Thermochronometry and palaeomagnetism of the Archaean Nelshoogte Pluton, South Africa

²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb single-grain zircon, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar single-grain hornblende and biotite, and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar bulk-sample muscovite and biotite ages from the Nelshoogte trondhjemite pluton located in eastern Transvaal, South Africa, show that this granitoid had a protracted thermal history spanning 3213±4  Ma to about 3000  Ma. Whole-rock ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages from cross-cutting dolerite dykes indicate that these were intruded at about 1900  Ma. There is no evidence of this or other, later events significantly affecting the argon systematics of the minerals from the pluton dated by the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method.
  The pluton has a well-defined palaeomagnetic pole which is dated at 3179±18 (2 σ ) Ma by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of hornblende. This pole (18°N, 310°E, A ₉₅=9°) yields a palaeolatitude of 0°, significantly different from other Archaean poles from the Kaapvaal Craton. The palaeolatitude difference implies that there was significant apparent polar wander during the Archaean. A second, overprinting magnetization seen in the pluton is also seen in the lower-Proterozoic dolerite dykes, and is consistent with other lower-Proterozoic (2150–1950  Ma) poles for southern Africa.     

The Oslo Rift: new palaeomagnetic and 40Ar/39Ar age constraints

⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar whole-rock and alkali feldspar ages demonstrate that dioritic to monzonitic dykes from Bøverbru and Lunner belong to the youngest recorded magmatic activity in the Oslo Rift region, southeast Norway. These dykes represent the terminal phase of rift and magmatic activity in the Oslo Graben, at the dawn of the Triassic (246–238 Ma).
  The Bøverbru and Lunner dyke ages are statistically concordant. However, the palaeomagnetic signature of the Bøverbru dyke is complex, and directions from the margins and the interior of the dyke differ in polarity. Therefore, the new Early Triassic palaeomagnetic pole for Baltica (Eurasia) is exclusively based on the less complex Lunner dykes and contacts (palaeomagnetic pole: latitude=52.9°N, longitude=164.4°E, dp / dm =4.5 ° /7.3°). The early Triassic palaeomagnetic pole [mean age: 243±5 Ma (2 σ )] is slightly different from the Upper Carboniferous–Permian (294–274 Ma) and Kiaman-aged poles from the Oslo Rift.     

Palaeomagnetism of the Tudor gabbro, Ontario: evidence for divergence between Grenvillia and interior Laurentia

Summary. After thermal and alternating field (AF) cleaning, the characteristic high blocking temperature A component of natural remanent magnetization (NRM) of the Tudor gabbro of southern Ontario has a mean direction D = 326°, I =–46° ( k = 132, α₉₅= 4.8°, N = 8 sites). The corresponding palaeopole, 133°E, 12°N ( dp = 4°, dm = 6°), confirms the palaeopole 137°E, 17°N (α₉₅= 8.4°) reported earlier by Palmer & Carmichael, based on AF cleaning only. The A NRM has unblocking temperatures > 515–525°C which exceed the estimated 500°C peak temperature reached locally during ∼ 1050 Ma Grenvillian regional metamorphism. The A NRM therefore predates metamorphism and is probably a primary thermoremanence (TRM). The age of the Tudor NRM has previously been taken to be about 675 Ma, but recent ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating by Baksi has shown that this is the time of post-metamorphic cooling to 200–250°C. Hornblendes record initial cooling of the intrusion to 590±20°C at 1110 Ma and this is the best estimate of the age of the A remanence. Successful Thellier-type palaeointensity determinations on 11 Tudor samples confirm that the A NRM is a TRM and indicate a palaeofield at this time of 18–27 μT, about 50–70 per cent of the present field intensity at 27° magnetic latitude. The anomalous Tudor A palaeopole, which lies well to the west of both 1000–800 Ma Grenvillian palaeopoles and 1100–1050 Ma poles from Interior Laurentia, is interpreted as recording divergence between Grenvillia and Interior Laurentia just before the Grenvillian orogeny, rather than a post-metamorphic extension of the apparent polar wander path as previously assumed.     

