Elevated paleomagnetic dispersion at Saint Helena suggests long-lived anomalous behavior in the South Atlantic

Earth’s magnetic field is presently characterized by a large and growing anomaly in the South Atlantic Ocean. The question of whether this region of Earth’s surface is preferentially subject to enhanced geomagnetic variability on geological timescales has major implications for core dynamics, core−m...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 117; no. 31; pp. 18258 - 18263
Main Authors Engbers, Yael A., Biggin, Andrew J., Bono, Richard K.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 04.08.2020
Subjects
Dipoles
Dispersion
Earth surface
Geology
Geomagnetic field
Geomagnetism
Magnetic fields
Magnetism
Paleomagnetism
Physical Sciences
Polarity
Secular variations
Volcanic islands
United States > US
Atlantic Ocean
reversals
secular variation
core dynamics
core−mantle boundary
South Atlantic Anomaly
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Summary:Earth’s magnetic field is presently characterized by a large and growing anomaly in the South Atlantic Ocean. The question of whether this region of Earth’s surface is preferentially subject to enhanced geomagnetic variability on geological timescales has major implications for core dynamics, core−mantle interaction, and the possibility of an imminent magnetic polarity reversal. Here we present paleomagnetic data from Saint Helena, a volcanic island ideally suited for testing the hypothesis that geomagnetic field behavior is anomalous in the South Atlantic on timescales of millions of years. Our results, supported by positive baked contact and reversal tests, produce a mean direction approximating that expected from a geocentric axial dipole for the interval 8 to 11 million years ago, but with very large associated directional dispersion. These findings indicate that, on geological timescales, geomagnetic secular variation is persistently enhanced in the vicinity of Saint Helena. This, in turn, supports the South Atlantic as a locus of unusual geomagnetic behavior arising from core−mantle interaction, while also appearing to reduce the likelihood that the present-day regional anomaly is a precursor to a global polarity reversal.
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Edited by Lisa Tauxe, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, and approved June 12, 2020 (received for review January 21, 2020)
Author contributions: A.J.B. designed research; Y.A.E. and A.J.B. performed research; Y.A.E. analyzed data; and Y.A.E., A.J.B., and R.K.B. wrote the paper.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2001217117