ESC111

Lecture 7
Paleomagnetism

ESC111 - 2024
 Paleomagnetism

• Outline:
• What is Paleomagnetism?
• How do rocks develop their
magnetism?
• Apparent Polar Wander Paths

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 Paleomagnetism

• The study of the direction and intensity of the Earth's magnetic field
through geologic time through the remnant magnetization found in
rocks
• Why is Paleomagnetism important?
• By studying the records of the ancient magnetic field left in rocks, earth
scientists are able to learn how the continental and oceanic plates have moved
relative to the Earth's spin axis and relative to one another.
• Any drastic changes in the earth’s magnetic field can have serious
consequences for life on earth
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 Earth’s
magnetic field
• A magnetic field has a north and south
pole
• The earth’s magnetic north and south pole
align closely (but not exactly) with the
geographic poles. (What are the
geographic poles???)
• The magnetic field works much the same as a magnetic field produced by a bar magnet
• Invisible lines of force pass through the earth and extend from one pole to the other
• A compass needle becomes aligned with these lines of force and point towards the
magnetic poles
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 Cause of Earth’s
magnetic field
• Earth's rotation causes its molten
metal (iron) outer core to rotate
• The movement of these molten hot
metals generates electrical currents,
which in turn generates a magnetic
field

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 Dipole

• We define the dipole of the earth as

an imaginary arrow that points
from the north magnetic pole to the
south magnetic pole and passes
through the centre of the earth
• The earth’s dipole tilts at about 11
degrees to the planet’s rotational
axis
• Therefore, geographic and
magnetic poles do not coincide

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 Magnetic
declination
• The angle between the direction that
a compass needle points at a given
location and the direction to “true”
north (geographic) is called
magnetic declination
• This angle between magnetic north and
geographic north is dependant upon
location on the earth, so on each
compass, the declination should be set
for where the compass will be used for
accuracy
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 Direction of
Magnetic field lines
• As seen from space in cross-
section magnetic field lines are:
• Parallel to the earth’s surface at the equator
• Lines are tilted at mid-latitudes
• At magnetic poles the lines are
perpendicular to the earth’s surface

• Magnetic Inclination
• The angle that the magnetic field lines make with the horizontal of the earth’s surface
• The magnetic inclination is 0° at the magnetic equator and 90° at each of the magnetic
poles
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 Why are some rocks magnetic?

• Magnetite and other iron-rich minerals act like a permanent magnet

• Small crystals of these minerals occur in many rocks, including
basalt
• Each mineral crystal produces a tiny magnetic force, the sum of all
the magnetic forces produced by these crystals makes the rock as a
whole magnetic
• With increased sensitivity on instruments, this magnetic force may be
measured
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 How does the rock develop this
magnetism???
• Basalt is an iron-containing igneous rock that forms when lava cools and solidifies
• At the initial stages, the basalt is at a very high temperature and atoms are unstable, so basalt in
its early stages is not magnetic
• As the basalt decreases in temperature, the rock starts to solidify, the magnetic crystals and their
atoms then become more stable
• The dipoles of all the atoms slowly become parallel with each other and the magnetic field
lines at their location of cooling
• When the basalt reaches temperatures of 350 to 50 degrees Celsius, the dipoles lock into position
• The dipoles of the basalt then point in the direction of the magnetic pole and the basalt becomes
a permanent magnet
• So it provides a record of the earth’s magnetic field lines relative to the rock at the time it
cooled. (Paleomagnetism)
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 How does the rock develop this
magnetism???

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 Polar Wandering
• Magnetic field measurements in basalt that formed millions of years ago did not point to the
present day magnetic poles
• Magnetic alignment in rocks of different ages was shown to vary widely (showing different
locations of magnetic north)
• A map was constructed to show the location of the magnetic north pole that these ancient rocks
where pointing to which were called “polar wander paths”
• Polar wander paths were constructed for several continents
• Scientists found America and Europe had the same apparent paths during 280 and 180 millions years ago
• Several other continents showed varied paths
• This meant that either the magnetic poles had migrated through time = Polar Wandering,
Or the lava flows (continents) had moved
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 Polar Wandering

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 More recent rapid movement of the
Magnetic North Pole

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