Fig. 4: Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous TPW round-trip oscillation and biogeographic implications.

Mesozoic palaeopoles (in Eurasia coordinates) (a) and palaeolatitudinal variation (b) for the NCC including those two generated in this study. To better compare the different plate drift process, the APWP of the North China craton was rotated using rotation parameter (93.1°, 71.4°, −31.6°). Labeled area indicate the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous TPW round-trip oscillation. Poles are listed in Supplementary Table 5. Note the TPW oscillation across the period boundary, best expressed in our data from NCC. Durations of the Yanliao Biota and Jehol Biota have been marked that occurred before and after the TPW. c First segment of the TPW oscillation—the excursion, known as the “monster shift”—from ca. 155–147 Ma. d The immediately following second segment of the TPW oscillation—the return leg—from ca. 147–141 Ma. The equatorial Euler pivot point for both shifts of opposite sense is located in western Africa following Steinberger and Torsvik¹². Plate reconstructions were made using the plate circuits from Besse and Courtillot³⁶ and Kent et al.⁸. SCC–South China craton; QT–Qiangtang; LS–Lhasa. Endemic Boreal and Tethyan biogeographic provinces are indicated⁵³. The green belts represent humid zonal climate belts and white belts represent arid climate²⁵. Plates moving across zonal climate belts affect environment and the living ecosystems of different species. e The variational extinction of families and genera from 200–100 Ma, and there is an increase during TPW. f Tetrapod diversity and sea level across the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary⁵⁴. SQS shareholder quorum subsampling.