Fine tuning the radiometrically derived geomagnetic polarity time scale (GPTS) for 0-10 Ma

1995 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajoy K. Baksi
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annique van der Boon ◽  
Andy Biggin ◽  
Daniele Thallner ◽  
Mark Hounslow ◽  
Jerzy Nawrocki ◽  
...  

<p>The global polarity time scale (GPTS) is relatively unconstrained for the Paleozoic, particularly the Devonian. Constraining the GPTS and reversal frequency for the Devonian is crucial for the understanding of the behaviour of Earth’s magnetic field. Furthermore, construction of a GPTS for the Paleozoic could provide a valuable tool for age determination in other studies. However, most paleomagnetic data from the Devonian is problematic. The data are difficult to interpret and don’t have a single easy to resolve (partial or full) overprint. Paleointensity studies suggest that the field was much weaker than the field of today, which could have been accompanied by many reversals (a hyperreversing field). In order to improve the geomagnetic polarity time scale in the Devonian, and quantify the number of reversals in this time, we sampled three Devonian sections in Germany, Poland and Canada. These sections show evidence that the rocks were not significantly heated, and they show little evidence for remineralisation. This minimises the chance the rocks were remagnetised after the Devonian. Our data show that even when rocks are well qualified to have reliably recorded the Devonian field, the interpretation is not straightforward. We also discuss problems with the Devonian GPTS as presented in the geologic timescale.</p>


2011 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 537-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard C. Fox ◽  
Craig S. Scott

The early PaleocenePurgatoriusVan Valen and Sloan is the most primitive plesiadapiform primate yet discovered, mostly known from middle to late Puercan strata in Montana, deposited during the interval C29N of the geomagnetic polarity time scale. Here we describePurgatorius coracisn. sp. from the Ravenscrag Formation, at the Rav W-1 horizon, Medicine Hat Brick and Tile Quarry, southwestern Saskatchewan. This horizon occurs within C29R, makingP. coracisthe earliest known primate, while strengthening the evidence that plesiadapiforms, and hence primates, originated and underwent their initial evolutionary diversification in North America. Most North American mammalian local faunas correlating with C29R have been assigned to the Pul (earliest Puercan) interval zone, but the taxonomic composition of the mammals accompanyingP. coracisat Rav W-1 more resembles local faunas of Pu2 age. The occurrence at Rav W-1 of Pu2 aspect mammals within C29R agrees with similar occurrences at the Hiatt and PITA Flats localities in Montana and North Dakota, also possibly correlated with C29R. The evidence from these three sites, all in the Williston Basin, suggests that in some areas of the Western Interior Pu2 aspect local faunas were coeval with those of latest Pu1 age, having evolved earlier than has commonly been assumed.


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