40Ar/39Ar Dating of the Brunhes-Matuyama Geomagnetic Field Reversal

Magnetostratigraphic studies are widely used in conjunction with the geomagnetic polarity time scale (GPTS) to date events in the range 0 to 5 million years ago. A critical tie point on the GPTS is the potassium-argon age of the most recent (Brunhes-Matuyama) geomagnetic field reversal. Astronomical values for the forcing frequencies observed in the oxygen isotope record in Ocean Drilling Project site 677 suggest that the age of this last reversal is 780 ka (thousand years ago), whereas the potassium-argon-based estimate is 730 ka. Results from 4039; Ar incremental heating studies on a series of lavas from Maui that straddle the Brunhes-Matuyama reversal give an age of 783 + 11 ka, in agreement with the astronomically derived value. The astronomically based technique appears to be a viable tool for dating young sedimentary sequences.     

An Archean Geomagnetic Reversal in the Kaap Valley Pluton, South Africa

The Kaap Valley pluton in South Africa is a tonalite intrusion associated with the Archean Barberton Greenstone Belt. Antipodal paleomagnetic directions determined from the central and marginal parts of the pluton record a geomagnetic reversal that occurred as the pluton cooled. The age of the reversal is constrained by an 40Ar/39Ar plateau age from hornblende at 3214 +/- 4 million years, making it the oldest known reversal. The data presented here suggest that Earth has had a reversing, perhaps dipolar, magnetic field since at least 3.2 billion years ago.     

Paleomagnetic Study of a Reversal of the Earth's Magnetic Field

A detailed record of a field reversal has been obtained from the natural remanent magnetization of the Tatoosh intrusion in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington. The reversal took place at 14.7 +/- 1 million years and is interpreted to be from reverse to normal. A decrease in the intensity of the field of about an order of magnitude occurs immediately before the reversal, while its orientation remains substantially unchanged. The onset of the reversal is marked by abrupt swinging of the virtual geomagnetic pole along an arc of a great circle. During the reversal the pole traces a path across the Pacific. In the last stage of the process recorded in the sections, the succession of virtual geomagnetic poles is very similar to those generated by secular variation in the recent past. Although the cooling rate of the intrusion is not sufficiently well known to permit a useful calculation of the duration of the reversal process, an estimate based on the length of the supposed secular variation cycles gives 1 to 4 x 103 years for the reversal of field direction and approximately 1 x 104 years for the time scale of the intensity changes.     

Corrected Late Triassic latitudes for continents adjacent to the North Atlantic

We use a method based on a statistical geomagnetic field model to recognize and correct for inclination error in sedimentary rocks from early Mesozoic rift basins in North America, Greenland, and Europe. The congruence of the corrected sedimentary results and independent data from igneous rocks on a regional scale indicates that a geocentric axial dipole field operated in the Late Triassic. The corrected paleolatitudes indicate a faster poleward drift of approximately 0.6 degrees per million years for this part of Pangea and suggest that the equatorial humid belt in the Late Triassic was about as wide as it is today.     

Hot and dry deep crustal xenoliths from tibet

Anhydrous metasedimentary and mafic xenoliths entrained in 3-million-year-old shoshonitic lavas of the central Tibetan Plateau record a thermal gradient reaching about 800 degrees to 1000 degrees C at a depth of 30 to 50 kilometers; just before extraction, these same xenoliths were heated as much as 200 degrees C. Although these rocks show that the central Tibetan crust is hot enough to cause even dehydration melting of mica, the absence of hydrous minerals, and the match of our calculated P-wave speeds and Poisson's ratios with seismological observations, argue against the presence of widespread crustal melting.     

High geomagnetic intensity during the mid-Cretaceous from Thellier analyses of single plagioclase crystals

Recent numerical simulations have yielded the most efficient geodynamo, having the largest dipole intensity when reversal frequency is low. Reliable paleointensity data are limited but heretofore have suggested that reversal frequency and paleointensity are decoupled. We report data from 56 Thellier-Thellier experiments on plagioclase crystals separated from basalts of the Rajmahal Traps (113 to 116 million years old) of India that formed during the Cretaceous Normal Polarity Superchron. These data suggest a time-averaged paleomagnetic dipole moment of 12.5 +/- 1.4 x 10(22) amperes per square meter, three times greater than mean Cenozoic and Early Cretaceous-Late Jurassic dipole moments when geomagnetic reversals were frequent. This result supports a correlation between intervals of low reversal frequency and high geomagnetic field strength.     

