High-frequency polarity swings during the Gauss-Matuyama reversal from Baoji loess sediment

Paleomagnetic records of the Gauss-Matuyama reversal were obtained from two loess sections at Baoji on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Stepwise thermal demagnetization shows two obvious magnetization components. A low-temperature component isolated between 100 and 200–250°C is close to the present geomagnetic field direction, and a high-temperature component isolated above 200–250°C reveals clearly normal, reversed, and transitional polarities. Magnetostratigraphic results of both sections indicated that the Gauss-Matuyama reversal consists of a high-frequency polarity fluctuation zone, but the characteristic remanent magnetization directions during the reversal are clearly inconsistent. Rock magnetic experiments demonstrated that for all the specimens with normal, reversed, and transitional polarities magnetite and hematite are the main magnetic carriers. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility indicates that the studied loess sediments have a primary sedimentary fabric. Based on virtual geomagnetic pole latitudes, the Gauss-Matuyama reversal records in the two sections are accompanied by 14 short-lived geomagnetic episodes (15 rapid polarity swings) and 12 short-lived geomagnetic episodes (13 rapid polarity swings), respectively. Our new records, together with previous ones from lacustrine, marine, and aeolian deposits, suggest that high-frequency polarity swings coexist with the Gauss-Matuyama reversal, and that the Gauss-Matuyama reversal may have taken more than 11 kyr to complete. However, we need more detailed analyses of sections across polarity swings during reversals as well as more high-resolution reversal records to understand geomagnetic behavior and inconsistent characteristic remanent magnetization directions during polarity reversals.     

On the identification of magnetostratigraphic polarity zones

Polarity zones of sedimentary sections reflect a pattern of alternating polarity of the geomagnetic field recorded by the remanent magnetization of rocks. Unfortunately, this pattern can have been modified by the variable sedimentation rate, which complicates the identification of polarity zones against the reference geomagnetic polarity time scale. To avoid this obstacle, the present paper suggests a transform applied to both the sequence of levels of polarity reversal horizons and the sequence of ages of polarity reversals before computing their cross-correlation. This transform usually reduces the impact of the variable sedimentation rate so that a sequence of more than eight polarity reversal horizons may be identified without biostratigraphic constraints. Numerical experiments involving random processes to simulate both the duration of polarity reversals and the sedimentation rate proved, however, that not all the parts of a hypothetical stratigraphic section spanning the past 165 Ma would be equally suitable for dating by magnetic polarity stratigraphy. A program performing both the compilation of polarity zones from the directions of the primary magnetization sampled along a section and subsequent identification of these polarity zones is made available online.     

A Quaternary geomagnetic instability time scale

Reversals and excursions of Earth's geomagnetic field create marker horizons that are readily detected in sedimentary and volcanic rocks worldwide. An accurate and precise chronology of these geomagnetic field instabilities is fundamental to understanding several aspects of Quaternary climate, dynamo processes, and surface processes. For example, stratigraphic correlation between marine sediment and polar ice records of climate change across the cryospheres benefits from a highly resolved record of reversals and excursions. The temporal patterns of dynamo behavior may reflect physical interactions between the molten outer core and the solid inner core or lowermost mantle. These interactions may control reversal frequency and shape the weak magnetic fields that arise during successive dynamo instabilities. Moreover, weakening of the axial dipole during reversals and excursions enhances the production of cosmogenic isotopes that are used in sediment and ice core stratigraphy and surface exposure dating. The Geomagnetic Instability Time Scale (GITS) is based on the direct dating of transitional polarity states in lava flows using the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method, in parallel with astrochronologic age models of marine sediments in which oxygen isotope and magnetic records have been obtained. A review of data from Quaternary lava flows and sediments gives rise to a GITS that comprises 10 polarity reversals and 27 excursions that occurred during the past 2.6 million years. Nine of the ten reversals bounding chrons and subchrons are associated with ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of transitionally-magnetized lava flows. The tenth, the Gauss-Matuyama chron boundary, is tightly bracketed by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dated ash deposits. Of the 27 well-documented geomagnetic field instabilities manifest as short-lived excursions, 14 occurred during the Matuyama chron and 13 during the Brunhes chron. Nineteen excursions have been dated directly using the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method on transitionally-magnetized volcanic rocks and these form the backbone of the GITS. Excursions are clearly not the rare phenomena once thought. Rather, during the Quaternary period, they occur nearly three times as often as full polarity reversals.     

