97-05755 Van der Voo Bingham statistical analysis can be applied to paleomagnetic data to test whether the azimuths of the long axes of the Bingham ellipses lie tangent to an apparent polar wander path (APWP). The long axes are expected to be parallel to the APWP trends if the paleomagnetic directions sampled sufficient time to reflect apparent polar wander. The method has been tested with the North American APWP, validating the methods and the hypothesis. The plotting of a pole with its azimuthal cord provides additional definition to an APWP. More importantly for this proposed study is that these tangents to the APWP can be used in intercontinental comparisons that may yield relative paleolongitude information. This proposed study intends to evaluate this idea with three test cases, some of which remain rather controversial: (1) a comparison of proposed Pangea configurations (A, B and C), (2) a comparison of paleolongitudinal positions of North and South America during the middle Paleozoic evolution of the Iapetus Ocean, and (3) Proterozoic configurations of the Rodinia Supercontinent. ***
