Paleomagnetism of deep‐sea cores

Abstract

This review is intended to cover the principal developments that have occurred within the last six years in the paleomagnetic study of marine sediments. Recent work utilizing the reflecting‐light microscope indicates that detrital high‐temperature Fe‐Ti oxides are probably responsible for most of the magnetic remanence in marine sediments. These minerals possess a spectrum of coercivities that makes it necessary to use alternating‐field—demagnetization techniques to isolate stable components. It is possible to use the standard magnetic stratigraphy for the last 4 m.y. of earth history derived from terrestrial lavas. Using the ages of the magnetic boundaries from this time scale it is possible by extrapolation and interpolation to better determine the ages of the major events. The ages of these events in increasing age are Jaramillo, 0.87 to 0.92 m.y.; Olduvai, 1.71 to 1.86 m.y.; Kaena, 2.82 to 2.90 m.y.; Mammoth, 3.0 to 3.085 m.y.; Cochiti, 3.72 to 3.82 m.y.; Nunivak, 3.97 to 4.14 m.y.; ‘c’ event of the Gilbert series, 4.33 to 4.65 m.y. Through the use of long cores from the central Pacific and through correlation using fossil datums, it has been possible to extend the magnetic stratigraphy back to the upper middle Miocene to magnetic epoch 5. It is concluded that very short magnetic events are probably short‐term excursions of the field and not true magnetic events. It is shown that the field of the earth averages to an axial‐dipole field within a period of 27,000 years and that the field over the last two million years has acted as a geocentric axial dipole. The evidence shows that when reversals of the dipole occur, the values of the reversed inclination are not significantly different from the normal values. The use of magnetic stratigraphy in marine geology has opened up a new era in study of sedimentary processes and evolution of marine organisms.