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Paleomagnetism of early cretaceous arapey formation (Northern Uruguay)

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Abstract

We report detailed rock-magnetic and paleomagnetic directional data from 35 lava flows (302 standard paleomagnetic cores) sampled in the Central-Northern region of Uruguay in order to contribute to the study of the paleosecular variation of the Earth’s magnetic field during early Cretaceous and to obtain precise Cretaceous paleomagnetic pole positions for stable South America. The average unit direction is rather precisely determined from 29 out of 35 sites. All A95 confidence angles are less than 8°, which points to small within-site dispersion and high directional stability. Normal polarity magnetizations are revealed for 19 sites and 10 are reversely magnetized. Two other sites yield well defined intermediate polarities. The mean direction, supported by a positive reversal test is in reasonably good agreement with the expected paleodirection for Early Cretaceous stable South America and in disagreement with a 10° clockwise rotation found in the previous studies. On the other hand, paleomagnetic poles are significantly different from the pole position suggested by hotspot reconstructions, which may be due to true polar wander or the hotspot motion. Our data suggest a different style of secular variation during (and just before) the Cretaceous Normal Superchron and the last 5 Ma, supporting a link between paleosecular variation and reversal frequency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio Interinstitucional de Magnetismo Natural, Instituto de Geofísica — Sede Michoacán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Campus Morelia, 58089, Morelia, Mexico

    Miguel Cervantes Solano, Avto Goguitchaichvili & Ruben Cejudo Ruiz

  2. Departamento de Geología, Area Geofísica-Geotectónica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, 11200, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Leda Sánchez Bettucci

  3. Laboratorio de Paleomagnetismo, Departamento de Física, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad de Burgos, C/Francisco de Vitoria, s/n, 09006, Burgos, Spain

    Manuel Calvo-Rathert

  4. Departamento de Física de la Tierra, Astronomía y Astrofísica I, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Vicente Carlos Ruiz-Martinez

  5. Instituto Geológico y Minero de Espa`na (IGME), Zaragoza, Spain

    Ruth Soto

  6. Laboratorio de Paleomagnetismo, Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 04510, México DF, Mexico

    Luis M. Alva-Valdivia

Authors
  1. Miguel Cervantes Solano
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  2. Avto Goguitchaichvili
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  3. Leda Sánchez Bettucci
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  4. Ruben Cejudo Ruiz
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  5. Manuel Calvo-Rathert
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  6. Vicente Carlos Ruiz-Martinez
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  7. Ruth Soto
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  8. Luis M. Alva-Valdivia
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Correspondence to Avto Goguitchaichvili.

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Solano, M.C., Goguitchaichvili, A., Bettucci, L.S. et al. Paleomagnetism of early cretaceous arapey formation (Northern Uruguay). Stud Geophys Geod 54, 533–546 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11200-010-0032-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11200-010-0032-8

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