Geomagnetic Reversals during the Phanerozoic

An antalysis of worldwide paleomagnetic measurements suggests a periodicity of 350 x 10(6) years in the polarity of the geomagnetic field. During the Mesozoic it is predominantly normal, whereas during the Upper Paleozoic it is predominantly reversed. Although geomagnetic reversals occur at different rates throughout the Phanerozoic, there appeaars to be no clear correlation between biological evolutionary rates and reversal frequency.     

Field-based evidence for devolatilization in subduction zones: implications for arc magmatism

Metamorphic rocks on Santa Catalina Island, California, afford examination of fluid-related processes at depths of 15 to 45 kilometers in an Early Cretaceous subduction zone. A combination of field, stable isotope, and volatile content data for the Catalina Schist indicates kilometer-scale transport of large amounts of water-rich fluid with uniform oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions. The fluids were liberated in devolatilizing, relatively low-temperature (400 degrees to 600 degrees C) parts of the subduction zone, primarily by chlorite-breakdown reactions. An evaluation of pertinent phase equilibria indicates that chlorite in mafic and sedimentary rocks and melange may stabilize a large volatile component to great depths (perhaps >100 kilometers), depending on the thermal structure of the subduction zone. This evidence for deep volatile subduction and large-scale flow of slab-derived, water-rich fluids lends credence to models that invoke fluid addition to sites of arc magma genesis.     

An episode of steep geomagnetic inclination 120,000 years ago

The mean inclinations of three sections of 120,000-year-old fine-grained sediments from northern California range from 62 degrees to 66 degrees . These inclinations are significantly steeper than the inclination of the geocentric axial dipole at this site. Because these sediments have probably recorded an actual episode of steep inclination lasting several thousand years, they provide new insights into the significance of mean inclinations shallower than the geocentric axial dipole. Such inclinations are characteristic of fine-grained sediments younger than 35,000 years. The results raise questions about the time-averaged geomagnetic field and about the determination of plate motions from paleomagnetic data.     

High-3He Plume Origin and Temporal-Spatial Evolution of the Siberian Flood Basalts

An olivine nephelinite from the lower part of a thick alkalic ultrabasic and mafic sequence of volcanic rocks of the northeastern part of the Siberian flood basalt province (SFBP) yielded a (40)Ar/(39)Ar plateau age of 253.3 +/- 2.6 million years, distinctly older than the main tholeiitic pulse of the SFBP at 250.0 million years. Olivine phenocrysts of this rock showed (3)He/(4)He ratios up to 12.7 times the atmospheric ratio; these values suggest a lower mantle plume origin. The neodymium and strontium isotopes, rare earth element concentration patterns, and cerium/lead ratios of the associated rocks were also consistent with their derivation from a near-chondritic, primitive plume. Geochemical data from the 250-million-year-old volcanic rocks higher up in the sequence indicate interaction of this high-(3)He SFBP plume with a suboceanic-type upper mantle beneath Siberia.     

Kiaman magnetic interval in the Western United States

Late-Paleozoic red beds in the western United States indicate that Earth's magnetic field was reversed for a period of the order of 50 x 10(6) years. This finding agrees with similar results from igneous rocks in Australia, indicating, that the long period of reversal in the magnetic field was worldwide. The rocks on the two continents appear to be essentially equivalent in time, suggesting early magnetization of the red beds. The time spectrum of reversals is irregular in geologic time, but present evidence suggests reversals characterized by time scales of 10(4) or 10(5), 10(6), and 50 x 10(6) years. The 50 x 10(6) year period of steady reversed field is found in the late Paleozoic and is termed the Kiaman magnetic interval.     

