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Magnetostratigraphic timescale of the Phanerozoic and its description using a cumulative distribution function

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Abstract

A method is proposed for quantified structuring of a magnetochronological scale of the Phanerozoic, i.e., the construction of a magnetostratigraphic timescale on the basis of a cumulative function of geomagnetic field asymmetry with regard for the polarity sign. Analysis of the cumulative curve reveals basic characteristic patterns of the field evolution in the Phanerozoic: the reversed polarity being predominant in this epoch, three megachrons of variable polarity are identified against this background: Paleozoic R13 (468-315 Ma), Mesozoic N6 (258-123 Ma), and Cenozoic R10 (83-0 Ma). The megachrons are subdivided into hyper-and superchrons and are separated by single polarity hyperchrons. Most important are changes in the general trend of the polarity bias in the Middle Triassic and at the Paleogene/Cretaceous boundary. Data of fractal and wavelet analyses suggest the presence of two regimes of geomagnetic field generation: chaotically distributed frequent reversals (geodynamo) and a stable polarity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Saratov State University, ul. Astrakhanskaya 83, Saratov, 410012, Russia

    E. A. Molostovskii & I. Yu. Frolov

  2. Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, Bol’shaya Gruzinskaya ul. 10, Moscow, 123995, Russia

    D. M. Pechersky

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  1. E. A. Molostovskii
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  2. D. M. Pechersky
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Original Russian Text © E.A. Molostovskii, D.M. Pechersky, I.Yu. Frolov, 2007, published in Fizika Zemli, 2007, No. 10, pp. 15–23.

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Molostovskii, E.A., Pechersky, D.M. & Frolov, I.Y. Magnetostratigraphic timescale of the Phanerozoic and its description using a cumulative distribution function. Izv., Phys. Solid Earth 43, 811–818 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1069351307100035

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