PaleomagneticDating

Kenneth

L. Verosub

Departmentof Geology,Universityof California, Davis, California 95616

INTRODUCTION

(F), inclination (/), and declination (D). By convention,a

downward

The useof paleomagnetism

as a datingmethodis based
on variationsof the Earth's magneticfield. Under appropriate circumstances, a record of the direction of the Earth's

magneticfield is preservedby geologic materials, such as

rocks and sediments.Paleomagneticmethodscan be usedto
recoverthisrecordandto determineits reliability.If the pattern of variations

in this record can be correlated

with the

knownpatternfor the generalregionor for the approximate

time period,the recordcanbe usedto determinethe age of a
geologicunit. With regardto paleoseismicstudies,the most
likely uses of paleomagneticdating are correlation of
sequencesof Plio-Pleistocenemarine and continentalsedimentaryrocksto the magneticpolaritytime scaleand correlation of a sequenceof rapidly-depositedHolocene lacustrine sedimentsto a regionalpatternof secularvariation.In
certaincircumstances,
it is alsopossibleto datea singlehorizon or an isolateddeposit.
THEORY

OF DATING

METHOD

Principles and Assumptions

The Earth's magneticfield is a vector,and in a conventional Cartesiancoordinatesystemfixed to a point on the

surfaceof the Earth, this vectorhasthreeorthogonalcomponents: up-down, north-southand east-west.The standard
conventionis to take the down, north, and east components
as positive.In most circumstances
it is more convenientto
considerthe vectorin termsof a sphericalcoordinatesystem.
Again for a fixed point on the surfaceof the Earth, the three
componentsare the lengthof the vector,the angleof the vector aboveor below the horizontalplane,and the deviationof
the horizontal componentof the vector from true north.
Thesecomponentsare known,respectively,as the intensity

QuaternaryGeochronology:MethodsandApplications
AGU

Reference

Shelf 4

Copyright2000 by the AmericanGeophysicalUnion

339

inclination

and an eastward declination

are taken

as positive. The intensity,inclination, and declinationare

relatedto the north(N), east(E), andvertical(V) components
by the following equations:
F = (N*N+E*E+ V* V).5

()

I = tan-1(V/(N*N+E*E) .5)

(2)

D = tan-1 (E/N)

(3)

Theserelationshipsare alsoshownin Figure 1.

When sedimentis depositedin a lake or ocean,when a
lava flow coolsat the surfaceof the earth,or when potteryis
fired in a kiln, the magneticgrains of the material become
magnetizedparallel to the Earth's magnetic field. Under
favorable conditions,this magnetizationcan be preserved
overgeologically(or archaeologically)significantperiodsof
time. The goal of mostpaleomagneticstudiesis the identification and isolationof the primary or original direction of
magnetizationof thesematehals(Collinson, 1983; Tarling,
1983; Butler 1992). If the primary directionsare associated
with fully-oriented samples,the directionscan be used to
reconstructa historyof variationsof the geomagneticfield.
The Earth's magneticfield varies in different ways and
on differenttime scales.The largestscalevariationsare complete changesin the polarity of field, known aspolaritytransitions or reversals. Mathematically one can describe the
Earth's magneticfield as the sum of a dipolar field and a
non-dipolarfield. The dipolarfield, whichcorresponds
to the
field of a bar magnet,currentlyrepresentsabout 80 percent
of the total field. The dipolarfield determinesthe overallpattern of the Earth's magneticfield, and in its presentor "normal" polarity state, the dipolar field producesan overall
magnetic field that has downward inclinations in the
Northern hemisphere and upward inclinations in the
Southernhemisphere.In both hemispheres,the declinations
are generallynorthward.In the oppositeor "reversed"polarity state,the inclinationsare upward in the Northern hemisphereand downwardin the Southernhemisphere.In both
hemispheres,
the declinationsof a reversedfield are generally southward.

340

PALEOMAGNETIC

DATING

If theEarth'smagneticfield werepurelydipolarandif
thisdipolewereorientedalongtherotationaxisof theEarth,
then in the normal polarity state,the declinationswould
point preciselyto the northand the inclinationswould con-

formto a well-defined
formulathatis a functiononlyof latitude.Other orientations
of the dipoleas well as the nondipolarportionof thefieldleadto deviations
fromthispurely axialdipolarfieldconfiguration.
Typicallythesevariations
can be as large as _+40
in declinationand _+20
in inclination. Modem values of inclination and declination for North

Americaare shownin Figure3.

The non-dipolarportionof the field is not static,and as

a result,thepatternsshownin Figure3 will varywith time.

At a fixedpointon the surfaceof theEarth,thechanges
in
thenon-dipolar
portionof thefield producechanges
in declination and inclination that are known as secular variation.

Figure1. Relationship
betweenmagneticcomponents
in spherical

Curvesof secular
variationin LondonandParisfor thepast
400 yearsare shownin Figure4. Over longerintervalsof
time,thesecurveswouldform a seriesof loopsaroundthe

coordinates
(D, I, F) andin Cartesiancoordinates
(N, E, V).

TIME
Over the past thirty years, the patternof normal and
reversedpolaritieshasbeenextensivelystudied,andmostof
itsfeaturesfor thepast200 millionyearsarenowwell understood(CandeandKent, 1992).The patternof polaritystates
is knownastheMagneticPolarityTime Scale(MPTS) or the
Geomagnetic
ReversalTime Scale(GRTS).Thetimeduring
whichthe field remainsin a givenpolaritystatecanvary
from 50,000yearsto manymillionsof years.The time dur-

(106YEARS)

POLARITY POLARITY

EVENT

Brunhes
1.0

Jaramillo
Cobb Mtn.

Matuyama

ing which the field is in the transitionalstatebetweenthe two

polaritystatesis ontheorderof severalthousand

years.The
behaviorof thefield duringa polaritytransition
is notfully
understood
andis the subjectof intensestudyat thepresent
time (Laj and others, 1991, 1992; Valet and others, 1992;
McFaddenand others,1993).
The MPTS for the past 5.7 million yearsis shownin

Figure2. Basedonrecentdatingusingadvanced
potassiumargontechniques,
thedateof thelastfull-scalepolaritytransitionis nowplacedat 780,000yearsago(Baksiandothers,
1992). Previously,this boundarywas thoughtto be at

2.60

3.0

Kaena

Gauss

Mammoth
3.55
4.0

it wasplacedat 730,000years(MankinenandDalrymple,
1979). The time period sincethis reversalis known as the

chrons(Baksi, 1993).

Olduvai
Reunion

2.0

760,000 years(Izett andothers,1988), andevenbeforethat,

Brunhesnormalpolarityepochor Brunheschron.The precedingreversedpolarityintervalis calledthe Matuyama

reversed
polarityepochor Matuyamachron.TheMatuyama
chronbeganabout2.6 millionyearsagoandcontainsseveral shortintervalsof normalpolarity,includingthe Jaramillo
(0.99 -1.05mya)andOlduvai(1.78-2.02mya)eventsor sub-

EPOCH

Cochiti
Nunivak

Sidufjall
5.0

Gilbert

Thvera

Figure 2. MagneticPolarityTime Scale (MPTS) for the last 5.7

million years.