U–Pb zircon and 40Ar–39Ar K-feldspar dating of syn-sedimentary volcanism of the Neoproterozoic Maricá Formation: constraining the age of foreland basin inception and inversion in the Camaquã Basin of southern Brazil

New U–Pb zircon and ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar K-feldspar data are presented for syn-sedimentary volcanogenic rocks from the Neoproterozoic Maricá Formation, located in the southern Brazilian shield. Seven (of nine) U–Pb sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe analyses of zircons from pyroclastic cobbles yield an age of 630.2±3.4 Ma (2σ), interpreted as the age of syn-sedimentary volcanism, and thus of the deposition itself. This result indicates that the Maricá Formation was deposited during the main collisional phase (640–620 Ma) of the Brasiliano II orogenic system, probably as a forebulge or back-bulge, craton-derived foreland succession. Thus, this unit is possibly correlative of younger portions of the Porongos, Brusque, Passo Feio, Abapã (Itaiacoca) and Lavalleja (Fuente del Puma) metamorphic complexes. Well-defined, step-heating ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar K-feldspar plateau ages obtained from volcanogenic beds and pyroclastic cobbles of the lower and upper successions of the Maricá Formation yielded 507.3±1.8 Ma and 506.7±1.4 Ma (2σ), respectively. These data are interpreted to reflect total isotopic resetting during deep burial and thermal effects related to magmatic events. Late Middle Cambrian cooling below ca . 200 °C, probably related to uplift, is tentatively associated with intraplate effects of the Rio Doce and/or Pampean orogenies (Brasiliano III system). In the southern Brazilian shield, these intraplate stresses are possibly related to the dominantly extensional opening of a rift or a pull-apart basin, where sedimentary rocks of the Camaquã Group (Santa Bárbara and Guaritas Formations) accumulated.     

Post-tectonic magnetizations from the Cordova gabbro, Ontario and Palaeozoic reactivation in the Grenville Province

Summary. The Cordova gabbro of southern Ontario intrudes 1300 Myr old volcanic rocks of the Hastings Lowlands in the Grenville Structural Province. Three distinct vector magnetizations (A, B and C) have been isolated, using a combination of stable endpoints, subtracted vectors from orthogonal vector plots and converging remagnetization circles. The A magnetization, with mean direction D = 294° I =– 55.5° ( k = 42, α₉₅= 5.5°, N = 18 sites), is a high coercivity, high blocking temperature remanence recorded by 49 samples. The B magnetization was isolated in 33 samples and has a mean direction D = 305.5° I =– 1.5° ( k = 24, α₉₅, N = 11 sites). B has lower coercivities and blocking temperatures than A where the two are superimposed. The A and B palaeopoles, 151°E, 10.5°S ( dp = 6°, dm = 8°) and 165.5°E, 24°N ( dp = 5°, dm = 9.5°), fall on the Grenville Track around 900 and 820 Ma respectively. The A and B magnetizations thus date from uplift and cooling following the Grenvillian orogeny. The third magnetization, the C component, has been isolated in 23 samples. Its mean direction is D = 180° I = 27.5° ( k = 18, α₉₅= 10.5°, N = 12 sites). The C is a low coercivity, low blocking temperature overprint of A and B. Its palaeopole, 102°E, 31°N ( dp = 6.5°, dm = 12°), is unlike post-1300 Precambrian poles for cratonic North America but matches Silurian and late Ordovician poles. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages of 446 and 447 Ma determined by Lopez-Martinez and York for plagioclases from one of the Cordova samples confirm this age assignment. The C magnetization therefore records a previously unrecognized mild thermal or hydrothermal event that occurred in Palaeozoic time, long after the Grenvillian orogeny.     

