The geomagnetic field acts as both a shield, protecting Earth’s surface from cosmic radiation, and a window into the dynamics of the deep Earth. Rocks and sediments can record the ambient magnetic field, with these records having the potential to persist for millions to billions of years. They reveal a history of geomagnetic reversals and document the changing paleogeography of Earth through deep time. Extracting such information requires an understanding of rock magnetism and paleomagnetism, the subjects of this book.
This textbook draws together essential rock magnetic theory, paleomagnetic techniques, and applications from magnetostratigraphy to tectonic reconstructions. It is intended for Earth scientists who use paleomagnetic data, students in courses with paleomagnetic content, and anyone with a college-level science background curious about records of Earth’s magnetism.
Chapters¶
- Essentials of Paleomagnetism
- Chapter 4: Magnetic Anisotropy and Domains
- Chapter 5: Magnetic Hysteresis
- Chapter 6: Magnetic Mineralogy
- Chapter 7: How Rocks Get and Stay Magnetized
- Chapter 8: Environmental Magnetism
- Chapter 9: Getting a Paleomagnetic Direction
- Chapter 10: Paleointensity
- Chapter 11: Fisher Statistics
- Chapter 12: Beyond Fisher Statistics
- Chapter 13: Paleomagnetic Tensors
- Chapter 14: The Ancient Geomagnetic Field
Licensed under CC-BY-4.0.
- Tauxe, L., Shaar, R., Jonestrask, L., Swanson-Hysell, N. L., Minnett, R., Koppers, A. A. P., Constable, C. G., Jarboe, N., Gaastra, K., & Fairchild, L. (2016). PmagPy: Software package for paleomagnetic data analysis and a bridge to the Magnetics Information Consortium (MagIC) Database. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 17(6), 2450–2463. 10.1002/2016GC006307