Evidence for the existence of a transitional geomagnetic field recorded in a Proterozoic lava succession.

Other

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

7

Geomagnetic Field: Palaeomagnetism

Scientific paper

An anomalous palaeomagnetic field direction is recognized in a sequence of rapidly extruded subaerial basaltic lava flows within the Mid-Proterozoic (c. 1300 Ma) Gardar lava succession, South Greenland. Thermal demagnetization and component analysis link this direction to a thermoremanent magnetization acquired during primary cooling. The direction, which bears no resemblance to any other palaeomagnetic direction witnessed within the group, is recorded by seven successive flows which appear to have been extruded and magnetized over a short period of time during a geomagnetic polarity transition. Palaeointensity experiments employing the modified Thellier technique indicate that this transitional direction was acquired in a field with only 25 per cent of the magnitude of the stable polarity field. The behaviour of the field direction during and after this transition reflects that witnessed in studies of much younger transitional sequences, whereas that for the field intensity differs fundamentally from consistent observations from younger lava successions. These results provide a significant contribution to knowledge of the ancient geodynamo and may well document the oldest transitional field identified by a combined palaeomagnetic and palaeointensity study and the only one reported from the Precambrian era.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Evidence for the existence of a transitional geomagnetic field recorded in a Proterozoic lava succession. does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Evidence for the existence of a transitional geomagnetic field recorded in a Proterozoic lava succession., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Evidence for the existence of a transitional geomagnetic field recorded in a Proterozoic lava succession. will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1171236

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.