Two geomagnetic excursions during the Brunhes chron recorded in Chinese loess-palaeosol sediments

Detailed palaeomagnetic integrated with rock magnetic studies have been carried out on a loess-palaeosol sequence in Baoji, Shaanxi province, southern Chinese Loess Plateau. For most samples stepwise thermal demagnetization revealed two well-defined magnetization components. A low-temperature component (LTC), which was isolated between 100 and 200 °C, is consistent with the present geomagnetic field direction. A high-temperature component (HTC), which was isolated between 250 and 620–680 °C, shows normal, reversed or transitional polarities. Our new magnetostatigraphy revealed two distinct geomagnetic excursions recorded in loess unit of L5 and palaeosol unit of S7, respectively, and the Matuyama-Brunhes (M-B) polarity boundary in loess unit of L8. Rock magnetic experiments demonstrated that the specimens from the excursion zones have the same magnetic properties as those from the Brunhes normal or Matuyama reversed polarity zones. Measurements of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) showed that the sediments have primary sedimentary fabrics. Based on the palaeoclimatological and magnetostratigraphic age models, the middle Brunhes excursion in loess L5 is dated at 413–433 ka, and the early Brunhes excursion is estimated to occur 23–33 ka after the M-B reversal. Comparing with previously reported geomagnetic excursions in the Brunhes chron, the middle Brunhes excursion (L5) is likely global. For the early Brunhes excursion (S7), we need further studies to examine its global occurrence.     

Discrete scale invariance connects geodynamo timescales

The geodynamo exhibits a bewildering gamut of time-dependent fluctuations, on timescales from years to at least hundreds of millions of years. No framework yet exists that comprises all and relates each to all others in a quantitative sense. The technique of bootstrapped discrete scale invariance quantifies characteristic timescales of a process, based upon log-periodic fits of modulated power-law scaling of size-ranked event durations. Four independent geomagnetic data sets are analysed therewith, each spanning different timescales: the sequence of 332 known dipole reversal intervals (0–161 Ma); dipole intensity fluctuations (0–2 Ma); archeomagnetic secular variation (5000 B.C.–1950 A.D.); and historical secular variation (1590–1990 A.D.).
Six major characteristic timescales are empirically attested: circa 1.43 Ma, 56 Ka, and 763, 106, 21 and 3 yr. Moreover, all detected wavelengths and phases of the detected scaling signatures are highly similar, suggesting that a single process underlies all. This hypothesis is reinforced by extrapolating the log-periodic scaling signal of any particular data set to higher timescales than observed, through which predictions are obtained for characteristic scales attested elsewhere. Not only do many confirm one another, they also predict the typical duration of superchrons and geomagnetic jerks. A universal scaling bridge describes the complete range of geodynamo fluctuation timescales with a single power law.     

Maximum entropy regularization of time-dependent geomagnetic field models

We incorporate a maximum entropy image reconstruction technique into the process of modelling the time-dependent geomagnetic field at the core–mantle boundary (CMB). In order to deal with unconstrained small lengthscales in the process of inverting the data, some core field models are regularized using a priori quadratic norms in both space and time. This artificial damping leads to the underestimation of power at large wavenumbers, and to a loss of contrast in the reconstructed picture of the field at the CMB. The entropy norm, recently introduced to regularize magnetic field maps, provides models with better contrast, and involves a minimum of a priori information about the field structure. However, this technique was developed to build only snapshots of the magnetic field. Previously described in the spatial domain, we show here how to implement this technique in the spherical harmonic domain, and we extend it to the time-dependent problem where both spatial and temporal regularizations are required. We apply our method to model the field over the interval 1840–1990 from a compilation of historical observations. Applying the maximum entropy method in space—for a fit to the data similar to that obtained with a quadratic regularization—effectively reorganizes the magnetic field lines in order to have a map with better contrast. This is associated with a less rapidly decaying spectrum at large wavenumbers. Applying the maximum entropy method in time permits us to model sharper temporal changes, associated with larger spatial gradients in the secular variation, without producing spurious fluctuations on short timescales. This method avoids the smearing back in time of field features that are not constrained by the data. Perspectives concerning future applications of the method are also discussed.     

"现代地球磁场监测与地磁基本数据积累"项目成果介绍

本文详细介绍了“现代地球磁场监测与地磁基本数据积累”项目的立项背景、目标、所开展的主要工作、取得的成果、研究成果的社会效益和对该领域研究未来工作的展望。     

磁偏角基准维持系统的建立

在磁方位标准台上通过磁力仪连续记录及计算获取磁方位基准台的磁偏角周日变化数据；在Matlab软件中用小波对磁偏角信号进行滤波，并用调和函数进行拟合，在考虑地球磁场年变化及季节变化的基础上建立了一个可用于测斜仪器检测的磁偏角基准体系。     

2000年中国地磁场及其长期变化冠谐分析

根据1998～2000年完成的118个地磁测点 和39个地磁台的三分量绝对测量资料以及IGRF2000，计算2000年中国地磁场冠谐模型(截断 阶数为8)，以及2000～2005年中国地磁长期变化冠谐模型(截断阶数为6). 球冠极位于36 °N，104°E，球冠半角为30°. 中国地磁场冠谐模型能更好地表示我国地磁场的时空变化 ，地磁场模型的均方偏差为：104.4 nT(X分量)，103.3 nT(Y分量)，123.9 nT(Z分量). 依据地磁场及其长期变化的冠谐模型，分别绘制2000年中国地磁图(F，X，Y，Z)和异常磁场图(ΔF，ΔX，ΔY，ΔZ)，以及2000～2005年地磁长期变化图(F，X，Y，Z). 指出改善地磁场模型边界效应 的途径，并对如何布设地磁复测点提出了建议.     

地磁日变规律的破坏与地震的关系研究

2001年11月14日昆仑山8.1级地震前，震中距为400km的格尔木台地磁垂直分量Z的日变形态发生异常，1998年1月10日张北Ms6.2地震前，北京台和静海台Z的日变形态也有异常。但是，2000年1月15日云南姚安Ms6.5地震和1月27日丘北Ms5.5地震前，通海台的Z分量无异常。这可能与地震的复杂性有关。