地球磁场相对强度研究现状与展望

对利用沉积物确定地球磁场相对强度的实验方法进行了综述评述，在些基础上本文总结了目前常用的恢复沉复沉积物记录古强度的方法，重点介绍了全新世、晚更新世和布容时地球磁场相对强度变化特征，评价了环境因素对沉积物记录地球磁场相对强度的影响。对未来有关地球磁场相对强度研究发展趋势提出了借鉴。     

Systematics of Early Cambrian Paleomagnetic Directions from the Northern and Eastern Regions of the Siberian Platform and the Problem of an Anomalous Geomagnetic Field in the Time Vicinity of the Proterozoic–Phanerozoic Boundary

Representative paleomagnetic collections of Lower Cambrian rocks from the northern and eastern regions of the Siberian platform are studied. New evidence demonstrating the anomalous character of the paleomagnetic record in these rocks is obtained. These data confidently support the hypothesis (Pavlov et al., 2004) that in the substantial part of the Lower Cambrian section of the Siberian platform there are two stable high-temperature magnetization components having significantly different directions, each of which is eligible for being a primary component that was formed, at the latest, in the Early Cambrian. The analysis of the world’s paleomagnetic data for this interval of the geological history shows that the peculiarities observed in Siberia in the paleomagnetic record for the Precambrian–Phanerozoic boundary are global, inconsistent with the traditional notion of a paleomagnetic record as reflecting the predominant axial dipole component of the geomagnetic field, and necessitates the assumption that the geomagnetic field at the Proterozoic–Phanerozoic boundary (Ediacaran–Lower Cambrian) substantially differed from the field of most of the other geological epochs. In order to explain the observed paleomagnetic record, we propose a hypothesis suggesting that the geomagnetic field at the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary had an anomalous character. This field was characterized by the presence of two alternating quasi-stable generation regimes. According to our hypothesis, the magnetic field at the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary can be described by the alternation of long periods dominated by an axial, mainly monopolar dipole field and relatively short epochs, lasting a few hundred kA, with the prevalence of the near-equatorial or midlatitude dipole. The proposed hypothesis agrees with the data obtained from studies of the transitional fields of Paleozoic reversals (Khramov and Iosifidi, 2012) and with the results of geodynamo numerical simulations (Aubert and Wicht, 2004; Glatzmayer and Olson, 2005; Gissinger et al., 2012).     

On the coherence between changes in biota and geomagnetic reversals in the Phanerozoic

The data on geomagnetic reversals, organic changes, and lower-mantle plume magmatism in the Phanerozoic are collected and correlated. No direct relationship is revealed between the geomagnetic reversals, plumes, and biozones. However, the frequency of geomagnetic reversals is found to correlate to the frequency of biozonal alterations. We relate this inconsistency to the coupling of the two processes, which are mutually independent, with the long-term changes in the Earth’s rotation. The plumes are formed at the core-mantle boundary and, thus, the reversals should have a different source. We hypothesize that the change in the geomagnetic polarity is due to the nonuniform rotation of the inner core relative to the mantle in combination with the changes in the axial tilt of the Earth’s rotation.     

Geomagnetic reversals in the paleozoic: A transitional field,polarity bias,and mantle convection

The paper analyzes previously published results of studies of detailed records of geomagnetic reversals in sedimentary and volcanic sequences of the Paleozoic in the Siberian and Eastern European platforms. It is shown that the processes of geomagnetic reversals, both in the Early Paleozoic and at the end of this era, are well described by a model in which the transitional field is controlled by an equatorial dipole. During a reversal, this dipole maintained a magnetic field at the Earth’s surface whose intensity amounted to about 20% of the intensity before and after the reversal. The equatorial dipole existed before and during the reversal and was responsible for the deviation from antipodality of paleomagnetic poles of adjacent polarity chrons (the so-called reversal bias). The position of the equatorial dipole axis during the Paleozoic correlates with the supposed geometry of convective motions in the mantle at that time.     

