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A Paleocene North American paleomagnetic pole incorporating declination‐Only data
Author(s) -
Gordon Richard G.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl011i005p00477
Subject(s) - paleomagnetism , declination , geology , geodesy , apparent polar wander , clockwise , geodetic datum , magnetic declination , geomagnetic pole , paleontology , ellipse , earth's magnetic field , seismology , north pole , geometry , rotation (mathematics) , physical geography , geography , physics , magnetic field , mathematics , quantum mechanics , astronomy
A problem in determining apparent polar wander paths for the continents is how to incorporate the valid declinations from paleomagnetic studies that have measured shallowly biased inclinations (i.e. inclination error). It is proposed that in such cases pole positions and confidence limits be determined using a method previously applied only to paleomagnetic data from oceanic plates. Applying this method to paleomagnetic data from 67‐55 Ma rocks of North America, a paleomagnetic pole, 78.7°N, 185.1°E, and 95% confidence ellipse, 6.0° major semiaxis striking 105° clockwise from north and minor semiaxis of 3.7°, were determined. An analysis of the information content of the data shows that the single declination‐only datum, from the Nacimiento Formation (New Mexico), contains 31% of the information, which would have been wasted by conventional paleomagnetic analysis if excluded or caused a bias if the inclination had also been included.