Palaeomagnetism of Dhar traps and drift of the subcontinent during the Deccan volcanism

Summary. Palaeomagnetic investigations were carried out on nine lava flows around the Dhar region, which constitute the northern part of the Deccan traps. The stability of remanent magnetism of these specimens was analysed by an alternating magnetic field, thermal demagnetization and memory tests. Six flows exhibited characteristic components of magnetization, with a mean direction of D =143°, I =+46° ( K = 107.1, α₉₅=5.5°). This gives a VGP located at 29° N, 67° W (δ_p=4.5°, δ_m= 7.0°). The lower site with normal magnetization and the upper five sites with reverse magnetization indicate a geomagnetic field reversal during the initial phases of Deccan volcanism in the Early Tertiary period. A rapid northward migration of about 18° in latitude and a simultaneous anticlockwise rotation of 37° is calculated for the subcontinent.     

40Ar-39Ar incremental heating studies on the Tudor Gabbro, Grenville Province, Ontario: its bearing on the North American apparent polar wander path in late Proterozoic times

Summary. ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar incremental heating studies have been carried out on samples taken from the Tudor Gabbro, Grenville Province, Ontario. In an earlier K-Ar study, these rocks have yielded an isochron age of ∼700 Ma together with very high initial argon ratios. Age spectrum plots on whole-rock samples, in general, display a saddle-shaped character, with two of them exhibiting minima close to 700 Ma. No clear plateaus are observed for these rocks. A hornblende separate records the time ∼1110 Ma at which the stock finally cooled through the ∼590°C isotherm. The Tudor Gabbro was probably intruded into an area undergoing middle-amphibolite facies meta-morphism about 1180 Ma ago. The age spectra of two whole-rock samples together with that of their plagioclase separates, suggest that the stock cooled to ∼200–250°C at about 720 Ma. Slow cooling, averaging about 1°C Ma⁻¹ is indicated for this section of the Grenville Province for the period 1100–700 Ma. If the age of the Tudor Gabbro's palaeomagnetic pole position is taken to be 720 Ma, the Hadrynian Track Hypothesis leads to very high polar wander rates of > 20cm a⁻¹ for the period 820–720 Ma. If this hypothesis is rejected, the average drift rate for this period would be ∼4 cm a⁻¹, in much better agreement with published values of ∼5 cm a⁻¹ for the period 1400–820 Ma.     

Palaeomagnetic and geochronological results from the Cambro-Ordovician Granite Harbour Intrusives inland of Terra Nova Bay (Victoria Land, Antarctica)

Palaeomagnetic investigations and Rb–Sr dating were carried out on samples from two plutons from the Granite Harbour Intrusives of the Transantarctic Mountains inland of Terra Nova Bay. The Rb–Sr whole rock–biotite ages from Teall Nunatak (475±4, 483±4 Ma), a quartz-diorite pluton cropping out to the south of Priestley Glacier, are older than that from the Mount Keinath monzogranite (450±4 Ma), which is located to the north of the glacier. These results are consistent with the literature data, which suggest that during the last phases of the Ross Orogeny the cooling rate of the basement was significantly lower to the north than to the south of Priestley Glacier. The Teall Nunatak quartz-diorite is characterized by a stable magnetization, whose blocking-temperature spectrum ranges from 530 to 570 °C. At one site, the stable magnetization is screened by a large secondary component of opposite polarity, removed by thermal demagnetization below 300 °C. The characteristic directions after thermal demagnetization yielded a southern pole located at lat. 11°S, long. 21°E. The magnetization of Mount Keinath monzogranite consists of several components with overlapping stability spectra. A characteristic direction was isolated at one site only, obtained by demagnetizing the specimens in the temperature range from 380 to 460 °C.
  Comparison with the other East Antarctica poles shows that those from Victoria Land are very well grouped and give a reliable early Ordovician palaeopole (lat. 5°S, long. 23°E, with K =196 and A ₉₅=3.7°), whereas the poles from Wilkes, Enderby and Dronning Maud Land are dispersed. We tentatively advance the hypothesis that the dispersion reflects different magnetization ages due to the slow cooling of these regions during the last stages of the Ross Orogeny.     

Aseismic fault movement before the 1995 Kobe earthquake detected by a GPS survey: implication for preseismic stress localization?

