Magnetic polarity during the Middle Jurassic as recorded in the Summerville and Curtis Formations

Three-quarters of the Summerville Formation and a small portion of the Curtis Formation of central Utah have been sampled at close stratigraphic spacing. The two formations constitute an intertonguing marine-marginal marine, tidal flat sequence representing middle Callovian time. The magnetic polarity sequence observed is dominantly reversed with a few relatively short normal intervals. The age of these formations corresponds to some portion of time within the Jurassic oceanic quiet zone. The fact that normal polarity was not prominent in these formations casts some doubt upon the hypothesis that a long period of normal polarity was the cause of the quiet zone. Furthermore, a literature compilation indicates that normal polarity did not dominate the Jurassic as had been thought. The pole position determined from the Middle Jurassic Summerville Formation slightly revises earlier results and suggests a tiny amount of apparent polar motion relative to North American between Late Triassic and Middle Jurassic time.