VEROSUB

341

dipolar field direction.Each loop would have a different

shapealthoughin many casesthe loops showthe general
clockwisebehavior seenin Figure 4. The time requiredfor
the field to undergoa completeloop is on the orderof 5001,000 years.
Intermediate between secular variation and polarity

transitionsis a classof phenomenaknown as geomagnetic

excursions.Geomagneticexcursionscan be characterizedas
short-term,high-amplitudedeviationsof the geomagnetic
field from the dipolardirection.No geomagneticexcursions
have occurred in historic times, and the paleomagnetic
recordof them is difficult to decipher.The recordsof some
geomagnetic
excursions
seemto suggest
thattheyaresimply
large-scalesecularvariationwhile in other casesthe evidence suggeststhat they representabortedpolarity transitions (Hoffman, 1981). The problemis further complicated
by the fact that geomagneticexcursionsdo not consistently
appearin paleomagneticrecordscoveringthe same time
span(ThouvenyandCreer,1992). To someextentthislack
of consistencymay be due to inaccuraciesin dating and to
hiatusesin the geologicrecord, and there is growing evidencethat somegeomagneticexcursionsare at leastregional phenomena
(Herrero-Bervera
andothers,1994). Thereis
also some evidencethat they may be related to periodsof
low geomagneticfield intensity (Valet and Meynadier,
Figure3. Magneticdeclination(top)andinclination(bottom)over
North America in 1975. (Redrawnfrom DefenseMapping Agency

Hydrographic
Center,Charts42 and30, 7th edition,June1975).

1993).

Until recently, paleomagnetists

have not paid much
attentionto the variationsin the intensityof the geomagnet-

60

LONDON

PARIS
1900

1600

1900

70

800
330

1600 -

340

350

O*

I00:330

340

350

O*

DECLINATION
Figure4. Secularvariation
of thegeomagnetic
fieldin ParisandLondonfor thepast400years(afterThellier,1981).

I0'

342

PALEOMAGNETIC

DATING

ic field eventhoughthe intensityhas changedby more than

5 percentin the last 150 years.Absolutedeterminationsof
the paleointensityof the field have been made for many
yearsusing samplesfrom lava flows and from hearthsand
pottery.However, the methodology(Thellier and Thellier,
1959) is very time-consuming,and the percentageof samplesthatgiveunsatisfactory
resultscanbe quitehigh (Aitken
and others,1988). Primarily as a resultof the labor-intensive
natureof thesestudies,the databaseof absolutepaleointensity determinationsis relativelysmall.
For sediments,the intensityof magnetizationof a sample is determinedboth by the intensityof the Earth's magnetic field at the time the sedimentis depositedand by the
concentration
of magneticcarriers.The problemhasbeento
find a satisfactoryway of separatingthesetwo effects.One
way to takeaccountof the concentration
of themagneticcarhers is to producea new magnetizationin the laboratory
using a known magneticfield (Opdyke and others, 1973;
Banerjee and Mellema, 1974; Levi and Banerjee, 1976;
Tucker, 1981). The ratio of the originalintensityof magnetizationto the intensityof a laboratory-induced
magnetization
can be interpreted as a record of relative, rather than
absolute,paleointensity.For many years, there were questions about this approach(Amerigian, 1977; Kent, 1982;
King and others, 1983), but recently,new techniquesand
new instrumentationhave addressedtheseproblems.More
importantly,thereis growingevidencefor the global coherenceof paleointensityfeatures(Tauxe,1993). Thesefeatures
have time scaleson the order of a severalthousandyears,
which is intermediatebetweensecularvariationand polarity

enough to resolve the major features of the well-dated

record.The two typesof field behaviorthat are most commonly usedfor paleomagneticdatingare polaritytransitions
(MPTS) and secularvariation. For studiesthat involve correlation to the MPTS, the undatedsequencecan be as old as
200 million years.For studiesthat involve the correlationof
featuresin secularvariation,the undatedsequenceis always
less than 100,000 years old and is usually less than 10,000
yearsold.
METHODOLOGY

Sample Collection
Material Type

For sedimentsand sedimentaryrocks, the best paleomagneticrecordscomefrom relativelyfine-grainedmaterial

depositedin quiet water. In generalthis meansthat silts or
siltstonesand mudsor mudstonesare preferredalthoughsatisfactory resultscan often be obtainedfrom clays or claystones.Occasionallysandsor sandstones
will yield a satisfactorypaleomagneticrecord,but this usuallyrequiresa relatively high fraction of finer-grainedmaterial. Limestones
tendto be weakly magnetized,but when a magnetizationcan
be measured,it is often very reliable. Within these constraintsit is not possibleto determinein the field whethera
given sedimentaryunit will produce good paleomagnetic
results,and the best approachis to collect samplesfor pilot
studiesfrom as many unitsas possible.

transitions.

Field Collection

Appropriate GeologicSettings
The useof paleomagnetismas a datingtechniqueusually requiresa continuoussequenceof paleomagneticdirectionsalthoughin certaincircumstances
datingcanbe accomplishedusingthe paleomagneticdirectionfrom a singlehorizon. The sequenceof directionsis then correlatedto a preexisting, well-dated record of directions.In principle, the
undatedsequenceof directionscan be obtainedfrom eithera
seriesof lava flows or from a sedimentarydeposit.In practice, for paleoseismicstudies,the sequenceof directionsis
almost always obtained from sediments or sedimentary
rocks.

Time Range of Applicability

Becausepaleomagneticdating is a correlationaltechnique, it can be usedfor any time rangein which we have a
well-dated record of geomagneticfield behavior,provided
the rate of sedimentationof the undatedsequenceis high

Methods

The specific techniqueused to collect paleomagnetic

samplesdependson the physicalstateof the material.The
most important considerationis that the sample which is
returnedto the laboratorybe fully orientedwith respectto a
geographiccoordinatesystem.In addition, if the sample
comesfrom a tilted bed, the strikeand dip of the bed should
also be measured

and recorded.

For well-consolidatedor lithified matehal, samplescan

be collectedas cores drilled in the field using a portable,
water-cooled,gasoline-powereddiamond-coredrill. Such
drills are availablecommercially,and typically they produce
a core that is 2.5 cm in diameter

and between

5 and 15 cm

long. If the drill bit has been held straightand the material
being sampledis not prone to fracturing,the drilling procedureremovesa thin ring of matehalandleavesa solidcylinder attachedat its baseto the outcrop.A slottedbrassor aluminum tube is then slippedover the cylinder.The tube has a
platform at its top on which can be placed a compass.
Determiningthe orientationinvolvesmeasuringthe angleof

VEROSUB

the brasstube from the horizontalplane and the bearing of

the brasstube with respectto true North. Different laboratories use different conventions for these measurements, and it

is importantto find out in advancewhat these conventions

are. After the orientation has been measured and recorded, a

brasswire is placedin the slot on the tube. Movement of the

wire in the slot producesan index line on the rock cylinder.
The cylinderis freed from the outcropby tappinglightly on
a chiselplacedin the openspacebetweenthe sampleandthe
outcrop.Immediately after the sampleis removedfrom the
outcrop,the indexline shouldbe scribedwith a diamondstylus, and the directioninto or out of the outcropshouldbe
clearly marked.
In volcanicterrain or in situationswhere power lines or
similar installationscan affect the local magneticfield, the
beatingasdeterminedwith a magneticcompassmight not be
accurate.This can be checkedby taking readingson prominent landmarksor by looking for changesin the compass
directionas one movestoward or away from an outcrop.If
there is a problemwith the directionsdeterminedby a magnetic compass,it may be necessaryto usea suncompass.As
its nameimplies, a suncompassusesthe positionof the sun
to determinea true azimuth.The positionof the sundepends
on the longitudeand latitudeof the site,the time of day when
the readingis made, and the day of the year. Tableswhich
relate theseparametersto the positionof the sun are publishedannually.
An alternativeto drilling samplesin the field is to collect
orientedhand samples.Typically suchsamplesare fist-sized
or largerblocks.There are severalschemesfor obtainingorientedblock samples.One of the simplestinvolvesbreaking
the samplefrom the outcropand then putting it back in its
originalposition.A continuoushorizontalline is thenmarked
on two sidesof the block alongwith a northarrow.
For unconsolidatedsediments,it is usually most convenient to collect the samplesin small plasticboxesabout2.5
cm on a side.In the field, samplesare usuallycollectedfrom
a fresh, clean vertical face. If the sediment can be carved