By inversion analysis of the baseline changes and horizontal displacements observed with GPS (Global Positioning System) during 1990–1994, a high-angle reverse fault was detected in the Shikoku-Kinki region, southwest Japan. The active blind fault is characterized by reverse dip-slip (0.7±0.2  m yr⁻¹ within a layer 17–26  km deep) with a length of 208±5  km, a (down-dip) width of 9±2  km, a dip-angle of 51°±2° and a strike direction of 40°±2° (NE). Evidence from the geological investigation of subfaults close to the southwestern portion of the fault, two historical earthquakes ( M _L=7.0, 1789 and 6.4, 1955) near the centre of the fault, and an additional inversion analysis of the baseline changes recorded by the nationwide permanent GPS array from 18 January to 31 December 1995 partially demonstrates the existence of the fault, and suggests that it might be a reactivation of a pre-existing fault in this region. The fact that hardly any earthquakes ( M _L>2.0) occurred at depth on the inferred fault plane suggests that the fault activity was largely aseismic. Based on the parameters of the blind fault estimated in this study, we evaluated stress changes in this region. It is found that shear stress concentrated and increased by up to 2.1 bar yr⁻¹ at a depth of about 20  km around the epicentral area of the 1995 January 17  Kobe earthquake ( M _L=7.2, Japan), and that the earthquake hypocentre received a Coulomb failure stress of about 5.6 bar yr⁻¹ during 1990–1994. The results suggest that the 1995  Kobe earthquake could have been induced or triggered by aseismic fault movement.     

Use of 40Ar/39Ar K-feldspar thermochronology in basin thermal history reconstruction: an example from the Big Lake Suite granites, Warburton Basin, South Australia

The potential use of ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar thermochronologic data from K-feldspars in reconstructing basin thermal history has been evaluated using the example of the Warburton/Cooper/Eromanga Basin, Australia's largest onshore oil- and gas-producing basin. Results from ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar step-heating experiments reveal details of the evolution of the basin system, including the following: (1) the operation of high geothermal gradient regimes during the earliest basin evolution, suggesting that basin formation was active rather than passive; (2) slow cooling from a Permo-Triassic temperature peak of at least 250–300°C; (3) a rise in thermal gradients to contemporary bottom hole temperatures in the last 5–10 Myr; and (4) spatially variable recrystallization events between 100 and 50 Ma and at around 20 Ma. Initial microstructural observations serve as a useful predictor of the quality and nature of the obtainable age information. Data from 'pristine' K-feldspars may constrain the peak temperature conditions experienced in the basin, the basin's early thermal history and also any recent changes in thermal gradient. Contrasting data from texturally modified K-feldspars may constrain times of thermal transients and/or fluid flow, with the preferred interpretation that K-feldspars recrystallize in response to such events. The Warburton/Cooper/Eromanga Basin example suggests that the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar technique may serve as a useful adjunct to apatite and zircon fission track analysis and conventional organic maturation indices in basin thermal history analysis.     

Cambro-Ordovician palaeomagnetic and geochronologic data from southern Victoria Land, Antarctica: revision of the Gondwana apparent polar wander path

We present new palaeomagnetic and isotopic data from the southern Victoria Land region of the Transantarctic Mountains in East Antarctica that constrain the palaeogeographic position of this region during the Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician. A new pole has been determined from a dioritic intrusion at Killer Ridge (⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar biotite age of 499 ± 3 Ma) and hornblende diorite dykes at Mt. Loke (21°E, 7°S, A 95 = 8°, N = 6 VGPs). The new Killer Ridge/Mt. Loke pole is indistinguishable from Gondwana Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician poles. Previously reported palaeomagnetic poles from southern Victoria Land have new isotopic age constraints that place them in the Late Cambrian rather than the Early Ordovician. Based upon the new palaeomagnetic and isotopic data, new Gondwana Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician mean poles have been calculated.     

