A geomagnetic field reversal time scale back to 13.0 million years before present

The ages of reversals of the Earth's magnetic field have been dated accurately back to 3.4 m.y. ago. Between this time and the age of the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, dates for reversals have been calculated assuming a constant rate of sea-floor spreading in the South Atlantic Ocean. The presence of thick piles of lava flows in Iceland allows us to produce independent evidence for the ages of reversals back to 13.0 m.y. B.P. Because of the extreme regularity of extrusion of these lava flows, the measurement of their magnetic polarity allows us to correlate the lava flows which were extruded during the polarity intervals associated with sea-floor spreading anomalies. The measurement of many K-Ar ages on these lava flows also allows us to compare the ages of reversals assumed by the linear interpolation between the ages of 3.4 m.y. and the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary at 66.5 m.y., with those suggested by the radiometric dates. We find that in general the assumption of constant spreading has been a good one, but suggest a small change in the ages of reversals, amounting to an increase of about 0.27 m.y. in ages of reversals between 8.5 and 13.0 m.y. ago.     

Mesozoic magnetic lineations and the magnetic quiet zone off northwest Africa

An extensive compilation of recently acquired geophysical reconnaissance data has allowed the Mesozoic magnetic lineations (The Eastern Keathley sequence) to be identified and mapped in detail for the area off northwest Africa lying between Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands. These anomalies were generated as one limb of a symmetric spreading center (Paleo Mid-Atlantic Ridge) from about 107 to 153 m.y.B.P. Offsets in the lineation pattern serve to identify fracture zone traces whose trends are approximately east-west. The seaward boundary of the marginal quiet zone does not precisely define an isochron due to the presence of a variable width transition zone of intermediate amplitude magnetic anomalies. Crust underlying the marginal quiet zone was generated, at least in part, during the Jurassic, Graham normal polarity epoch. The quiet zone boundary is not offset significantly on opposite sides of the Canaries lineament as previously suggested. A possible counterpart of the U.S. east coast magnetic anomaly is observed in some areas near the shelf/slope break of Spanish Sahara and Mauritania. The presence of relatively high-amplitude (but not-correlatable) magnetic anomalies seaward of the Mesozoic sequence and presumably generated during the Cretaceous, Mercanton normal polarity epoch remains a paradox.     

Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous magnetic stratigraphy from the sümeg section,Hungary

The pelagic limestones exposed at Sümeg appear to represent continuous deposition from Kimmeridgian through Berriasian. Detrital magnetite and haematite pigment are the carriers of remanence in the red and non-red limestones in the lower part, while magnetite becomes predominant in the upper half of the section. Thermal demagnetization has succesfully removed overprint magnetizations, and a well-defined magnetic stratigraphy has been obtained. The Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous mixed polarity interval is correlated with the sequence of geomagnetic reversals derived from oceanic magnetic anomalies.     

Anomalous behavior of the paleomagnetic field inferred from the skewness of anomalies 33 and 34

Marine magnetic anomalies 33 and 34, corresponding to the first two reversals following the long normal polarity interval in the Cretaceous, are anomalously skewed by 30° to 40° throughout the North and South Atlantic. This phenomenon is most likely related to some aspect of the dipole paleomagnetic field. Specifically the magnetic field at the time of anomalies 33 and 34 appears to be characterized by the following: the dipole field gradually decreases in average intensity between reversals and/or there is an increase in the frequency or duration of undetected short polarity events toward the end of long periods (>10⁶ years) of predominantly one polarity. Such long-period trends in the field are in conflict with the popular model for the generation of the earth's magnetic field that treats reversals as a Poisson process and assumes that the core has no memory greater than about 10⁴ years.     

Oxfordian magnetic polarity pattern—reply to comment by R.E. Sheridan and K.A. Suydam

Sheridan and Suydam [1] raise several important points, which are primarily related to the origin of reported magnetic anomalies within the Jurassic magnetic quiet zone of the ocean crust, and therefore are not directly relevant to our magnetostratigraphic study of Oxfordian sediments [2]. We will discuss only two points: (1) the consistency of our Oxfordian results with other evidence of mixed polarity, and (2) the factors complicating the resolution of rapid magnetic reversals in the anomaly record of deep Jurassic crust.     