with a small knife, a pedestal of material, the size of the

insideof the box, is prepared,andthe box is slippedoverthe
pedestalwith relatively minor distortion of the sediment.
Simplypushinga box into an outcropor hammeringit in can
disturbthe sedimentenoughto affectthe magneticdirection
(Symonsand others,1980).
The pedestaland its box mustbe orientedwhile it is still
attachedto the outcrop.One way to do this is to imagine an
arrowthroughthe centerof the box into the outcrop.The orientationdata consistof the bearing of the arrow, the small

343

After the orientation information has been recorded, the

pedestaland its box are removedfrom the outcrop.Excess

materialis trimmedaway,andthe box is cappedfor transport
to the laboratory.For sedimentwhich is only slightlyconsolidated,particularlycoarsesilt and very fine sand,it may be
desirableto usea resinor varnishto ensurethat the sample
doesnot disaggregate
duringtransport.If a resinor varnishis
used,it shouldbe checkedto verify that it is non-magnetic.
Preservation/Transportation

Someresearchersbelievethat samplesshouldbe transportedin specialmagnetically-shielded

containersto protect
them from strong magnetic fields. However, most
researchersbelieve that sampleswhich become remagnetized through exposureto such fields probably would not
have given reliable paleomagneticresults anyway. Hence
they do not use thesecontainers.
For unconsolidated
sediment,a more importantconsiderationduringtransportis that the sedimentsnot be allowed
to dry out becausethe dryingprocesscan lead to remagnetization(HenshawandMerrill, 1979). Keepingthe samplesin
an air-tightplasticcontainer,perhapswith a piece of damp
toweling,is usually sufficientfor this purpose.
LaboratoryAnalysis
Preparation

No additionalpreparationis neededfor samplescollected in plasticboxes.For samplesthat have been collectedas

coresdrilled in the field, it is necessaryto cut the coresinto
2.5 cm long subsamples.Often thesesubsamplesare called
specimens.
Samplescollectedas orientedblocksare usually castin
plasterin a way that preservesthe original horizontalorientation. Subsamplesare obtainedby drilling vertically down
with a diamond-coredrill bit mounted in a drill press.
Various simple techniquesare used to transfer the north
arrow on the block to the subsample.Like drilling in the
field, drilling in the lab requireswater coolingof the drill bit.
Sometimesthe water causesdisaggregationof the sample.
When that happens,a rotary diamond saw, a band saw, or a
wire saw can be used to cut the oriented block into rectan-

gular or cubicsubsamples
without the use of water.
In certain circumstances, cores from lakes or marine

environments
becomeavailablefor paleomagneticsampling.
Again, small plasticboxesare normally usedto collect the
samples.In orderto avoidproblemsarisingfrom distortion
associated
with the coringprocedure,samplesaretakenfrom

deviation of the arrow above or below the horizontal, and the

the interior

small clockwiseor counterclockwise

rotation of the top of

sampledin outcrop,samplesare usuallycollectedby carving

pedestalsof material and slippingplasticboxesover them.

the box about the arrow.

of the core. As with

unconsolidated

material

344

PALEOMAGNETIC

DATING

Unlessa corehasbeenazimuthallyoriented,the samplescan

only be orientedwith respectto an arbitraryplane through
the long axis of the core. One techniquefor doingthis is to
securethe corein a horizontalpositionso thatit cannot roll
andto stretcha stringthe lengthof the core.Again oneimagines an arrow thougheachbox. The orientationinformation
consistsof three smallangles: the two that measurethe deviations of the arrow from vertical planes perpendicularand
parallel to the axis of the core and the anglethat measures
the rotationof the side of the box with respectto the long
axis of the core, as markedby the string.
Recently a new technique has been developed that
makesit possibleto measurecontinuoussamplesof sediment cores(Nagy andValet, 1993, Weeksand others,1993).
The samplesare collectedin non-magnetic,plasticchannels
which are 2 cm high, 2 cm wide, andup to 1.5 m long.These
u-channelsamplesare measuredwith a specialtype of magnetometer,and very few of these instrumentsare currently
available.However,theu-channelapproachhasthepotential
of revolutionizingthe way paleomagneticstudiesare done
over the next ten years.
Analysis

The mostbasictype of paleomagneticanalysisinvolves

determinationof the directionof magnetizationof a sample
with respectto a coordinatesystemfixed to the sample.In
the caseof samplesin plasticboxes,the axeswould correspondto the edgesof a box. For cylindricalsamples,the axes
of the coordinatesystemwould correspondto the index line
on the side of the cylinder and two orthogonallines on the
end of the cylinder. Using simple geometricrelationships
and the orientationangles,the measureddirection can be
transformedto give the directionrelativeto a geographicor
field coordinatesystem.A correctioncan also be made for
the tilt of the bedding.
The instrumentused to measurethe magnetizationis
calleda magnetometer.
Two typesof magnetometers
arecurrently used - the spinnerand the cryogenic.With a spinner
magnetometer,the sample is placed in a sample holder
mounted on a rotating shaft. In accordancewith Faraday's
Law, the two componentsof the magnetizationperpendicular to the axisof rotationproducea voltagein a pick-upcoil.
The amplitudeof the voltageis proportionalto the combined
intensityof the two componentswhile the phaseof the voltage is proportionalto the ratio of the intensityof eachcomponent.Different types of instrumentsuse different detector
circuitsto measurethe amplitudeandthe phaseandto determine the magnetizationof eachcomponent.In orderto measurethe third componentof the magnetization,the sample
must be placed in the spinnermagnetometerin a different
orientation.In principle,the two separatemeasurements
suf-

rice to measurethe three componentsof magnetization.

However, many laboratoriesuse a three-spinor a six-spin
procedurewhich produceseither two or four independent
measurementsof each component.If there are significant
inhomogeneities
in the sample,they often showup as large
variationsin the measurement
of the samecomponent.If the
variationsare small,the independentmeasurements
for each
componentcan be averagedtogether.
A cryogenicmagnetometerusessuperconducting
loops
incorporatedinto detectorsknownas superconducting
quantum interference devices or SQUIDs (Goree and Fuller,