Preliminary palaeomagnetic results of an Archaean dolerite dyke of west Greenland: geomagnetic field intensity at 2.8 Ga

The geomagnetic field intensity during Archaean times is evaluated from a palaeomagnetic and chronological study of a dolerite dyke intruded into the 3000 Ma Nuuk Gneisses at Nuuk (64.2°N, 51.7°W), west Greenland. Plagioclase from the dolerite dyke yields a mean K-Ar age of 2752 Ma. Palaeomagnetic directions after thermal demagnetization of the dyke and the gneiss reveal a positive baked-contact test, indicating that the high-temperature-component magnetization of the dyke is primary. Thellier experiments on 12 dyke specimens yield a palaeointensity value of 13.5±4.4 μT. The virtual dipole moment at ca. 2.8 Ga is 1.9±0.6 × 10²² Am², which is about one-quarter of the present value. The present study and other available data imply that the Earth's magnetic field at 2.7 ∼ 2.8 Ga was characterized by a weak dipole moment and that a fairly strong geomagnetic field similar to the present intensity followed the weak field after ca. 2.6 Ga.     

Magnetostratigraphy of Palaeocene basalts from the Vaigat Formation of West Greenland

A palaeomagnetic study comprising the directional results from 289 individual lava flows, sampled along eight sections in the Palaeocene basalts of West Greenland, is reported. The eight individual sections are correlated using lithostratigraphical marker horizons to form a single composite profile. Generally, the lithological correlation is in good agreement with the record of geomagnetic secular variation.
  The total composite palaeomagnetic profile represents a stratigraphic thickness of 1.6  km through the Vaigat Formation, which is the lowermost of the two volcanic formations formed during the main stage of plateau volcanism. Only two polarity zones are found in the composite profile, suggesting a very short duration for the West Greenland main plateau-building volcanism. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates support a high extrusion rate and also indicate that the lower normal polarity zone is Chron C27n and that the upper reverse polarity zone is Chron C26r.
  The C27n–C26r transition is fully recorded along one of the sections (Nuusap Qaqqarsua), with intermediate directions covering a 200  m thick succession of lavas. A combined palaeomagnetic, field and geochemical study along this profile showed good agreement; that is, geochemically and geologically derived single magmatic events show groupings of the palaeomagnetic directions. Supposing a duration for the geomagnetic transition of 5000 years, the eruption frequency during this period was as high as one flow every 80 years.     

Effects of weathering on single-domain magnetite in Early Pliocene marine marls

Rock magnetic parameters are often used to recognize variations in the original magnetic mineralogy and for normalizing purposes in palaeointensity studies. Incipient weathering, however, is shown to have a profound but partly reversible influence on the rock magnetic properties of the marls of the Early Pliocene Trubi formation in southern Sicily (Italy). The remanence in the marls resides in single-domain (SD) magnetite grains, but the remanent coercive force (H_cr) shows a strong variation and most values observed are anomalously high ( H_cr) range 36–188 mT).
The enhanced coercivities are attributed to stress in the magnetite grains induced by surface oxidation at low temperature. Upon heating to 150 °C a reduction of coercivities occurs that can be explained by a stress reduction as a result of a reduction of Fe^2- gradient due to a higher diffusion rate at elevated temperature. After heating to 150 °C, coercivities are quite uniform throughout the outcrop and the values are characteristic of SD magnetite (H_cr range 30–38 mT). The bulk susceptibility increases by 4–24 per cent, and the isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM) decreases by 5–11 per cent. The increase in anhysteretic remanent magnetization (ARM) is large: 20–242 per cent. The magnitude of the changes is related to the degree of weathering.
Another effect of heating the marl samples to 150 °C is a substantial reduction of the coercivities of the secondary overprint in the natural remanent magnetization. After heating. separation of the secondary and primary components by alternating-field demagnetization is more efficient. The usual difficulties of thermal demagnetization above 300 °C may thus be avoided by a combination of moderate heating to 150 °C and subsequent alternating-field demagnetization.     

