MAGNETOSTRATIGRAPHY

• Correlation of strata on the basis of

the magnetic properties
• Critical for deriving absolute ages of
strata (>100 k.y., < 150 m.y.)
• Marine and Terrestrial Sediments

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 Earth's Magnetic Field:
• Earth has a strong
dipole magnetic field
– Outer core (Fe, Ni)
convection
– Electric currents
• 11.5° Angle between
Magnetic and
Geographic North
poles
• field reversals
– irregular intervals
– Not instantaneous

Paleomagnetism:
Normal polarity:
• Inclination - angle from
vertical
– downward N. hemisphere
– upward S. hemisphere
– 90 to -90 (~latitude)
• Declination - angle in
the horizontal from
geographic North
– Normal – close to 0°
– Reverse – close to 180

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 Magnetostratigraphy: Calibrating magnetic
field reversals to absolute time
• Additional Requirements/Assumptions
– Radiometric dating
– Linear spreading rates

Geomagnetic Polarity Time

Scale (GPTS)
Cande & Kent (1995)

Radiometric
Calibration
points

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 Remnant Magnetism - 3 types
• thermal - igneous or metamorphic rocks
• chemical- precipitation of hematite (Fe2O3), goethite
(FeOOH)
• detrital- sedimentation of iron bearing minerals (~ 1-5
µm) In deep sea sediments -
– iron oxides (magnetite, Fe3O4)
– iron-titanium oxides (FeTiO)
• Post depositional alignment and realignment
1. bioturbation - DRM locks in below 30 cm after
migration out of the bioturbation zone and through
dewatering
2. compaction - shallows inclination
3. metamorphism

• Polarity Records

GPTS
(0-5 Ma)

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 Nomenclature: Polarity Chrons, Intervals

• Chron (Normal and reversed) intervals (105-106y)

• Chronozone-each consists of normal chron and
reversed chron
• sub-chrons - short reversals (104-105y) within
larger chrons
• excursions - short-lived transitions (failed
reversals) - difficult to identify and use for
correlative purpose
• transitions zones - on the order of several
thousand years
• polarity interval - time interval that elapses
between two successive reversals (0.01 to 10's My)

Numbering Scheme
• 1 to 32 for the most
prominent chrons
(C24N, C24R)
• sub-chrons C6AN,
C6A.1N

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 Magnetostratigraphy: Procedures
• Sampling
1. Outcrop
• hand samples
• plugs taken from outcrops
Oriented! dip & azimuth

Magnetostratigraphy: Procedures
• Sampling - drill cores
1. Discrete-cubes
2. Whole core

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 Magnetostratigraphy: Procedures
Cryogenic Magnetometer:
– measures weak magnetic
fields
• liquid He (4°K) -
superconducting region
around the sensors
• sample magnetism -
current in the
superconducting coil
NRM - Natural Remanent
Magnet.
1. intensity
2. direction of magnetic
vector
DRM - Detrital Remanent
Magnet.
1. AF demag
2. thermal demag

Magnetostratigraphy: Procedures
• Data Processing
– inclination and magnetic intensity against depth

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 Magnetostratigraphy: P-E boundary
• A new sub-chron?, or excursion

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ODP Site 1208
• Inclination after
AF demagnetization
at peak fields of
20 mT

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Willwood Formation, Bighorn Basin

L. Tauxe et al. / Earth and Planetary Science Letters 125 (1994) 159-172

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 Magnetostratigrahy,
Willwood Formation

Magnetostratigraphic results of
southern Bighorn Basin composite
section plotted as VGP latitudes versus
height

Magnetostratigraphy
Correlation to the GPTS

Summary diagram showing the

geomagnetic reversal time scale
(GRTS) of Cande and Kent (CK92) at
the bottom. Above CK92 the magnetic
anomaly profile from GAL03 is plotted.
Above the DSDP 550 data are VGP
latitudes from the Clark's Fork Basin

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Oxygen isotope record of benthic foraminifera from deep sea sites showing: (1) the
coincidence of the Clarkforkian/Wasatchian NALMA boundary to a short-term
negative excursion representing an abrupt global warming event (IETM); and (2)
the coincidence of the Wasatchian/Bridgerian NALMA boundary to the beginning
of the long-term Cenozoic warming peak known as the Cenozoic Global Climate
Optimum (CGCO). Isotope data are from Zachos et al. (1994). Calibration of the
Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale shown at left is from Cande and Kent (1995).

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 Representative vector endpoint diagrams of paleomagnetic samples analyzed from the Wasatch, Bridger, and Green
River Formations. Open (closed) symbols show vector endpoints in the vertical (horizontal) plane. (A) and (B) Wasatch
Formation paleosol samples showing reverse and normal characteristic magnetizations. (C) Wasatch Formation sample
that exhibits an overprint component of magnetization as well as a reversed characteristic component of
magnetization. (D) Siltstone sample from the Bridger Formation showing unblocking by 5908C. (E) Green River
Formation sample that exhibits relatively unstable demagnetization behavior. (G) and (F) Equal area projections
where open (closed) symbols lie on the upper (lower) hemisphere of the projection. (G) Wasatch formation sample
that exhibits clustering of magnetic endpoints where a Fisher mean was used to calculate a ChRM direction. (F)
Wasatch Formation sample representing an example of a great circle trajectory used to infer a reversed ChRM

Fig. 3. Equal area projections of NRM directions,

characteristic directions after demagnetization, and mean
directions for alpha sites. Open (closed) symbols lie on the
upper (lower) hemisphere of the projection. Samples and
sites pass the reversal test at aà 0:05 (McFadden and
Lowes, 1981). The mean direction for all alpha sites when
reversed sites are inverted is 348/61 Ö a95 à 4:6Ü;
remarkably close to the expected early eocene direction of
349/61 (Diehl et al., 1983).

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 Fig. 4. VGP latitude and magnetic susceptibility plotted against lithostratigraphic and
biostratigraphic units from the study section at South Pass. Solid squares represent alpha
sites, open squares represent individual samples that exhibited stable demagnetization, and
open circles represent samples that followed a great circle path toward a reverse direction
during demagnetization.

Correlation of the South Pass section studied here and the Bridger Basin section from Clyde et al. (1997) to
the GPTS (Cande and Kent, 1995). Notice the short reversed zone in both sections that correlates precisely
with Chron C23n.1r. A radiometric age of 47.96 ^ 0.13 Ma that lies about 150 m above the top of the South
Pass section also supports this correlation (Murphey et al., 1999).

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Fig. 6. Geochronology of the Wasatchian/Bridgerian framework based on the
correlation shown in Fig. 5. The Wasatchian/Bridgerian boundary lies in Chron
C23r in the middle of the early Eocene rather than near the early/middle
Eocene boundary as previously assumed.

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