1976). In orderto operateassuperconductors,

theloopsmust
be immersedin liquid helium.A sampleis introducedinto a
room temperaturespacethat is surrounded
by andthermally
insulated from the liquid helium. The current flowing
througha loop is influencedby the componentof magnetization of the sampleperpendicularto the loop. Changesin
this current are detectedby the SQUID. Each SQUID can
measureonly one componentof the magnetization.Some
cryogenicmagnetometers
have one axial and two transverse
SQUIDS sothat all threecomponents
canbe measuredat the
same time. Other cryogenicmagnetometershave only one
transverseSQUID in additionto the axial one. These instrumentsrequire a 90 rotationof the sampleto measureall
threecomponents.
As with the spinnermagnetometer,
redundantmeasurements
are usedto checkfor inhomogeneities
in
the samples.
Because cryogenic magnetometersare about four to
eight times more expensivethan spinnermagnetometers,
smallerlaboratoriestend have spinnermagnetometers
while
larger,better-established
laboratoriesusuallyhavecryogenic
magnetometers.
However,the precisionof the measurements
from the two typesof instrumentsis aboutthe same,and in
fact, the principal limitation on the measurementof the
directionsis the accuracyin determiningthe sampleorientation, which is typically on the orderof 1-2. The real differencebetweenthe two typesof instruments
is the sensitivity,
that is, cryogenicmagnetometerscan measuresamplesthat
are one to two ordersof magnitudemore weakly magnetized
than spinnermagnetometers
can measure.Recently,a company in the Czech Republichas startedmarketinga spinner
magnetometerwith a sensitivityapproachingthat of a cryogenic magnetometer.Severalcompaniesare exploringthe
possibilityof developingSQUIDS thatusehigh-temperature
superconductors,
which would make it possibleto operatea
cryogenicmagnetometer
with liquidnitrogenratherthanliquid helium.

The initial magnetizationof a samplebroughtinto the

laboratoryis known as the naturalremanentmagnetization
(NRM). It representsthe superposition
of the originalor primary magnetizationwith all of the varioussecondarymag-

VEROSUB

netizationsthat the samplemight have acquired.In order to

recoverthe primary magnetization,it is necessaryto remove
the secondarymagnetization.In paleomagneticstudies,the
assumptionis usually made that the most stable magnetic
carriersretain the primary magnetizationand that the secondarymagnetizationresideswith the less stablemagnetic
carriers. Removal of the secondarycomponentsis called
demagnetization,and in general,two approachesare used.
The first of theseis alternatingfield demagnetizationin
which the sampleis exposedto an alternatingmagneticfield
which beginsat somepeak value and decreasesuniformly to
zero. In some instruments,the decreasingfield can be
applied only along one axis of the sample at a time. To
achieve a complete demagnetizationat a given level, the
samplemustbe placedin the demagnetizerthreetimes, each
time in a different orientation. With other instruments, a

complexsetof gearsis usedto continuallychangethe orientation of the sampleas it is exposedto the decreasingfield.
This instrument, known as tumbler, requires only one
demagnetizationat each level.
The ability of a magneticcarrier to respondto an external magneticfield is determinedby its coerciveforce. The
basicprinciple involvedin alternatingfield demagnetization
is that all magneticcarrierswith a coerciveforce less than
that of the peak field value will initially respond to the
applied field and will try to follow it. As the applied field
decreases,the magnetic carriers with the higher coercive
forces will no longer be able to follow the field, and their
magneticdirectionswill becomeimmobilized. At the end of
the demagnetization,the directionsof all of the magnetic
carriersthat respondedinitially will be distributedin different directions,and their net magnetizationwill be zero. In
this way, the alternatingfield demagnetization"erases"the
contributionfrom all of the magneticcarriersthat had coercive forceslessthan the peak appliedfield value.
In practice,alternatingfield demagnetizationis a stepwise processin which the sampleis exposedto peak alternating fields of increasingly higher value. In effect, the
demagnetizationprogressivelydestroysthe magnetizationof
the sample,but the generalexpectationis that the secondary
magnetizationis removedfirst, leaving behind the primary
magnetization.A typical sequencemight begin with a peak
field of 5 millitesla (mT) andincreaseby 5 or 10 mT stepsto
a maximumof 60 or 80 mT. Betweeneachstepthe direction
of the remainingmagnetizationis measuredwith a magnetometer.The resultingsequenceof directionsshouldreflect
the preferentialremovalof the secondarymagnetization,followedby removalof the primarymagnetization.
The other commonmethodof demagnetizationis thermal demagnetization.Here the sample is first heated and
then cooled in a near-zeromagneticfield. This method is

345

based on the fact that when a magnetic carrier is heated

above its Curie temperature,it loses its ability to carry a
magnetization.Justbelow the Curie temperature,the magnetic carder can still becomemagnetized,but the magnetic
relaxation time is short and the magnetization quickly
becomesrandomized.At a lower temperatureknown as the
blockingtemperature,the magneticrelaxationtime becomes
sufficientlylong that the magneticcarriercan hold its magnetizationfor a geologicallysignificantperiod of time.
When a magneticcarder is cooledto room temperature
duringthermaldemagnetization,it acquiresa new magnetization determinedby the near-zeroambientmagneticfield.
Thus, thermal demagnetization"erases"the contributions
from all magnetic carriers that have Curie temperatures
lower than the maximum temperatureachievedin the heating. In this case,the assumptionis made that the secondary
magnetizationresidesin the carrierswith the lowest Curie
temperatures,rather than those with the lowest coercive
forces.

Like alternatingfield demagnetization,thermal demagnetization is a step-wiseprocedure,beginningat 50C and

increasingin stepswhich oftenbecomemore closelyspaced
as the temperatureincreases.The procedureusually endsat
700C which is abovethe Curie temperatureof all common
magnetic minerals. The magnetizationof the samples is
measuredafter each heating step, and the interpretationof
the changesin directionis similar to that usedwith alternating field demagnetization.
One problemwith thermaldemagnetizationis that heating may lead to chemical alterationof the sample and to
changesin its magneticproperties.It is now consideredgood
practiceto check for thesechangesby measuringthe magnetic susceptibilityof the samplesafter each heating step.
Magnetic susceptibility is an induced magnetization
acquiredby samplesin the presenceof a weak magnetic
field. Magnetic susceptibilitydependson the magneticmineralogy,and any significantchangein magneticsusceptibility indicatesthat there has been chemical alterationof these
minerals. Any data acquired after these changesbegin to
occur shouldbe regardedas suspect.Problemswith thermal
demagnetizationare often encounteredin dealingwith sedimentsor poorly-lithified sedimentaryrocks.
If a particular studyresultsin the collectionof a large
number of samples,it is not unusualto begin with a pilot
studyof a subsetof the samples.The goal of the pilot study
is to characterizethe generalbehaviorof the samplesand to
determinewhetheralternatingfield or thermaldemagnetization is the more appropriatetechnique.Each samplein the
pilot study is subjectedto a complete alternatingfield or
thermaldemagnetization.
Dependingon the numberof sampling horizonsand the numberof samplesper horizon, the

346

PALEOMAGNETIC

DATING

pilot studymightinvolveoneor two samplesfromeachhorizon or from everythird, fifth or tenthhorizon.It is oftenuseful to comparethe resultsof alternatingfield and thermal
demagnetization
on samplesfrom the samehorizon.
From the pilot study,it may be clearthat onemethodof
demagnetization
is moreeffectivethanthe otherin removing
the secondarymagnetizationand that all samplesbehavein
about the sameway during the demagnetizationprocess.If
this is the case, it is acceptableto adopt an abbreviated
demagnetization
procedurefor the remainingsamples.If the
pilot studiesshowno consistentpatternof behavior,it may
be necessaryto subjectall of the samplesto a full demagne-

the laboratorycoordinatesystemto directionsin the field

coordinatesystem.This procedureyieldsdirectionsof magnetizationthat correspondto the actualgeographicand geologic setting.Althoughthe resultscan be analyzedin terms
of these directions, it is often more convenient to transform

the data into virtual geomagneticpoles (VGPs). For a geomagneticfield that is strictly dipolar, there is a one-to-one
correspondencebetween the inclination and declination
observedat a particularpoint on the surfaceof the Earth and
the longitudeand latitude of the axis of the dipole that producesthe field. For example,the angulardistance(p) of the
pole from the point of observationis givenby:

tization procedure.

p = cot-1 (0.5 *tan I )

(4)

Archival

The demagnetization
processleadsto the destructionof
the originalmagnetizationof a sample.Therefore,archiving
of material is not a major issue in paleomagneticstudies.
Nevertheless,it sometimesbecomesappropriateto conduct
additionalmineral magneticstudiesof samples,particularly
on material that has not been heated. For this reason, it is

consideredgoodpracticeto keeppaleomagneticsamplesfor
severalyearsafter a studyhasbeencompleted.

observation in the direction of the declination.