Palaeomagnetic results from the Cretaceous Bagh Group in the Narmada Basin, central India: evidence of pervasive Deccan remagnetization and its implications for Deccan volcanism

A palaeomagnetic study of 115 samples (328 specimens) from 22 sites of the Mid- to Upper Cretaceous Bagh Group underlying the Deccan Traps in the Man valley (22°  20'N, 75°  5'E) of the Narmada Basin is reported. A characteristic magnetization of dominantly reverse polarity has been isolated from the entire rock succession, whose depositional age is constrained within the Cretaceous Normal Superchron. Only a few samples in the uppermost strata have yielded either normal or mixed polarity directions. The overall mean of reverse magnetization is D _m=144°, I _m=47° ( α ₉₅=2.8°, k =152, N =18 sites) with the corresponding S-pole position 28.7°S, 111.2°E ( A ₉₅=3.1°) and a palaeolatitude of 28°S±3°. The characteristic remanence is carried dominantly by magnetite. Similar magnetizations of reverse polarity are also exhibited by Deccan basalt samples and a mafic dyke in the study area. This pole position falls near the Late Cretaceous segment of the Indian APWP and is concordant with poles reported from the Deccan basalt flows and dated DSDP cores (75–65  Ma) of the Indian Ocean. It is therefore concluded that the Bagh Group in the eastern part of the Narmada Basin has been pervasively remagnetized by the igneous activity of Deccan basalt effusion. This overprinted palaeomagnetic signature in the Bagh Group indicates a counter-clockwise rotation by 13°±3° and a latitudinal drift northwards by 3°±3° of the Indian subcontinent during Deccan volcanism.     

New Late Jurassic palaeomagnetic data from the northern Sichuan basin: implications for the deformation of the Yangtze craton

Upper Jurassic red sandstones and red siltstones were collected from 67 layers at 12 localities in the Penglaizhen formation. This formation is in the north of Bazhong county (31.8°N, 106.7°E) in the Sichuan basin, which is located in the northern part of the Yangtze craton. Thermal demagnetization isolated a high-temperature magnetic component with a maximum unblocking temperature of about 690 °C from 45 layers. The primary nature of the magnetization acquisition is ascertained through the presence of magnetostratigraphic sequences with normal and reversed polarities, as well as positive fold and reversal tests at the 95 per cent confidence level. The tilt-corrected mean direction of 36 layers is D = 20.0°, I = 28.8° with α ₉₅ = 5.8°. A Late Jurassic palaeomagentic pole at 64.7°N, 236.0°E with A ₉₅ = 7.0° is calculated from the palaeomagnetic directions of 11 localities. This pole position agrees with the two other Late Jurassic poles from the northern part of the Yangtze craton. A characteristic Late Jurassic pole is calculated from the three poles (68.6°N, 236.0°E with A ₉₅ = 8.0°) for the northern part of the Yangtze craton. This pole position is significantly different from that for the southern part of the Yangtze craton. This suggests that the southern part of the Yangtze craton was subjected to southward extrusion by 1700 ± 1000  km with respect to the northern part. Intracraton deformation occurred within the Yangtze craton.     

Odd zonal harmonics in the geopotential, from analysis of 28 satellite orbits

Summary. The geopotential is usually expressed as an infinite series of spherical harmonics, and the odd zonal harmonics are the terms independent of longitude and antisymmetric about the equator: they define the 'pear-shape' effect. The coefficients J ₃, J ₅, J ₇, … of these harmonics have been evaluated by analysing the variations in eccentricity of 28 satellite orbits from near-equatorial to polar. Most of the orbits from our previous determination in 1974 are used again, but three new orbits are added, including two at inclinations between 62° and 63°, which have been specially observed for more than five years by the Hewitt cameras. With the help of the new orbits and revised theory, we have obtained sets of J -coefficients with standard deviations about 40 per cent lower than before. A 9-coefficient set is chosen as representative, and is as follows (all × 10⁹): J ₃=– 2530 ± 4, J ₅=–245 ± 5, J ₇=–336 ± 6, J ₉=–90 ± 7, J ₁₁= 159 ± 9, J ₁₃=–158 ± 15, J ₁₅=– 20 ± 15, J ₁₇=– 236 ± 14, J ₁₉=– 27 ± 19. With this set of values, the pear-shape asymmetry of the geoid (north polar minus south polar radius) amounts to 45.1 m instead of the previous 44.7 m. The accuracy of the longitude-averaged geoid profile is estimated as 50 cm, except at latitudes above 86°. The geoid profile and predicted amplitude of the oscillation in eccentricity are compared with those from other sources.     