The evolution of the Parece Vela Basin,eastern Philippine Sea

The Parece Vela Basin is a back-arc basin. It is approximately 5000 m deep and is divided into two topographic provinces by the north-trending Parece Vela Rift. The western province is thinly sedimented and topographically rough. The eastern province is blanketed by a thick apron of volcaniclastic sediments which were derived from the West Mariana Ridge. The Parece Vela Rift is composed of a series of discrete deeps and troughs with depths commonly of 6 km and locally exceeding 7 km.Petrologic and seismic refraction data indicate that the Parece Vela Basin is of oceanic character.Low-amplitude, nort-trending, lineated magnetic anomalies are present in the basin and appear symmetric about a line near the Parece Vela Rift. In the central latitudes of the basin seafloor spreading anomalies 10 (30 m.y. B.P.) to 5E or 5D (18 or 17 m.y. B.P.) can be identified. The uncertainty in identifying the youngest anomaly may be due to ridge jumps near the end of spreading. Spreading may have started slightly later in the northern end of the basin. Anomalies in the eastern province are disrupted and are difficult to correlate. DSDP results indicate post-spreading volcanism on the eastern side of the basin and this may have degraded the anomalies. The age obtained in the western province of the basin at DSDP Site 449 (～25m.y. B.P.) is in close agreement with that obtained from the magnetic data (～26m.y. B.P.).It is hypothesized that subduction was occurring at a west-dipping subduction zone east of the Palau-Kyushu Ridge in the Early Oligocene. This volcanic arc split about 31 or 32 m.y. ago and interarc spreading was initiated between the Palau-Kyushu Ridge (which then became a remnant arc) and the West Mariana Ridge. The Parece Vela Basin formed between the ridges by two-limb seafloor spreading. Spreading stopped about 17 or 18 m.y. ago.Like certain other marginal basins, the Parece Vela Basin is deeper than predicted from depth vs. age curves. The average heat flow for the Parece Vela Basin is in agreement with that predicted from heat flow vs. age curves.The origin of the Parece Vela Rift is unclear. It may represent the extinct spreading center or may be a postspreading feature.     

东海陆架盆地雁荡低凸起综合地球物理解释及其成因探讨

通过对东海陆架盆地西部地震和重磁资料的综合地球物理解释,对雁荡低凸起展布形态进行了细致刻画,凸起呈NE方向不连续展布于瓯江凹陷和闽江凹陷之间,长约170 km、宽约15~50 km.地震资料揭示雁荡低凸起上广泛发育了侏罗纪与白垩纪地层,厚度约为500~1500 m,展布面积约5000 km²,局部缺失中生界地层.凸起两侧中生代盆地结构差异明显,西侧瓯江凹陷为典型的断陷盆地,东断西超、断裂发育,半地堑、掀斜断块等中生界构造样式发育;东侧闽江凹陷为坳陷型盆地,断裂、火成岩不发育,挤压背斜、断背斜、反转构造等中生界构造样式发育.自由空间重力异常图与剩余重力异常图上,凸起表现为一系列NE向团块状重力高值区,而磁力异常ΔT图上则表现为深部磁场强度低的特征,火成岩影响部位可见磁力高值异常.综合凸起及邻域重磁震、莫霍面深度等地质地球物理资料,认为雁荡低凸起为一元古界组成的古隆起,区别于东部的台北低凸起.同时,结合区域构造演化及沉积特征,推测侏罗纪时期雁荡低凸起与浙闽隆起区可能连为一体,晚白垩世近东西向伸展作用下浙闽隆起发生裂陷进而形成了雁荡低凸起.     

Paleomagnetic polarity sequence and radiolarian zones,brunhes to polarity epoch 20

Superposition of paleomagnetic polarity logs of seven chronologically overlapping piston cores from the central equatorial Pacific, using the established tropical radiolarian zonation as a stratigraphic reference, produced a nearly continuous correlation of magnetic and radiolarian events ranging from late Pleistocene to earliest Miocene. Twenty magnetic polarity epochs, and possibly as many as 30 polarity events, occur during this time span. Epoch 16 (reversed polarity) appears to be the longest interval (～ 14.8–17.6m.y. B.P.) among these Neogene magnetostratigraphic units. The middle/late Miocene boundary is shown to fall within latest Epoch 11 (normal) and its approximate age is between 10.5 and 11 m.y. B.P. The early/middle Miocene boundary occurs within the top of Epoch 16 at a suggested age of about 15 m.y. B.P.     

