoproterozoic; Officer Basin; Palaeomagnetism www.elsevier.com/locate/precamres 1. Introduction The problem of low-latitude glaciations in the Neoproterozoic has generated much debate in the past decade (Chumakov and Elston, 1989; Schmidt et al., 1991; Meert and Van der Voo, 1994) arising mainly from the Neoproterozoic low-inclination palaeomagnetic data from glacial deposits in Australia and western Laurentia (Schmidt et al., 1991; Park, 1997). A recent analy- sis of the global palaeomagnetic database (McEl- hinny and Lock, 1996) also shows that low palaeolatitudes prevailed in the Palaeozoic and Precambrian (Kent and Smethurst, 1998) and it is widely accepted that there were at least two glacial periods between 850 and 550 Ma (Chu- makov and Elston, 1989; Meert and Van der Voo, 1994; Kennedy et al., 1998; Grey and Corkeron, 1998). Possible explanations for such a Precam- brian palaeoclimatic paradox include a high- obliquity Earth (Williams, 1975), a ‘snowball Earth’ (Kirschvink, 1992), a Saturn-like equato- rial ice ring (Sheldon, 1984), a geomagnetic field significantly different from the geocentric axial * Corresponding author. Tel: +61-8-93807844; fax: +61-8- 93801090. E-mail address: spisarev@tsrc.uwa.edu.au (S.A. Pisarevsky). 0301-9268/01/$ - see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0301-9268(01)00182-6