Magnetic field intensity study of the 1960 Kilauea lava flow, Hawaii, using the microwave palaeointensity technique

It is extremely valuable to study historic lava flows where the geomagnetic field at their time of extrusion is well known. In this study, two vertical sections, 16 m apart, have been sampled from the approximately 1 m thick 1960 Kilauea lava flow, Hawaii. Variations are seen in the rock-magnetic and palaeomagnetic properties between and within the two sections, indicating that there are small-scale lateral and vertical variations in the lava flow. The two sections showed different responses to microwave palaeointensity analysis. Section H6001 generally gave ideal linear behaviour on plots of natural remanent magnetization (NRM) lost against microwave-induced thermoremanent magnetization (T_M RM) gained, whilst the majority of samples from H6002 showed anomalous two-slope behaviour. When all plots were interpreted by taking the best-fitting line through all points, the flow mean intensity for H6001 was 31.6 ± 3.6 μT and that for H6002 was 37.1 ± 6.4 μT, compared with the expected intensity of 36 μT. Additional historic flows need to be studied in order to ascertain whether this behaviour is typical of all lava, and whether it is best to always interpret NRM lost/T_M RM gained plots by taking the line of best fit regardless of shape.     

Palaeomagnetism and magnetic fabric in the Freetown Complex, Sierra Leone

About six separately orientated cores were collected at each of 14 sites distributed throughout the arcuate, west-dipping, 6  km thick, Freetown layered igneous complex. Alternating field and thermal demagnetization both isolate a stable component of remanent magnetism which corresponds to a palaeomagnetic south pole from 13 sites (nine reverse, four normal polarity) at 82.9°S, +32.7°E ( α ₉₅ = 5.6°). This is indistinguishable from that reported in 1971 based on alternating field demagnetization of cores from 10 orientated hand samples.
  The difference between the Freetown pole (age: 193 ± 3  Ma) and other mid-Jurassic poles from West Africa could be due to its greater age. The difference between the whole West African Jurassic pole group and the Karoo pole from southern Africa, however, suggests moderate (∼10°) differential rotation of West Africa relative to the Kaapvaal craton.
  A prevalent magnetic foliation fabric coincides generally with the petrological layering, as might be expected, but a ubiquitous magnetic lineation is predominantly down-dip. This is compatible with a down-dip pyroxene lineation reported to be present in some field outcrops, and interpreted in terms of late-stage deformation during the slow crystallization and cooling of the large igneous body. However, a fold test shows that the igneous layering had already achieved its present attitude before the Complex cooled to ∼570 °C (the maximum blocking temperature of the characteristic remanence).     

Strain accumulation along an oblique plate boundary: the Reykjanes Peninsula, southwest Iceland

We use annual GPS observations on the Reykjanes Peninsula (RP) from 2000 to 2006 to generate maps of surface velocities and strain rates across the active plate boundary. We find that the surface deformation on the RP is consistent with oblique plate boundary motion on a regional scale, although considerable temporal and spatial strain rate variations are observed within the plate boundary zone. A small, but consistent increase in eastward velocity is observed at several stations on the southern part of the peninsula, compared to the 1993–1998 time period. The 2000–2006 velocities can be modelled by approximating the plate boundary as a series of vertical dislocations with left-lateral motion and opening. For the RP plate boundary we estimate left-lateral motion  18⁺⁴₋₃ mm yr⁻¹  and opening of  7⁺³₋₂ mm yr⁻¹  below a locking depth of  7⁺¹₋₂ km  . The resulting deep motion of  20⁺⁴₋₃ mm yr⁻¹  in the direction of  N(100⁺⁸₋₆)°E  agrees well with the predicted relative North America–Eurasia rate. We calculate the areal and shear strain rates using velocities from two periods: 1993–1998 and 2000–2006. The deep motion along the plate boundary results in left-lateral shear strain rates, which are perturbed by shallow deformation due to the 1994–1998 inflation and elevated seismicity in the Hengill–Hrómundartindur volcanic system, geothermal fluid extraction at the Svartsengi power plant, and possibly earthquake activity on the central part of the peninsula.