Determination of crystallization temperatures in fractional crystallization series by nickel partitioning equations

Four high-quality seismic refraction profiles were recorded parallel to the structural grain in the Cuvier Basin and adjacent Wharton Basin to study the nature of the earth's crust in this area. The principal result of this experiment is that this area is generally floored with oceanic crust. No transitional velocity structure exists at the base of the continental slope. Departures from a standard oceanic crustal section are observed on an intermediate profile that are attributed to structural complications on the flank of an abandoned spreading ridge. Additional magnetic anomaly profiles in the eastern Cuvier Basin are used to correlate the lineations in that area with Early Cretaceous reversals M-5 to M-10. This correlation dates the onset of plate separation at 120–125 m.y., essentially contemporaneous with the opening of the Perth Basin to the south. However, it leaves a 220-km gap between M-4 and M-5 in the Cuvier Basin that suggests a ridge jump of that magnitude occurred nominally at 118 m.y. Early Cretaceous magnetic lineations northwest of the Exmouth Plateau suggest that spreading at the seaward edge of the Exmouth Plateau began 120 m.y. ago, while Late Jurassic marine sediments and fault structures landward of the Exmouth Plateau suggest rifting in that area at 155 m.y.     

Magnetic anomalies — India and Antarctica

Magnetic anomalies over the continental shelf off the east coast of India (Orissa) suggest the presence of a highly magnetic rock type magnetized with an intensity of 900 nT in a direction, azimuth(A) = 150° and inclination(I) = +65°. This suggest the occurrence of igneous volcanic rocks which is confirmed from samples found below Tertiary sediments from a few boreholes in this region. The depth of this rock type as estimated from magnetic anomalies varies from approximately 1–2 km near the coast to 4–4.5 km towards the shelf margin. This direction of magnetization is the reverse of the reported direction of magnetization for the Rajmahal Traps of the Cretaceous period (100–110 m.y). A small strip of the body near the continental shelf margin appears, however, to possess normal magnetization suggesting the occurrence of normal and reversed polarities side by side, a characteristic typical for oceanic magnetic anomalies. The reversed polarity of the rocks on the continental shelf suggests that they correspond probably to the MO reversal (115 m.y.) on world magnetostratigraphic scale and provide a paleolatitude of 47°S for the land mass of India which agrees with the palaeoreconstruction of India and Antarctica. In this reconstruction, the Mahanadi Gondwana graben on the Indian subcontinent falls into line with the Lambert Rift in Antarctica, suggesting a probable common ancestry. The volcanic rocks on the continental shelf off the east coast of India might represent a missing link, that is, rocks formed between India and Antarctica at the time of the break-up of Gondwanaland. Satellite magnetic anomalies (MAGSAT) recorded over the Indian shield and interpreted in terms of variations in the Curie point geotherm provide a direction of magnetization which also places this continent close to Antarctica. As such MAGSAT anomalies recorded over eastern Antarctica are found compatible with those recorded over the Indian shield.     

Pliensbachian magnetostratigraphy: new data from Paris Basin (France)

Sampling of an industrial drill string from the northeastern Paris Basin (Montcornet, France) provides early Jurassic magnetostratigraphic data coupled with biochronological control. About 375 paleomagnetic samples were obtained from a 145 m thick series of Pliensbachian rocks. A composite demagnetization thermal up to 300°C and an alternating field up to 80 mT were used to separate the magnetic components. A low unblocking temperature component (<250°C) with an inclination of about 64° is interpreted as a present-day field overprint. The characteristic remanent component with both normal and reversed antipodal directions was isolated between 5 and 50 mT. Twenty-nine polarity intervals were recognized. Correlation of these new results from the Paris Basin with data from the Breggia Gorge section (Ticino, southern Alps, Switzerland), which is generally considered as the reference section for Pliensbachian magnetostratigraphy, reveals almost identical patterns of magnetic polarity reversals. However, the correlation implies significant paleontological age discrepancies. Revised age assignments of biostratigraphic data of Breggia as well as an objective evaluation of the uncertainties on zonal boundaries in both Breggia and Moncornet resolve the initial discrepancies between magnetostratigraphic correlations and biostratigraphic ages. Hence, the sequence of magnetic reversals is significantly strengthened and the age calibration is notably improved for the Pliensbachian, a stage for which sections combining adequate magnetic signal and biostratigraphic constraints are still very few.     