Althoughthe idea that the field is dueto a dipolarsource

is clearly not consistentwith the existenceof secularvariation, representation
of data in terms of VGPs has provento
be a very convenientmathematicaldevice. In particular,it
providesa usefulway of comparingdirectionsfrom sitesin
differentlocations.For example,Figure5 givestheVGP representation

Data Analysis
Data

where I is the inclination.The pole itself is locatedthis distance along a great circle that passesthough the point of

Reduction

As noted above, the orientation information gathered

when a sampleis collectedis usedto convertdirectionsin

of the secular

variation

data from

Paris

the directions.

180

180

/75N

1900

90W

6oo

,,soo

0o

and

Londonshownin Figure 4. When the focusis on the polarity of the geomagneticfield, VGPs are more effectivethan
directionsin showingthat there is a bimodal distributionof

3,

0o

Figure5. Stereographic
projectionof virtualgeomagnetic
poles(VGPs)corresponding
to secularvariationin Parisand
Londonfor the past400 years(afterThellier, 1981).

VEROSUB

Assessmentof Confidence

In paleomagneticstudies the quality of the data is

assessed
by statisticaltests,by field andlaboratorytests,and
by mineralmagnetictests.Paleomagneticdirectionsare seldom analyzed as individual directions.Instead, they are
treatedas statisticalassemblages.
An assemblage
might consist of the primary directionsfrom all of the samplesin a
given horizon. The mean directionfor the horizon is computedby givingeachindividualdirectionthe sameweightin
the averagingprocess.In effect,eachdirectionis treatedas a
unit vector,and the meandirectionis obtainedby summing
the individual

vectors.

Althoughthe mean directionis important,it is equally

importantto know whetherthe directionsare tightly clusteredaboutthe meanor widely scattered.The quantitiesthat
are usedto measurethe scatterare the precisionparameter
(k) andthe alpha-95(ot95).Both of thesequantitiesarebased
on a statistical model known as a Fisherian distribution.

This

distributionis the analogon a sphereof a Gaussiandistribution on a line.

The precisionparameter(k) is a direct measureof the

scatter and can be estimated from the formula:

k = (N- 1)/(N-R)

(5)

whereN is the numberof samplesandR is the lengthof the

resultantvector obtainedby adding the N unit vectors. If
thereis considerablescatter,R will be relativelysmall, i.e.,
closeto one or evenzero, so that k will be small.For tightly
clustereddirections,R will approachN and the value of k
will increasesignificantly.
The (z95represents
twice the standarderror of the mean
and is expressedas a cone of confidenceabout the mean
direction.Specifically,thereis a 95 percentchancethat the
truedirectionfor the assemblage
fallswithin(Z95of themean
direction. As a rule of thumb, two mean directions are con-

sidereddistinctif their conesof confidencedo not overlap

and are not considereddistinctif their conesoverlapsignificantly. More precise ways of interpretingthe amount of
overlap are also available (McFadden and Lowes, 1981;
Demarest, 1983).

In many situationsit is more convenientto performthe

statisticalanalysison the VGPs ratherthan on the directions.

The calculations
are similaralthoughthe analogof the (Z95
for VGPs is designated
astheA95.Groupsof meandirections
or of meanVGPs can alsobe analyzedin termsof precision
parametersand conesof confidence.For example,it might
be of interest to know the mean direction or mean VGP of all

normalhorizonsin a particularinterval.
Statisticaltestsare usedto assessthe quality of the data
that resultsfrom the paleomagnetic
analysisof the samples.
The purposeof field and laboratorytestsof stability is to

347

determineif samplesacquiredtheir magnetization

duringor
shortlyafter they were depositedas sedimentor consolidated as sedimentaryrock (Verosub, 1977). The most common

typeof field testis the fold testwhichcanbe performedonly

if samplescan be collectedfrom two limbs of a deformedor

foldedbed. After the appropriatedemagnetization,

the primary directionsof magnetizationof the two limbs are compared before and after a correctionis made for the effects of
the folding. If the uncorrected(post-folding)directionsare
more tightly clustered,it indicatesthat the deformedmaterial acquiredits magnetizationafterthe folding.If the corrected (pre-folding)directionsare moretightly clustered,it indicatesthat the magnetizationpredatesthe folding.Two other
typesof field testsare the conglomeratetest which involves
the directionsof magnetizationof clastsin a conglomerate
and the baked contact test which involves the directions of

magnetizationof a lava flow and the baked and unbakedsed-

imentbelowit. Both of thesetestshavenot yet foundapplicationin paleoseismicstudies.

The mostcommontype of laboratorytestis the reversal
test, which is only appropriatefor studiesthat involve correlation to the MPTS. The presenceof both normal and
reverseddirectionsin a sedimentarysequenceis usually
taken as strong evidencethat the sequencehas not been
remagnetized.Furthermore,if the normal andreverseddirections are fully antipodal, the demagnetizationprocessis

assumedto have been successfulin isolatingthe primary

directionof magnetization.
It is now consideredappropriateto includesomemineral magneticstudiesaspart of everypaleomagnetic
investigation. The purposeof these mineral magnetic studies,also
knownasrock magneticstudies,is to determinethe natureof
the magneticgrainsthat carrythe paleomagnetic
signal.The
characterizationof these grains involves specificationof
their mineralogy,particlesize and domainstate.Many differenttechniquesandinstrumentscanbe usedin this endeavor, including severalnew ones that have been developed
quite recently (King and Channell, 1991; Verosub and
Roberts,1995). While a full discussion
of the mineralmagnetic parametersis beyondthe scopeof this paper,a few of
the most common ones are described below.