Major compositional units of the moon: lunar prospector thermal and fast neutrons

Global maps of thermal and fast neutron fluxes from the moon suggest three end-member compositional units. A high thermal and low fast neutron flux unit correlates with the lunar highlands and is consistent with feldspathic rocks. The South Pole-Aitken basin and a strip that surrounds the nearside maria have intermediate thermal and fast neutron flux levels, consistent with more mafic rocks. There appears to be a smooth transition between the most mafic and feldspathic compositions, which correspond to low and high surface altitudes, respectively. The maria show low thermal and high fast neutron fluxes, consistent with basaltic rocks.     

Magnetic field reversals, polar wander, and core-mantle coupling

True polar wander, the shifting of the entire mantle relative to the earth's spin axis, has been reanalyzed. Over the last 200 million years, true polar wander has been fast (approximately 5 centimeters per year) most of the time, except for a remarkable standstill from 170 to 110 million years ago. This standstill correlates with a decrease in the reversal frequency of the geomagnetic field and episodes of continental breakup. Conversely, true polar wander is high when reversal frequency increases. It is proposed that intermittent convection modulates the thickness of a thermal boundary layer at the base of the mantle and consequently the core-to-mantle heat flux. Emission of hot thermals from the boundary layer leads to increases in mantle convection and true polar wander. In conjunction, cold thermals released from a boundary layer at the top of the liquid core eventually lead to reversals. Changes in the locations of subduction zones may also affect true polar wander. Exceptional volcanism and mass extinctions at the Cretaceous-Tertiary and Permo-Triassic boundaries may be related to thermals released after two unusually long periods with no magnetic reversals. These environmental catastrophes may therefore be a consequence of thermal and chemical couplings in the earth's multilayer heat engine rather than have an extraterrestrial cause.     

Magnetic direction finding: evidence for its use in migratory indigo buntings

The orientational capabilities of caged migratory indigo buntings were studied under differing magnetic field conditions. When tested in a situation allowing minimal exposure to visual cues but in the presence of the normal geomagnetic field, the birds demonstrated a significant orientation in the appropriate migratory direction (to the north). When the horizontal component of the magnetic field was deflected clockwise 120 degrees by activation of Helmholtz coils surrounding the cage, the orientation of the buntings shifted accordingly (clockwise to geographic east-southeast). These results suggest that indigo buntings are not only able to detect the geomagnetic field, but also can use this information in the finalization of their migratory direction.     

Planet Within a Planet: Rotation of the Inner Core of Earth

The time dependence of the orientation of Earth's inner core relative to the mantle was determined using a recently discovered 10-degree tilt in the axis of symmetry of the inner core's seismic-velocity anisotropy. Two methods of analyzing travel-time variations for rays traversing the inner core, on the basis of 29 years of data from the International Seismological Centre (1964-1992), reveal that the inner core appears to rotate about 3 degrees per year faster than the mantle. An anomalous variation in inner-core orientation from 1969 to 1973 coincides in time with a sudden change ("jerk") in the geomagnetic field.     

Radiogenic Strontium-87 as an Index of Geologic Processes

The abundance of radiogenic Sr(87) relative to Sr(86) at the time of crystallization has been determined for 45 rocks. The total range in the ratio Sr(87)/Sr(86) is less than 2 percent. Ratios for recent lavas range from 0.702 to 0.711. Oceanic basalts are closely grouped at 0.703, whereas ratios for continental volcanic rocks spread from 0.702 to 0.711. Among the volcanic rocks, ranging from basalt to rhyolite, no correlation was found between original ratio and rock type. Older mafic and felsic rocks that include both plutonic and extrusive types also cover this same range in original Sr(87)/Sr(86) ratios; however, there is a definite trend with geologic time. Precambrian rocks give values as low as 0.700. The data indicate that Sr(87)/Sr(86) of the weathering crust has changed 1.1 percent in 3000 million years, while the ratio in the mantle has changed no more than 0.5 percent.     