A revised identification of the oldest sea-floor spreading anomalies between Australia and Antarctica

We propose that magnetic anomalies south of Australia and along the conjugate margin of Antarctica that were originally identified as anomalies 19 to 22 may be anomalies 20 to 34. The original anomaly identification has two troublesome aspects: (1) it does not account for an “extra” anomaly between anomalies 20 and 21, and (2) it provides no explanation for the rough topography comprising the Diamantina Zone. With our revised identification there is no “extra” anomaly and the Diamantina Zone is attributed to a period of very slow spreading (～4.5mm/yr half rate) between 90 and 43 m.y. The ages bounding the interval of slow spreading (90 and 43 m.y.) correspond to times of global plate reorganizations. Our revised identification opens up the possibility that part of the magnetic quiet zone south of Australia formed during the Cretaceous long normal polarity interval. Breakup of Australia and Antarctica probably occurred sometime between 110 and 90 m.y. B.P. The “breakup unconformity” identified by Falvey in the Otway Basin may correspond to a eustastic sea level change.     

Analysis of a lower jurassic geomagnetic reversal based on a model that relates transitional fields to variations of flux on the core surface

Summary For the last 12 Myr the transitional virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs) of different reversals lie close to two preferred and practically antipodal longitudinal paths. In spite of some controversies about these transitional paths, it has been pointed out that they are linked to geomagnetic phenomena. Jurassic transitional VGP paths are quite similar to those of the last 12 Myr. Paleomagnetic data recorded in Stormberg Lavas (195 ± 5 Ma) belonging to two sampling localities of South Africa have been rotated according to an absolute palaeoreconstruction of Africa for the lower Jurassic. In order to avoid the hypothesis about dipolarity implicit in the VGPs calculations, the transitional directions recorded in the lavas were compared with others that were simulated on the basis of a model that relates transitional fields to variations of flux on the Earth's core surface. They were quite similar. For both, recorded and simulated data, the VGPs showed similar paths. Similar conditions could thus have driven both late Cenozoic and Jurassic reversals.     

Geomagnetic reversal frequency since the Late Cretaceous

Models of geomagnetic reversals as a stochastic or gamma renewal process have generally been tested for the Heirtzler et al. [1] magnetic polarity time scale which has subsequently been superseded. Examination of newer time scales shows that the mean reversal frequency is dominated in the Cenozoic and Late Cretaceous by a linearly increasing trend on which a rhythmic fluctuation is superposed. Subdivision into two periods of stationary behavior is no longer warranted. The distribution of polarity intervals is visibly not Poissonian but lacks short intervals. The LaBrecque et al. [2] polarity time scale shows the positions of 57 small-wavelength marine magnetic anomalies which may represent short polarity chrons. After adding these short events the distribution of all polarity intervals in the age range 0–40 Myr is stationary and does not differ significantly from a Poisson distribution. A strong asymmetry develops in which normal polarity chrons are Poisson distributed but reversed polarity chrons are gamma distributed with indexk = 2. This asymmetry is of opposite sense to previous suggestions and results from the unequal distribution of the short polarity chrons which are predominantly of positive polarity and concentrated in the Late Cenozoic. If short-wavelength anomalies arise from polarity chrons, the geomagnetic field may be more stable in one polarity than the other. Alternative explanations of the origin of short-wavelength marine magnetic anomalies cast doubt on the inclusion of them as polarity chrons, however. The observed behavior of reversal frequency suggests that core processes governing geomagnetic reversals possess a long-term memory.     

The late Pleistocene geomagnetic field as recorded by sediments from Fargher Lake,Washington, U.S.A.

