Multicellular life blossomed when Earth’s magnetic field was at an all-time low.
paleomagnetism
Posted inEditors' Highlights
The Not-So-Quiet Cretaceous Quiet Zone
A new study finds that Earth’s magnetic field intensity varied significantly during the Cretaceous Normal Superchron, providing insights into the operation of the geodynamo during superchrons.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
GAD is Enough!
An exhaustive study in China finds no need to invoke extreme true polar wander nor anomalous geomagnetic fields in the early Neoproterozoic.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Greenland Could Have Records of 3.7-billion-year-old Geomagnetic Fields
Scientists argue that paleomagnetic field tests preserve a geomagnetic field record acquired as chemical remnant magnetization in banded iron formations in southwest Greenland.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Should I Stay or Should I Go…To Another Paleomagnetic Site?
When collecting a finite number of paleomagnetic samples, having more sites, each with only one sample, achieves superior results compared to sites with multiple samples.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Extraordinary Polar Wander During the Late Jurassic?
Small amounts of polar wander have occurred during geological history, but whether larger amounts occurred is still controversial. Did a truly large polar wander event really happen?
Posted inOpinions
Changing Name for Earth’s Changing Poles
The name of one geomagnetic pole reversal, the Laschamps excursion, somehow lost its s as it wandered through the scientific literature. It’s time to set the record straight.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Challenging the Day Diagram, a Rock Magnetism Paradigm
A critique of the plot routinely used to determine bulk magnetic properties concludes the technique is so ambiguous that new approaches to understanding magnetic mineral assemblages must be developed.
Posted inAGU News
Booker Receives 2017 William Gilbert Award
John R. Booker will receive the 2017 William Gilbert Award at the 2017 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 11–15 December in New Orleans, La. The award recognizes “outstanding and unselfish work in magnetism of Earth materials and of the Earth and planets.”
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Diagnosing Cryptic Remagnetization in Sedimentary Rocks
To understand the ancient movement of Earth’s tectonic plates, comprehensive magnetic and petrographic studies are needed to detect secondary magnetization in carbonates and other sedimentary rocks.