Some statistical properties of palaeomagnetic directions in Icelandic lava flows
This paper extends the efforts of Kristjansson & McDougall to obtain a semi-quantitative description of various long-term (0.1–10 Myr) properties of the geomagnetic field in Iceland. Due to the long time intervals between eruptions of the lavas recording the field, local average and stochastic p...
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1985
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fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:gji:80/1/57 2023-05-15T16:47:49+02:00 Some statistical properties of palaeomagnetic directions in Icelandic lava flows Kristjansson, L. 1985-01-01 00:00:00.0 text/html http://gji.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/80/1/57 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.1985.tb05078.x en eng Oxford University Press http://gji.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/80/1/57 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.1985.tb05078.x Copyright (C) 1985, Oxford University Press Articles TEXT 1985 fthighwire https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.1985.tb05078.x 2015-02-28T22:52:00Z This paper extends the efforts of Kristjansson & McDougall to obtain a semi-quantitative description of various long-term (0.1–10 Myr) properties of the geomagnetic field in Iceland. Due to the long time intervals between eruptions of the lavas recording the field, local average and stochastic properties are emphasized, rather than detailed aspects such as pole paths. These properties can be represented by smooth functions of virtual-pole latitude. It is possible to describe both the frequency distribution of virtual poles in latitude and the estimated frequency of geomagnetic reversals, by a simple process of random walk of the pole. This is also in agreement with the observed long-term symmetry of the reversal process, and demonstrates that memory effects are unnecessary to account for the behaviour of the field. The average transition time for the field isofthe order of 5–6000 yr. Right-handedness is a pervasive property of the field in Iceland, apparently increasing with age. It is demonstrated that the size of palaeomagnetic collections in lava sequences has to be much larger than 20 units in order to yield consistent values of statistical parameters for mean palaeofield directions. Text Iceland HighWire Press (Stanford University) Geophysical Journal International 80 1 57 71 |
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HighWire Press (Stanford University) |
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English |
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Articles |
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Articles Kristjansson, L. Some statistical properties of palaeomagnetic directions in Icelandic lava flows |
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description |
This paper extends the efforts of Kristjansson & McDougall to obtain a semi-quantitative description of various long-term (0.1–10 Myr) properties of the geomagnetic field in Iceland. Due to the long time intervals between eruptions of the lavas recording the field, local average and stochastic properties are emphasized, rather than detailed aspects such as pole paths. These properties can be represented by smooth functions of virtual-pole latitude. It is possible to describe both the frequency distribution of virtual poles in latitude and the estimated frequency of geomagnetic reversals, by a simple process of random walk of the pole. This is also in agreement with the observed long-term symmetry of the reversal process, and demonstrates that memory effects are unnecessary to account for the behaviour of the field. The average transition time for the field isofthe order of 5–6000 yr. Right-handedness is a pervasive property of the field in Iceland, apparently increasing with age. It is demonstrated that the size of palaeomagnetic collections in lava sequences has to be much larger than 20 units in order to yield consistent values of statistical parameters for mean palaeofield directions. |
format |
Text |
author |
Kristjansson, L. |
author_facet |
Kristjansson, L. |
author_sort |
Kristjansson, L. |
title |
Some statistical properties of palaeomagnetic directions in Icelandic lava flows |
title_short |
Some statistical properties of palaeomagnetic directions in Icelandic lava flows |
title_full |
Some statistical properties of palaeomagnetic directions in Icelandic lava flows |
title_fullStr |
Some statistical properties of palaeomagnetic directions in Icelandic lava flows |
title_full_unstemmed |
Some statistical properties of palaeomagnetic directions in Icelandic lava flows |
title_sort |
some statistical properties of palaeomagnetic directions in icelandic lava flows |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
1985 |
url |
http://gji.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/80/1/57 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.1985.tb05078.x |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_relation |
http://gji.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/80/1/57 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.1985.tb05078.x |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 1985, Oxford University Press |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.1985.tb05078.x |
container_title |
Geophysical Journal International |
container_volume |
80 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
57 |
op_container_end_page |
71 |
_version_ |
1766037927129776128 |