Measurement of the remanent magnetization of a 6.88-m oriented core of soft sediments and tephras from Fargher Lake near Mount St. Helens in southwestern Washington State shows that no significant geomagnetic reversals were recorded in the sediments of the lake. Radiocarbon and palynological dating of the tephra layers from the lake bed indicates deposition during the interval 17, 000–34, 000 years B.P. although geochemical correlation of a prominent tephra layer in the core with tephra set C of Mount St. Helens could mean that the maximum age of the sediments may be at least 36, 000 years B.P. The core was divided into specimens 0.02 m long, each representing approximately 55 years of deposition assuming a constant rate of sedimentation. Pilot alternating field demagnetization studies of every tenth specimen indicated a strong, stable remanence with median destructive field of 15 mT, and the remaining specimens were subsequently demagnetized in fields of this strength. The mean inclination for all specimens exclusive of the unstably magnetized muck and peat from near the surface is 56.1° which is 8° shallower than the present axial dipole field at this site, perhaps because of inclination error in the detrital remanent magnetization of the sediments, although because of the variability in the data, this departure from the axial dipole field may not be significant. The ranges of inclination and declination are comparable to those of normal secular variation at northern latitudes. Although three isolated specimens have remanence with negative inclination, these anomalous directions are due to sampling and depositional effects. Measurement of a second core of 6.86 m length also revealed only normal magnetic polarity, but this result is of little stratigraphic value as this core failed to penetrate the distinctive tephra found near the base of the former core.Studies of a concentrate of the magnetic minerals in the sediments by optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction indicate that the primary magnetic constituent is an essentially pure magnetite of detrital origin. The magnetite occurs in a wide range of grain sizes with much of it of sub-multidomain size (< 15 μm).As a whole, this study provides substantial evidence against the existence of large-scale worldwide geomagnetic reversals during the time interval of Fargher Lake sedimentation, a segment of geological time for which many excursions and reversals have been reported elsewhere.     

Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of the Mio-Pliocene mammal-bearing Big Sandy Formation of western Arizona

The Big Sandy Formation in western Arizona consists of up to 65 m of clays, silts, sands and volcanic ashes that were deposited in a lacustrine paleoenvironment. Three paleomagnetic samples were collected from each of 54 sites spaced at stratigraphic intervals of no more than 5 m. After laboratory studies of pilot samples to determine their paleomagnetic characteristics, all other samples were measured for their NRM and then demagnetized in alternating fields of 150 Oe. After statistical filtering and a hierarchical site classification, 48 sites were used to interpret the magnetic polarity zonation.Vertebrate fossils from the Big Sandy Formation are collectively termed the Wikieup Local Fauna, and indicate a late Hemphillian Land Mammal “Age”. Three fission-track (zircon) dates from the Big Sandy Formation yielded a mean age of 5.5 ± 0.2 m.y. B.P. Using these radiometric data to calibrate the magnetic polarity zonation, it appears that the Big Sandy Formation spans late Epoch 6 to early Gilbert time (late Miocene to early Pliocene). The Wikieup Local Fauna is compared to two other roughly contemporaneous mammalian assemblages from New Mexico and Texas. Faunal differences previously thought to represent a very late Hemphillian age for the Wikieup Local Fauna are apparently related to ecogeographic variation and not time.     

A direct test of the Vine-Matthews hypothesis

Paleomagnetic studies of the basalt samples of Mid-Atlantic Ridge recovered during DSDP Leg 45 and the FAMOUS Project have led to a revision of our view of the oceanic igneous crust as a recorder of geomagnetic field reversals. The discovery of several magnetic polarity reversals with depth in the crust has indicated that oceanic igneous basement should not necessarily be considered magnetized uniformly in direction, or even polarity, in a given vertical cross section. Statistical arguments, based on the ratio of the average time of crustal formation to the average length of a magnetic polarity interval, indicate that magnetic reversals with depth are to be expected in typical ocean crust, but also that this does not conflict with current theories of plate tectonics or exclude the upper layers of the crust from making a major contribution to the overlying linear magnetic anomalies. Certain ratios of average crustal formation time to average polarity interval do, however, result in an effective zero magnetization for the oceanic crust and these conditions may be responsible for the reduced amplitude of magnetic anomalies in some areas.     

