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Feasibility of a synchronized correlation between Hawaiian hot spot volcanism and geomagnetiC polarity
Author(s) -
Marzocchi Warner,
Mulargia Francesco
Publication year - 1990
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/gl017i008p01113
Subject(s) - earth's magnetic field , polarity (international relations) , geology , volcano , geophysics , volcanism , physics , paleontology , magnetic field , tectonics , chemistry , quantum mechanics , cell , biochemistry
If a correlation existed between the volcanic eruptive activity of the Hawaiian–Emperor chain and the Earth's magnetic field it would be a very important evidence of a link between outer core convection to Earth surface phenomena. In the quantitative definition of the problem, the main difficulty is the scarcity of reliable data. A careful scrutiny of the available data shows that a statistical study is possible only for the last 7.2 million years. In order to obtain a meaningful answer we apply two independent statistical tests related to the validity of the following hypotheses: a) the probability of occurrence of volcanic events is independent of polarity; b) the volume of the erupted material is independent of polarity. We find no evidence supporting the existence of a correlation between eruptive activity and geomagnetic polarity and hence there is no evidence for a direct link between the core and surface phenomena.