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.     

On the synchronism in the events within the core and on the surface of the earth: the changes in the organic world and in the polarity of the geomagnetic field in the phanerozoic

The data on geomagnetic reversals are compared with the changes in the organic world and with the lower-mantle plumes. The times of the formation of plumes and the times of their appearance on the Earth’s surface relate to the intervals characterized by the different frequencies of geomagnetic reversals, i.e., there is no interrelation between the formation of plumes and the frequency of the changes in the geomagnetic field polarity. At the same time, a certain synchronism is observed between the frequency of the geomagnetic reversals and the boundaries of the biostratigraphic ages, i.e., the changes in the organic world in the long-period range. A hypothesis is proposed, which explains the change in the sign of the geomagnetic field by the combined effect of the irregular rotation of the internal core relative to the mantle and the changes in the slope angle of the axis of the Earth’s rotation, which, in turn, results in synchronous events on the Earth’s surface: the rates of changes in the organic world.     

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.     

Variation of magnetic directions within pillow basalts

Relative directions of magnetization have been measured within individual pillow basalts collected from the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The angle between the magnetic directions was determined and is referred to as the directional difference. Although one pillow contained a directional difference of 44°, the remaining ten pillows had differences less than 14°. The maximum orientation and measurement error was 7°. Dispersion on the scale found in these fine-grained pillow basalts would not appreciably affect the magnetic anomaly pattern on the sea floor. We detected no reversals of magnetization despite the sometimes large and variable low-temperature oxidation. Comparison of directions within homogeneous segments of the pillow, viscous remanent magnetization (VRM) acquisition experiments, and alternating field (AF) demagnetization indicate a large portion of the dispersion was due to the acquisition of a viscous component in the larger grained, less oxidized portion of the pillows. Evidence from one variably weathered pillow suggests that extreme low-temperature oxidation may lead to the acquisition of a secondary component with high coercivities (20–80 mT). We could not determine whether this was a chemical remanent magnetization (CRM) or a VRM acquired by single domain grains near the superparamagnetic threshold. Hysteresis properties confirmed by microscopic examination indicated that the magnetic grain size in all the pillows was at least as small as pseudo-single domain.     

Toroidal flux oscillation as possible cause of geomagnetic excursions and reversals

It is proposed that convection driven dynamos operating in planetary cores could be oscillatory even when the oscillations are not directly noticeable from the outside. Examples of dynamo simulations are pointed out that exhibit oscillations in the structure of the azimuthally averaged toroidal magnetic flux while the mean poloidal field shows only variations in its amplitude. In the case of the geomagnetic field, global excursions may be associated with these oscillations. Long period dynamo simulations indicate that the oscillations may cause reversals once in a while. No special attempt has been made to use most realistic parameter values. Nevertheless some similarities between the simulations and the paleomagnetic record can be pointed out.     

A late diagenetic (syn-folding) magnetization carried by pyrrhotite: implications for paleomagnetic studies from magnetic iron sulphide-bearing sediments

Paleomagnetic, rock magnetic, and sedimentary micro-textural data from an early Miocene mudstone sequence exposed in Okhta River, Sakhalin, Russia, indicate the presence of pyrrhotite and magnetite at different stratigraphic levels. Sites that contain only magnetite have a reversed polarity characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) with a low-coercivity overprint, which coincides with the present-day geomagnetic field direction. Pyrrhotite-bearing sites have stable normal polarity ChRMs that are significantly different from the present-day field direction. After correction for bedding tilt, the ChRM data fail a reversals test. However, the normal polarity pyrrhotite ChRM directions become antipodal to the tilt-corrected magnetite ChRM directions and are consistent with the expected geocentric axial dipole field direction at the site latitude after 40% partial unfolding. These data suggest that the pyrrhotite magnetization was acquired during folding and after lock-in of the magnetite remanences. Electron microscope observations of polished sections indicate that fluid-associated halos surround iron sulphide nodules. Pyrrhotite is present in randomly oriented laths in and around the nodules, and the nodules do not appear to have been deformed by sediment compaction. This observation is consistent with a late diagenetic origin of pyrrhotite. Documentation of a late diagenetic magnetization in pyrrhotite-bearing sediments here, and in recent studies of greigite-bearing sediments, suggests that care should be taken to preclude a late origin of magnetic iron sulphides before using such sediments for geomagnetic studies where it is usually crucial to establish a syn-depositional magnetization.     