The geomagnetic field at the Paleozoic/Mesozoic and Mesozoic/Cenozoic boundaries and lower mantle plumes

The data on the amplitude of variations in the direction and paleointensity of the geomagnetic field and the frequency of reversals throughout the last 50 Myr near the Paleozoic/Mesozoic and Mesozoic/Cenozoic boundaries, characterized by peaks of magmatic activity of Siberian and Deccan traps, and data on the amplitude of variations in the geomagnetic field direction relative to contemporary world magnetic anomalies are generalized. The boundaries of geological eras are not fixed in recorded paleointensity, polarity, reversal frequency, and variations in the geomagnetic field direction. Against the background of the “normal” field, nearly the same tendency of an increase in the amplitude of field direction variations is observed toward epicenters of contemporary lower mantle plumes; Greenland, Deccan, and Siberian superplumes; and world magnetic anomalies. This suggests a common origin of lower mantle plumes of various formation times, world magnetic anomalies, and the rise in the amplitude of geomagnetic field variations; i.e., all these phenomena are due to a local excitation in the upper part of the liquid core. Large plumes arise in intervals of the most significant changes in the paleointensity (drops or rises), while no correlation exists between the plume generation and the reversal frequency: times of plume formation correlate with the very diverse patterns of the frequency of reversals, from their total absence to maximum frequencies, implying that world magnetic anomalies, variations in the magnetic field direction and paleointensity, and plumes, on the one hand, and field reversals, on the other, have different sources. The time interval between magmatic activity of a plume at the Earth’s surface and its origination at the core-mantle boundary (the time of the plume rise toward the surface) amounts to 20–50 Myr in all cases considered. Different rise times are apparently associated with different paths of the plume rise, “delays” in the plume upward movement, and so on. The spread in “delay” times of each plume can be attributed to uncertainties in age determinations of paleomagnetic study objects and/or the natural remanent magnetization, but it is more probable that this is a result of the formation of a series of plumes (superplumes) in approximately the same region at the core-mantle boundary in the aforementioned time interval. Such an interpretation is supported by the existence of compact clusters of higher field direction amplitudes between 300 and 200 Ma that are possible regions of formation of world magnetic anomalies and plumes.     

Chaos in the Rikitake two-disc dynamo system

The chaotic dynamics of the Rikitake two-disc dynamo system is studied for a wide range of parameters and results are compared with the sequence of geomagnetic polarity reversals. The chaos of the Rikitake system belongs to the Lorenz type, which is characterized by irregular travelling of an orbit between two unstable fixed points. Travelling corresponds to the polarity reversal. The frequency of the polarity reversals depends strongly on the parameter μ representing the resistive dissipation in the core. In the center of the chaotic regime, there is a parameter region in which reversals seldom occur and the dynamics is less disordered. The Markov entropy of the Lorenz map for the system has a sharp minimum in this parameter region named as the minimum entropy regime (M.E.R.). The average frequency of reversals in the M.E.R. is less than 0.1 per cycle of oscillation, but is not uniform even seen through a 10-m.y.-long window. The non-uniformity as well as the low rate of reversals in the M.E.R. markedly resemble the behavior of geomagnetic reversals over the past 153 m.y. It is suggested that the Earth selected the minimum entropy regime on the principle of the minimum entropy production, as is known to be the case for other dissipative dynamical systems.     

Tectonic history of the Shikoku marginal basin

Studies of marine magnetic anomaly data from the Shikoku basin reveal magnetic lineations which strike northwest almost parallel to the trend of the Palau-Kyushu ridge. The lineation pattern is best developed in the western part of the basin and we can confidently identify a sequence of anomalies 7 through 5E between the base of the Palau-Kyushu ridge and the center of the basin. In the eastern part of the basin the basement morphology is rough and complex and magnetic anomalies can not be identified unequivocally. We infer that the Palau-Kyushu ridge and the Izu-Bonin island arc began separating about 27 m.y. B.P. An interval of rapid separation (4.2 cm/yr) occurred between 26 and 22.5 m.y. B.P. which approximately coincides with a period of intense volcanic activity in Japan. The observed magnetic lineation pattern and basement morphology can be best explained if the Shikoku basin formed at a two-limb spreading system during the Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene. Subsequently the eastern half of the basin was disrupted by fractures as the Iwo-Jima ridge collided with the Japanese islands. The accretionary process which formed the crust of the Shikoku marginal basin appears similar to that operating at mid-ocean ridges of the world.