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Plate tectonic and palaeomagnetic implications for the age of the Deccan Traps and the magnetic anomaly time scale

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Abstract

IF reconstructions of plate tectonic movement based on magnetic anomaly data are found to be inconsistent with reconstructions based on palaeomagnetic data (see refs 1–3) it may indicate that one or more of the basic assumptions of the plate tectonic model is erroneous; the age or identification of a particular anomaly may be incorrect, the pole positions or sample ages may be unreliable, or there may be an error in assessing plate rigidity. We present an example of inconsistency between the two types of data and explore its implications for the chronology of magnetic reversals during the late Cretaceous and early Tertiary and for the age of the Deccan Traps.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

    PETER MOLNAR

  2. Centre Océanologique de Bretagne, BP 337, 29273, Brest, Cedex, France

    JEAN FRANCHETEAU

Authors
  1. PETER MOLNAR
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  2. JEAN FRANCHETEAU
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MOLNAR, P., FRANCHETEAU, J. Plate tectonic and palaeomagnetic implications for the age of the Deccan Traps and the magnetic anomaly time scale. Nature 255, 128–130 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/255128a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/255128a0

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