One importantmineralmagneticparameteris the magnetic susceptibilitywhich, as noted above, is the induced

(temporary)magnetizationacquiredby a samplein the presence of a weak magneticfield. Magnetic susceptibilityis
usually measuredwith an inductancebridge that produces
weak alternatingfields of high frequency.Magnetic susceptibility is directlyproportionalto the quantityof magnetic
material in a sample.
Anhystereticremanentmagnetization(ARM) and the
isothermalremanentmagnetization(IRM) are two perma-

348

PALEOMAGNETIC

DATING

ferent graphs,usingtwo differentsymbols(Figure7). The

first graphalwaysportraysthe evolutionof the north-south
componentof the magnetizationversusthe east-westcomponentof the magnetization.
In effect,thisis a graphof the
changesin declinationduringdemagnetization.
The second
graphportraystheevolutionof theverticalcomponent
of the
magnetizationversuseither the east-westcomponent,the
north-south
component,
or the totalhorizontalcomponent.
If
the totalhorizontalcomponentis used,thisis a graphof the
changesin inclinationduringdemagnetization.
If the easttionsin the amountof fine versuscoarsemagneticgrainsin
geologicalmaterials(Banerjeeand others,1981;King and westor north-southcomponentis used,thisis a graphof projection of the inclinationon the appropriateverticalplane.
others, 1982).
The ordinateof the Z-plot representsboth the north-south
IRM is the magnetization
acquiredby a samplethat is
component(of the first graph)and the verticalcomponent
exposedto a (strong)d.c. magneticfield.As theintensityof
the field increases,the acquired magnetizationincreases (of the secondgraph).The abscissaof the Z-plot represents
until the samplebecomesas magnetizedas its mineralogy the east-westcomponent(of the first graph)and eitherthe
north-south,east-west,or total horizontalcomponent(of the
and the laws of thermodynamics
permit. At this point, the
secondgraph).It shouldbe notedthat somepaleomagnetists
magnetization
of the sampleis saidto be saturated.
If this
restrict the use of the term Z-plot to graphsthat involve
magnetization
is measured
in theappliedfield,it is calledthe
vectorcomponents.
Becausethe totalhorizontal
saturationmagnetization.
If this magnetization
is measured orthogonal
after the appliedfield is removed,it is calledthe saturation componentdoesnot satisfythis condition,any graphthat
includedthis componentwould not be considereda Z-plot
remanence.The saturationremanenceis always lower than
by this definition.With practice,it becomesfairy easyto
saturation
magnetization
becauseof thepartiallossof alignvisualize the three-dimensionalbehavior of the magnetizamentof grainsthat occurswhenthe field is removed.The
saturation remanence is also called the saturation isothermal
tion by lookingat the Z-plot.
One of the main usesof Z-plotsis to determineat what
remanentmagnetization(SIRM). If the applied field is
cycledbetweenhigh valuesof both negativeand positive level the secondarycomponentsof the magnetizationhave
polarity,the magnetization
of the samplefollowswhat is
calleda hysteresis
loop (Figure6). The point at whichthe
appliednegativefield drivesthe magnetization
from saturaSaturation
tion back to zero is called the coercivity.The appliedbackMagnetization
field thatdrivesthe remanenceof the samplefrom saturation
to zero is called the coercivityof remanence.
Some magnetic minerals, such as magnetite and
maghemite,saturatein appliedfieldson theorderof 300 mT
Saturation
while other magnetic minerals, such as hematite and
Remanence
goethite,requirefields in excessof 2.5 T for saturationto

nentmagnetizations
producedin thelaboratoryby exposing
a sampleto an externalmagneticfield. In thecaseof ARM,
the sampleis subjected
to a d.c.biasfield in thepresence
of
a decreasing
alternating
magneticfield.Usuallythebiasfield
is comparablein intensityto the Earth'smagneticfield.
ARM is particularlysensitiveto smallgrainswhereasmagnetic susceptibilityis more sensitiveto larger grains.
Therefore,the ratio of magneticsusceptibilityto the ARM
susceptibility
canbe a usefulparameterfor assessing
varia-

occur. In most laboratories the maximum

field that can be

applied is on the order of 1-2 T. Thus, the presenceor

absence of saturation at these values can be used to differen-

tiate betweendifferenttypesof magneticcarriers.

Applied
Field
-0.1T

-O.O5

oercivity

Interpretation

Paleomagnetic
dataareusuallyinterpretedat two levels.
The first level focuseson the behaviorof individual samples

duringthe demagnetization
process.The demagnetization
dataareusuallypresented
in termsof vectorcomponent
diagrams,whichare alsoknownas Zijderveldplots,or simply
asZ-plots.The Z-plot is an attemptto providea two-dimensionalrepresentation
of the three-dimensional
behaviorof
Figure6. Typicalhysteresiscurveshowingrelationshipbetween
saturationmagnetization,
saturationremanenceandcoercivity.
the magnetization.
This is doneby superimposing
two dif-

VEROSUB

349

Paleomagnetic
Dating

E,N',

.I

IE,
E

...

|E.H

Figure 7. Three typesof vectorcomponentdiagrams(or Z-plots). The closedsymbolsare plottedwith respectto the
north-southaxis andthe east-westaxis;the opensymbolsare plottedwith respectto the up-downaxis and to the northsouth(top left), east-west(top right), or total horizontal(bottom) axis. Somepaleomagnetists
would classifyonly the
two upper graphsas Z-plots or Zijderveld diagrams.

been successfullyremovedby the demagnetizationprocedure. Often this can be doneby inspectionof the Z-plot. In
this case,at the initial demagnetizationlevels, the direction
of magnetizationwill changeasthe secondarymagnetization
is preferentiallyremoved(Figure 8). When only the primary
directionremains, the magnetizationwill show little or no
changein direction,and pointson both graphswill move in
straightlinestowardthe origin.Thesestraightline segments
are often usedto computethe primary directionof magnetization. In other cases,it may be harderto separatethe primary directionfrom the secondarydirection,and a sophisticatedcurve-fittingroutinemustbe used(Kirschvink, 1980).
Dependingon the natureof the study,the primary directions are treatedas individual data pointsor, if there are several samplesfrom the samesite or samplinghorizon, they
may be combinedto determinea meandirectionand associatedcz95.
If the maininterestin the studyis thepatternof normal and reversedpolarities,the resultsare usuallyplotted as
a functionof stratigraphic
position(Figure9). Althoughit is
possibleto plot suchdata in termsof their inclinations,the

more commonparameteris the latitudeof the corresponding

VGP as determinedfrom Equation4. From sucha plot, it is
possible to determine the overall pattern of normal and
reversedpolarity intervals.
If the main interestof the studyis the patternof secular
variation,the directionsare oftenpresentedon an orthogonal
plot of declinationversusinclination,which is also called a
Bauer plot (Figure 4). Alternatively,the directionsor their
corresponding
VGPs are plotted on a stereographic
projection (Figure 5). The correlationbetweenthe secularvariation
features in the undated sequenceand those in the dated
sequenceis usually done visually althoughcomputerroutines which do this are now becomingavailable.
APPLICATIONS

TO SEISMIC

HAZARDS

Conventional

As notedabove,the primary applicationsof paleomagnetic datingto seismichazardsinvolvecorrelationof the pat-

350

PALEOMAGNETIC

DATING

N,V

N,V

E,H

E,H

Figure 8. Vectorcomponentdiagramsshowingremovalof secondarycomponentsduringdemagnetization.Large symbol is the initial direction.Primarycomponents

of magnetizationare normal(left) andreversed(right).

tern of paleomagneticdirectionsof an undatedsedimentary

sequenceto either the Magnetic Polarity Time Scale or to a
known curveof secularvariation.In the caseof polaritytransitions,the undatedpattern is called the magneticpolarity
zonation, and the correspondence
betweenit and the MPTS
is the magnetostratigraphic
correlation.If there is reasonto
believe that the rate of sedimentation has been uniform, it is

possibleto correlatethe magneticpolarity zonation to the

MPTS primarily by matching the pattern of the polarity
intervals. However, a magnetic polarity zonation typically
containsbetweenfive and ten polarity zones,and if thereare
no othertime constraintson the undatedsequence,theremay
be several possible correlationsto the MPTS. Thus, it is
important to have some prior estimate of the age of the
sequence.Moreover, the assumptionthat the rate of sedimentationhasbeenuniform may not be valid evenwhen the
sedimentsare quite homogeneous.When there is considerable lithologic variation, the assumptionis almost certainly
inappropriate.For thesereasons,magnetostratigraphic
correlation usually requiresrelatively tight biostratigraphiccontrol or at least one well-dated horizon, for example, an
interbeddedtephra layer (Figure 10). The need for some
prior chronostratigraphic
control may make the paleomagnetic datingappearunnecessary,
however,the magnetostratigraphiccorrelationprovidesan age for eachpolarity boundary, and this usuallyresultsin a much more refinedchronology and importantinformationaboutratesof sedimentation.
The entire procedureis simplifiedconsiderablyif there
is reasonto believethat the top of the sedimentarysequence
representsmodem material. In that case,the uppermostportion of the sequenceshouldbe of normal polarity, and that
polarity zone would correlatewith the Brunheschron. The
correlationof the remainderof the magneticpolarity zona-

7-.

