Characteristic wavelengths in VGP trajectories from magnetostratigraphic data of the Early Cretaceous Serra Geral lava piles, southern Brazil
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Published:January 01, 2013
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CiteCitation
George Caminha-Maciel, Marcia Ernesto, 2013. "Characteristic wavelengths in VGP trajectories from magnetostratigraphic data of the Early Cretaceous Serra Geral lava piles, southern Brazil", Magnetic Methods and the Timing of Geological Processes, L. Jovane, E. Herrero-Bervera, L.A. Hinnov, B. Housen
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Abstract
The virtual geomagnetic pole (VGP) trajectories during some geomagnetic polarity reversals of different ages are marked by anisotropic behaviour. This recurrent phenomenon may be reflected in the paleomagnetic data, even if the transitional field was not completely recorded. As the long-scale geomagnetic variations have a confined oscillatory character, the VGP paths from stratigraphically controlled sequences may be described on the basis of sine and cosine functions, even if time is not the independent variable. Here we considered longitude (or space) as the independent variable which had to be ‘unrolled’ to overcome the 360° repetitions as the VGPs moved around...
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Magnetic Methods and the Timing of Geological Processes

Magnetostratigraphy is best known as a technique that employs correlation among different stratigraphic sections using the magnetic directions defining geomagnetic polarity reversals as marker horizons. The ages of the polarity reversals provide common tie points among the sections, allowing accurate time correlation. Recently, studies of magnetic methods and the timing of geological processes have acquired a broader meaning, now referring to many types of magnetic measurements within a stratigraphic sequence. Many of these measurements provide correlation and age control not only for the older and younger boundaries of a polarity interval, but also within intervals. Thus, magnetostratigraphy no longer represents a dating tool based only on geomagnetic polarity reversals, but comprises a set of techniques that includes measurements of geomagnetic field parameters, environmental magnetism, rock-magnetic properties, radiometric dating and astronomically forced palaeoclimatic change recorded in sedimentary rocks, and key corrections to magnetic directions related to geodynamics, palaeocurrents, tectonics and diagenetic processes.