Neodymium-142 evidence for Hadean mafic crust

Neodymium-142 data for rocks from the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt in northern Quebec, Canada, show that some rock types have lower 142Nd/144Nd ratios than the terrestrial standard (epsilon142Nd = -0.07 to -0.15). Within a mafic amphibolite unit, 142Nd/144Nd ratios correlate positively with Sm/Nd ratios and produce a 146Sm-142Nd isochron with an age of 4280(-81)(+53) million years. These rocks thus sample incompatible-element-enriched material formed shortly after Earth formation and may represent the oldest preserved crustal section on Earth.     

Oxygen Isotope Fractionation between Minerals and an Estimate of the Temperature of Formation

Oxygen isotopic compositions of separated minerals from three type A and four type B rocks are very uniform. The delta(18)O values are: plagioclase, 6.20; clinopyroxene, 5.75; ilmenite, 4.45 (parts per thousand relative to Standard Mean Ocean Water). The isotopic distribution corresponds to equilibrium at 1120 degrees C. The isotopic composition of lunar pyroxenes falls within the range for pyroxenes of terrestrial mafic and ultramafic rocks, ordinary chondrites, enstatite chondrites, and enstatite achondrites, but above the range for basaltic achondrites, hypersthene achondrites, and mesosiderites. Glass isolated from the lunar soil has a delta(18)O value of 6.2, significantly richer in (18)O than the crystalline rock fragments in the soil.     

Paleomagnetic study of antarctic deep-sea cores

The magnetic inclinations and inten sities of about 650 samples from seven deepsea cores taken in the Antarctic were measured on a spinner magnetometer. This series of measurements provided a magnetic stratigraphy, based on zones of normally or reversally polar ized specimens for each core, which was then correlated with the magnetic stra tigraphy of Cox et al. (1). One core (V16-134) gave a continuous record of the paleomagnetic field back to about 3.5 million years. When selected samples were subject ed to alternatingfield demagnetization, most were found to have an unstable component that was removed by fields of 150 oersteds; all samples from two cores were partially demagnetized in a field of 150 oersteds. The average inclination in these two cores was then in good agreement with the average inclination of the ambient field for the latitude of the core site. It was also found that the intensities of the samples decreased at the points of reversal; this finding is to be expected if, as has been postulated by the dynamo theory, the intensity of the dipole field decreases to zero and builds again with opposite polarity. We believe that the magnetiza tion of the cores results from the pres ence of detrital magnetite, although other magnetic minerals also may be present. Four faunal zones (, X, , and ) have been recognized in these Antarctic cores on the basis of upward sequential disappearance of Radiolaria. The faunal boundaries and reversals consistently have the same relations to one another, indicating that they are both timedependent phenomena. Using previously determined times of reversal, one may date the following events in the cores: 1) Radiolarian faunal boundaries:-X, 2 million years; X-, 0.7 million years; -, 0.4 to 0.5 million years. These dates are in good agreement with ages previously extrapolated from radio metric dates. 2) Initiation of Antarctic diatom ooze deposition, approximately 2.0 mil-lion years ago. 3) First occurrence of ice- rafted detritus, approximately 2.5 million years ago. One can also calculate rates of sedi mentation, which vary in the cores studied from 1.1 to about 8.0 millimeters per 1000 years. Sedimentation rates for the Indian Ocean cores are higher than for the Bellingshausen Sea cores. The near coincidence of faunal changes and reversals in the cores suggests but does not prove a causal relation. We conclude from this study that paleomagnetic stratigraphy is a unique method for correlating and dating deep sea cores, and that future work with such cores may provide a complete or nearly complete record of the history of the earth's magnetic field beyond 4 million years.     

Congruent paleomagnetic and archeomagnetic records from the Western United States: a.d. 750 to 1450

Two independently dated, high-resolution paleomagnetic records, one lacustrine and one archeological, record the passage across western North America of the same nondipole feature of the geomagnetic field during the time interval from A.D. 750 to 1450. Although these sequences indicate that correlation between paleomagnetic and archeomagnetic records is feasible under certain conditions, differences between the records underscore the difficulty of dating accurately an archeological site by correlation of a single archeomagnetic direction with a secular variation curve.