Virtual Geomagnetic Pole

.-J

Latitude

eCO
-90
2000-

--

%1

1950-

--

1900-

1850-

-
1800=

1750=

1700-

--

Figure9. Determination
of a polarityboundaryfor a magneticpolarity zonation (from Ensley and Verosub, 1982). Arrows indicate
changesin latitudeof virtual geomagneticpolesduringdemagnetization. Solid circles indicate final latitudes for the two or three sam-

plesfrom eachhorizon.Permissionto usethis copyrighted

material
is grantedby ElsevierScience-NL,Amsterdam,The Netherlands.

VEROSUB

MPTS

351

MPTS
MPZ

MPZ

2.60Ma

60Ma

Figure 10. Correlationof a magneticpolarityzonation(MPZ) to the MagneticPolarityTime Scale(MPTS) usinga dated

tephralayer.

tion can be done by simply counting down through the

MPTS. This approachwas usedin one of the few published
accountsof the use of paleomagnetismto date faulted material (Davis and others, 1977). The study was done in conjunction with a site survey for a proposednuclear power
plantnearBakersfield,California.The sitewasunderlainby
over 150 meters of sediment,the top 90 meters of which
were normallymagnetized.This normalzone was correlated
to the Brunheschron, and that proved that unfaulted strata
were at least 500,000 years old, the then-currentcriteria for
a capablefault.
The MPTS can evenbe usedto obtainchronostratigraphic informationabouta singlehorizon.In particular,if thehorizon has a reversedpolarity, the horizon is almost certainly
more than780,000 yearsold basedon the age of the last transitionfrom reversedto normalpolarity.On the otherhand,if
the polarityis normal,one can not tell if the sampleacquired
its magnetizationduringthe presentBrunheschronor during
an earliernormal one. For datingbasedon secularvariation,
the well-established,well-dated sequenceof directionsis
called a master curve of secular variation.

Because

secular

variationvarieson a regionalscale,differentmastercurvesare
neededfor differentregions.For the purposesof this discussion,a regionis an areaa few thousandkilometersacross.To
coverthe continentalUnited Stateswould requireat leastsix
mastercurvesof secularvariation (northeast,southeast,north
central,southcentral,northwest,and southwest).At the present time there are only two publishedmaster curves that
cover the entire Holocene in North America.

One of these is a

compositerecordfrom two lakes (Lake St. Croix and Kylen

Lake) in Minnesota(Lund and Banerjee, 1985); the other is

from a singlelake (FishLake) in Oregon(Verosubandothers,
1986). Becauseof this paucityof data,theserecordstend to
serve as the Holocene

master curves for the central United

StatesandwesternUnited States,respectively.
Both master curves are derived

from what are consid-

ered second-generation
paleomagneticstudiesof lake cores.
The hallmarks

of these studies are the careful attention to the

coringprocess,the collectionof replicatecoresto assessthe

internalconsistencyof the data,the detailedinvestigationof
the magnetic carriers and the magnetizationprocess,the
availability of many high-quality radiocarbondates, and
independentvalidationbasedon palynology,tephra studies
or historicaldata.For example,the Fish Lake study(Verosub
and others, 1986) was basedon a suite of eleven cores from

five separateholes, distributedover an area of lessthan 50

m2 on the lake bottom.Six distincttephralayersand numerous thin, distinctly colored bands were used to correlate
betweenthe holes.Age controlwas basedon 18 radiocarbon
dates from Fish Lake as well as 19 radiocarbon

dates from

two nearbylakeswhich containedthe samesix tephralayers.

In addition,one of the tephralayers was associatedwith the
6,800 year old eruptionof Mr. Mazama that led to the formation of Crater Lake, Oregon.Four hundredand fifty-five
paleomagneticsampleswere collectedwith doubleor triple
overlapfor all segments.Mineral magneticstudiesdemonstratedthat the magneticcarrier was relatively fine-grained
magnetiteand that the magnetizationhad been acquiredat or
shortlyafter depositionof the sediment.The data showeda
very high degreeof serial correlationand excellent agree-

352

PALEOMAGNETIC

DATING

mentbetweencorresponding
segmentsof overlappingcores.
Verificationof the compositerecord was achievedby
comparingdirectionsat the Mazama tephrahorizon with
measurements
at CraterLake andby comparingthe direction
at a pollenchangeassociated
with Europeansettlement
with
historicalmeasurementsof the mag-neticfield in Oregon.
The final version of the Fish Lake master curves is shown in

Figure 11. Similar procedures

were usedin developingthe
master curve for the central United States (Lund and

Banerjee,1985).
Dating of a sedimentarysequenceusingsecularvariation involves correlation of secular variation features in the

undatedsequencewith thoseof a mastercurve.A primary

constrainton this approachis thatthe undatedsequencemust
representenoughtime andmusthavea high enoughrate of
sedimentationthat secularvariation featurescan actually be
resolvedin the record. The lowest acceptablerate of sedimentationis about0.1 mm/yr but a rate closerto 1.0 mm/yr

would be much better.The time interval that shouldbe representedby the undatedsequencedependson the morphology of the secularvariationcurvebut, in general,severalhundredto a thousandyearsis probablynecessary.
Becausefeaturesof different age on the mastercurvemay have similar
morphologies,additionalage constraintsare alwaysuseful
and, in somecases,mandatory.If secularvariationfeatures
of theundatedsequencecanbe correlatedwith confidenceto
the master curve, the age of the sequencecan usually be
determinedwith a resolutionof a few hundredyears with
respectto the chronologyof the mastercurve. Individual
horizonsin the undatedsequencecanoftenbe datedto a few
tensof years.However,in all cases,the accuracyis limited
by the accuracyof the datingof the mastercurve.
Dating of a singlehorizonusingsecularvariationis also
possibleunder favorablecircumstances.
A prerequisitefor
doingthis is that the horizonhave a well-definedpaleomagnetic direction. In addition, there must be sufficient non-

paleomagneticage constraintsto localizethe paleomagnetic

directionto a single secularvariation loop. If the undated
paleomagneticdirectionfalls in a regionof the loop where
there are no ambiguities, a valid date can be obtained.
However,if the paleomagneticdirectionfalls off the loop,
overlapswith two portionsof the loop, or coincideswith a
crossingpoint in the loop, the method can not provide a
definitivedate (Figure 12).

2000

180
4000

6000

90W

90OE

8000

10,000
30o

45o

60o

INCLINATION

75o

3400

20o

DECLINATION

Figure 11. Declination and inclination curve from Fish Lake,

Oregon(from Verosuband others,1986). Dashedlines represent
datedtephrahorizons.

