Palaeomagnetic measurements show that horizontal displacements of the crust occurred throughout the Proterozoic at rates comparable to those recorded from the Mesozoic to the present day. However, examination of Proterozoic continental crust reveals some structures which cannot be matched precisely at the present time. Proterozoic stable blocks are smaller and more numerous than the plates of the present day. Those blocks were surrounded by belts in which deformation and igneous activity occurred during times when the blocks behaved as rigid masses. When the apparent polar wander paths of these stable blocks are compared, they are seen to follow rather similar tracks implying that a number of isolated blocks followed approximately the same course. Bearing in mind the uncertainties in establishing pole positions and in dating the rocks concerned, Precambrian apparent polar wander paths are still not precisely located. Despite these uncertainties it would appear that a genuine phenomenon has been revealed which can be described in these terms. During Proterozoic times rates of divergence between stable blocks within a continental mass were an order of magnitude smaller than the overall rate of horizontal displacement of that mass.
Capturing the Mesoarchean Emergence of Continental Crust in the Coorg Block, Southern India