Paleointensity Behavior and Intervals Between Geomagnetic Reversals in the Last 167 Ma

The results of comparative analysis of the behavior of paleointensity and polarity (intervals between reversals) of the geomagnetic field for the last 167 Ma are presented. Similarities and differences in the behavior of these characteristics of the geomagnetic field are discussed. It is shown that bursts of paleointensity and long intervals between reversals occurred at high mean values of paleointensity in the Cretaceous and Paleogene. However, there are differences between the paleointensity behavior and the reversal regime: (1) the characteristic times of paleointensity variations are less than the characteristic times of the frequency of geomagnetic reversals, (2) the achievement of maximum values of paleointensity at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary and the termination of paleointensity bursts after the boundary of 45–40 Ma are not marked by explicit features in the geomagnetic polarity behavior.     

The statistical model for the secondary quick reversals during the geomagnetic pole transition

A statistical model for the quick reversals during a geomagnetic pole transition is put forward by combining the modern geomagnetic field and paleomagnetic field. The decrease of geomagnetic intensity determines the reversals, and the quick reversals are possibly caused by the interaction between g01 and the other geomagnetic components.     

Paleomagnetism of the Upper Silurian and Lower Devonian carbonates of New York State: evidence for secondary magnetizations residing in magnetite

Paleomagnetic directions for the Upper Silurian and Lower Devonian carbonates of the Helderberg escarpment (New York State) differ from expected Late Silurian and Early Devonian directions for cratonic North America. The mean direction (D = 165°, I = −10°; paleopole at 50°N 129°E) is similar to Late Carboniferous and Early Permian results. Negative fold tests, and a lack of reversals, suggest that the magnetization is secondary. However, low coercivities, low blocking temperatures, the thermomagnetic curves (T_C near 570°C) and the acquisition of isothermal remanent magnetizations all suggest that the remanence is carried by magnetite. If a detrital origin of these magnetites is assumed, the secondary nature of the remanence would argue for thermal resetting as a result of deep burial of the rocks. However, no evidence for such thermal resetting is seen in the alteration of conodonts. More likely perhaps is a chemical or thermochemical origin of the remanence; this would require the magnetites to be authigenic.     

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.     

Impact of the geomagnetic field and solar radiation on climate change

Recent studies have shown that, in addition to the role of solar variability, past climate changes may have been connected with variations in the Earth??s magnetic field elements at various timescales. An analysis of variations in geomagnetic field elements, such as field intensity, reversals, and excursions, allowed us to establish a link between climate changes at various timescales over the last millennia. Of particular interest are sharp changes in the geomagnetic field intensity and short reversals of the magnetic poles (excursions). The beginning and termination of the examined geomagnetic excursions can be attributed to periods of climate change. In this study, we analyzed the possible link between short-term geomagnetic variability (jerks) and climate change, as well as the accelerated drift of the north magnetic pole and surface temperature variations. The results do not rule out the possibility that geomagnetic field variations which modulate the cosmic ray flux could have played a major role in climate change in addition to previously induced by solar radiation.     

Geomagnetic reversals in a simple geodynamo model

A simple finite-dimensional geodynamo model, obtained from the equations of the mean field electrodynamics and reproducing the phenomenon of geomagnetic reversals, is proposed. It has been indicated that the reversal scale obtained in the scope of this model is rather close to the observed scale in its properties. The reversal mechanism is related to the α-effect fluctuations. It is not necessary to substantially change the hydrodynamic parameters of the problem so that a reversal originates in the scope of such a model, but it is only sufficient to take the α-effect fluctuations into account. If the rms deviation of fluctuations accounts for 10% of the average α value, a fluctuation of two-three standard deviations is sufficient for the origination of a reversal, which quite agrees with the concept that reversals are rather rare phenomena. Another factor resulting in the regime with reversals is that the model can generate magnetic fields with different behaviors in different regions of the parametric space in linear mode: monotonically increasing fields and fields increasing with oscillations.