Figure 12. Hypotheticalresultof an attemptto dateindividualhorizons using secularvariation.The curve is the recordfrom Fish
Lake, Oregon,for the intervalfrom 8,000 to 6,000 yr B.P. record.
The trianglesrepresenttwo possibleoutcomes,only one of which
yieldsan unambiguous
date.Shadedareais the uncertaintyassociated with each measurement.

VEROSUB

A related applicationof secularvariationto paleoseismic studiesinvolvesthequestionof whethertwo depositional units are contemporaneous.
This approachassumesthat
the units were actuallymagnetizedat the time they were
deposited.If that is the caseand if the two units have similar

paleomagneticdirections,there is a high probabilitythey

theywereformedcontemporaneously.
Becauseof the repetitive natureof secularvariationcurves,contemporaneity
can
neverbe provenusingpaleomagnetism.
On the otherhand,if
the two units have distinctpaleomagneticdirections,it can
be taken as strongevidencethat they formed at different
times.

Experimental

Paleomagnetismhas often been used to detecttectonic

rotationson a regionalscale.In thesestudies,the meanpaleomagneticdeclinationfor a geologicunit is comparedto the
expecteddeclinatonfor that unit. Any significantdifference
is usuallyattributedto rotationabouta vertical axis (Horns
and Verosub, 1995). This approachcan also be used on a
local scale. For example, Salyards and others (1992)
attemptedto assessthe importanceof non-brittledeformation at a site on the SanAndreasFaultby lookingfor variationsin declinationalongsedimentary
horizonsthat crossed
the fault at Pallett Creek. They provided evidencefor as
much as 40 of rotation, which implied that non-brittle
deformationhad beenfar more importantthanbrittle deformation. Nagy and Sieh (1993) recently showedthat there
mighthavebeenproblemswith samplingmethodsusedby
Salyardsand others(1992). Using conventionalsampling
techniques,
Lin andothers(1991) showedthatpaleomagnetic declinationsfor a site on the Imperial Fault were consistent with field observations of non-brittle

deformation

in the

353

otherchronostratigraphic
informationis usuallyrequiredin
orderto makean unambiguous
correlationof the magnetic
polarityzonationto theMPTS. Anotherdisadvantage
is that
the suitabilityof the materialfor paleomagnetic
studycan
only be determinedin the laboratory.
The situationwithrespectto paleomagnetic
datingusing
secularvariationis more problematical.Despitethe efforts
describedabove,questionshave be raisedaboutboth of the
existingmastercurvesfor NorthAmerica.For example,the
mastercurvefrom Lake St. Croix andKylen Lake shouldcorrespondclosely to a record of Holocene secularvariation
from Elk Lake, also located in Minnesota (Sprowl and
Banerjee, 1989). The chronologyof that lake is based on
varvecounting,and from all availableevidence,it too should

have been an excellent recorder of the magnetic field.

Althoughthecorrespondence
betweenthetworecordsis very
goodfor thelast5,000 years,theearlierpartsof therecorddo
not showgoodagreementandare oftensignificantlyout-ofphase.Therearealsomajordiscrepancies
betweenthemaster
curvefrom Lake St. Croix and Kylen Lake and a recordthat
was previouslyproposedas a mastercurve for the central
United States(Creer andTucholka,1982).
The Fish Lake study showsgeneralagreementwith a
lower resolution record of secular variation

Holocene

lava

flows

in

the

western

obtained from

United

States

(Champion,1980) andexcellentagreementwith a high-resolution record of secular variation obtained from archaeo-

logical features in the southwesternUnited States for the

time intervalA.D. 750-1450 (Steinberg,1983;Verosuband

Mehringer, 1984). Good correspondence
can also be found
between features in the Fish Lake record and those in a

3,500-year-long record from Blue Lake in southwestern

Idaho(HannaandVerosub,1988;1989).However,thesepa1940 earthquakethere. More work is neededto determine

rate radiocarbon
chronologies
from the two lakesgive sigthe potentialimportanceof this approachto paleoseismic nificantlydifferentagesfor thesamefeatures,indicatingthat
studies.
at leastoneof the two chronologies
is wrong.
Thesedisagreements
anddiscrepancies
demonstrate
that
ADVANTAGES
AND DISADVANTAGES
therearesignificant
problemswith theradiocarbon
datingof
lacustrinesedimentsand that there may also be problems
If a sitethatis the subjectof a paleoseismic
studyconwith the paleomagneticrecordingprocessas well. These
tainsa continuously-deposited
sequenceof relativelyfineproblemsrepresentinherentuncertaintiesin the method,and
grainedsedimentarymaterial,paleomagnetic
datingbased they may explainwhy it is hard to find studiesin which the
on the MPTS can provide a rapid, inexpensivemeansof
dating was basedon correlationto mastercurvesof secular
establishingthe broadchronologicalframeworkof the site.
variation obtained from lacustrine sediments. In fact, in
In addition,the procedurefor collectingthe samplesis relaarchaeologicalstudies in the American Southwest,where
tively simple and becausethe main goal is to determine secularvariation dating has been successfullyused, the
whetherthe samplesareof normalor reversedpolarity,high
"mastercurve"is usuallya local one, derivedfrom nearby
precisionis not requiredin orientingthe samples.However, archaeological
sitesand spanningonly a few hundredyears
unlessthe youngestmaterialin the sequenceis knownto be
(Eighmyand Steinberg,1990). Two otherpublishedexammodem,the sequence
mustrepresenta sufficienttime interples of dating using secularvariationinvolve a nineteenthval to encompass
severalpolarityintervals.In addition,some
centurykiln (Dunlop and Zinn, 1980) and a seventeenth-or

354

PALEOMAGNETIC

DATING

eighteenth-century
lava flow (Symons,1974). In both cases
the secularvariationcurve was extrapolatedfrom observatory measurements
and the uncertaintyin the age determination was about +_50years.
Thus, despitethe fact that secularvariation dating is
often invoked in discussionsof paleomagneticapplications
(Verosub,1988), in practice,it is not commonlyused,andits
ability to providehigh-resolutiondatesappearsto be fairly
limited.

FUTURE

DEVELOPMENTS

Recently there has been considerableprogressin the

developmentof a methodologyfor obtainingrelative paleointensityvaluesfrom sediments(Tauxe, 1993). In addition,
thereis growingevidencefor globalcoherenceof the relative
paleointensitysignal. For example,Tric and others(1992)
produceda recordfrom the MediterraneanSea that extends
back to 80 kyr. This record is in agreementwith, and has
been calibratedagainst,paleointensitydata from lavas covering the period0 - 40 kyr. The recordalsoshowssignificant
agreementwith earlier studiesfrom the westernequatorial
Pacific (Tauxe and Valet, 1989). Meynadier and others
(1992) extendedthe record back to 140 kyr in the Somali
Basin, and confirmatoryevidencerelated to this time interval has been providedby Schneider(1993) and Robertsand
others (1994).
The coherenceof theserecordsmarks a significantstep
toward the establishmentof a credible paleointensityreference curve for the last severalhundredthousandyears and
raisesthe possibilitythat the relativepaleointensitycouldbe
used for paleomagneticdating. The time scalefor paleoin-

tensity variationsfalls in the range between 10,000 and

100,000 years which is intermediatebetweenthe resolution
provided by secular variation features and by magnetostratigraphy.The developmentof the u-channelsampling
techniqueand the availability of continuousmeasurement
magnetometers(Nagy and Valet, 1993, Weeks and others,
1993) make it feasibleto considerusingrelativepaleointensity measurementsas a dating technique.
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