"This book by Lisa Tauxe and others is a marvelous tool for education and research in Paleomagnetism. Many students in the U.S. and around the world will welcome this publication, which was previously only available via the Internet. Professor Tauxe has performed a service for teaching and research that is utterly unique."—Neil D. Opdyke, University of Florida
This reference encompasses the fields of Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism in a single volume. Both sciences have applications in navigation, in the search for minerals and hydrocarbons, in dating rock sequences, and in unraveling past geologic movements such as plate motions they have contributed to a better understanding of the Earth. The book describes in fine detail the current state of knowledge and provides an up-to-date synthesis of the most basic concepts. It is an indispensable working tool not only for geophysicists and geophysics students but also for geologists, physicists, atmospheric and environmental scientists, and engineers.
Paleomagnetism is the study of the fossil magnetism in rocks. It has been paramount in determining that the continents have drifted over the surface of the Earth throughout geological time. The fossil magnetism preserved in the ocean floor has demonstrated how continental drift takes place through the process of sea-floor spreading. The methods and techniques used in paleomagnetic studies of continental rocks and of the ocean floor are described and then applied to determining horizontal movements of the Earth's crust over geological time. An up-to-date review of global paleomagnetic data enables 1000 million years of Earth history to be summarized in terms of the drift of the major crustal blocks over the surface of the Earth. The first edition of McElhinny's book was heralded as a "classic and definitive text." It thoroughly discussed the theory of geomagnetism, the geologic reversals of the Earth's magnetic field, and the shifting of magnetic poles. In the 25 years since the highly successful first edition of Palaeomagnetism and Plate Tectonics (Cambridge, 1973) the many advances in the concepts, methodology, and insights into paleomagnetism warrant this new treatment. This completely updated and revised edition of Paleomagnetism: Continents and Oceans will be a welcome resource for a broad audience of earth scientists as well as laypeople curious about magnetism, paleogeography, geology, and plate tectonics. Because the book is intended for a wide audience of geologists, geophysicists, and oceanographers, it balances the mathematical and descriptive aspects of each topic. - Details the theory and methodology of rock magnetism, with particular emphasis on intrepreting crustal movements from continental and oceanic measurements - Outlines Earth history for the past 1000 million years, from the Rodinia super-continent through its breakup and the formation of Gondwana to the formation and breakup of Pangea and the amalgamation of Eurasia - Provides a comprehensive treatment of oceanic paleomagnetism - Provides a set of color pateogeographic maps covering the past 250 million years - Written by two internationally recognized experts in the field
This book describes the paleomagnetism of sediments and sedimentary rocks, how sediments and sedimentary rocks become magnetized, and how the physical and chemical processes involved can affect the accuracy of paleomagnetism. Topics covered include depositional and post-depositional remanence acquisition, the detection and correction of compaction-caused inclination shallowing, reduction diagenesis of magnetic minerals, chemical remagnetization, and rotation of remanence by grain-scale rock strain. The book also has a chapter on environmental paleomagnetism, including examples of the new technique of high-resolution rock magnetic cyclostratigraphy and its application to sedimentary sequences. By emphasising the accuracy of sedimentary paleomagnetism and the magnitude of post-depositional processes that can affect it, the book will be invaluable in the geologic interpretation of sedimentary paleomagnetic data. Paleomagnetism of Sedimentary Rocks will be welcomed by paleomagnetists, students of paleomagnetism and all Earth scientists who use sedimentary paleomagnetic data in their research. Additional resources for this book can be found at: www.wiley.com/go/kodama/paleomagnetism.
Paleomagnetic data are useful in many applications in Earth Science from determining paleocurrent directions to analyzing the long-term behavior of the geomagnetic field. In this book, an attempt has been made to draw together the various principles and practices within paleomagnetism in a consistent and up-to-date manner. It includes many practical examples that illustrate various applications of paleomagnetism. A companion software package implements the theory explained in the text. Audience: This volume is aimed at professional Earth Scientists using paleomagnetic data for their research. It is also suitable for use as a text book for students in courses with a paleomagnetic content. In addition, this volume will be of value to other professionals with an interest in the analysis of vector and tensor data in general.
Topics involved in studies of the Earth's magnetic field and its secular variation range from the intricate observations of geomagnetism, to worldwide studies of archeomagnetism and paleomagnetism, through to the complex mathematics of dynamo theory. Traditionally these different aspects of geomagnetism have in the main been studied and presented in isolation from each other. This text draws together these lines of inquiry into an integrated framework to highlight the interrelationships and thus to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the geomagnetic field.
During the last 30 years the study of the magnetic properties of rocks and minerals has substantially contributed to several fields of science. Perhaps the best known and most significant advances have resulted from the study of palaeomagnetism, which led to quantitative confirmation of continental drift and polar wandering through interpretation of the direction of remanent magnetism observed in rocks of different ages from different continents. Palaeomagnetism has also, through observations of reversals of magnetiz ation, ancient secular variation and ancient field intensities provided data relevant to the origin of the geomagnetic field, and other investigations have contributed significantly to large-scale and local geological studies, the dating of archaeological events and artefacts and more recently to lunar and meteoritic studies. Rock and mineral magnetism has proved to be an interesting study in its own right through the complex magnetic properties and interactions observed in the iron-titanium oxide and iron sulphide minerals, as well as contributing to our understanding of remanent magnetism and magnetization processes in rocks. Simultaneous with the development of these studies has been the develop ment of instruments and techniques for the wide range of investigations involved.
