Open AccessTesting a palaeomagnetic study for the averaging of secular variation
Author(s) -
McFadden P. L.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
geophysical journal of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0016-8009
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1980.tb04312.x
Subject(s) - secular variation , variation (astronomy) , mathematics , statistics , statistical physics , geology , physics , astrophysics , geophysics
Summary. It is shown that the interval estimate for K given by Cox (1969) is inappropriate as a test for determining whether secular variation has been averaged out in a particular study. The appropriate test is presented in two formulations, one for use with χ 2 tables and the other for use with F tables. The well known secular variation models are investigated and it is shown that Model A due to Irving & Ward (1964) is, statistically, the most efficient predictor. Finally, for the 83 palaeomagnetic results selected by Brock (1971), it is shown that the most efficient predictor for the secular variation K is k ′= 18.1 (1 + 3 sin 2 λ), where λ is the palaeolatitude, and the uncertainty in this predicted value is discussed.