Paleomagnetic results from the upper Keweenawan Chequamegon Sandstone: implications for red bed diagenesis and Late Precambrian apparent polar wander of North America

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
• Main Authors: McCabe, Chad, Voo, Rob Van der
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1983
• Subjects: North Pole
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e83-010; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e83-010

Two components of magnetization have been isolated from Chequamegon Sandstone samples using chemical demagnetization. A characteristic magnetization resides in magnetite of detrital origin. The pole calculated from this magnetization is 12.3°S, 177.7°E (K = 111.5, A 95 = 4.6°). This pole lies with other poles of late Keweenawan age and is very close to the Jacobsville Sandstone poles. A secondary magnetization resides in authigenic hematite and yields a pole close to the present north pole. This high-latitude pole is known from an earlier study of the Chequamegon and has been used as evidence for the Hadrynian APW track. However, most if not all of the high-latitude poles that define the Hadrynian track are secondary and undated. Our preferred alternative to the Hadrynian track is that the high-latitude poles are recent remagnetizations and that the antipodal equatorial poles that mark its end points represent field reversals.