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Geomagnetic Field, Polarity Reversals

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Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics

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Introduction: The discovery of geomagnetic reversals

Bernard Brunhes (1906) was the first to measure magnetization directions in rocks that were approximately antiparallel to the present Earth’s field. Brunhes (1906) recorded magnetizations in baked sedimentary rocks that were aligned with reverse magnetization directions in overlying Miocene lavas from central France (Puy de Dome). In so doing, Brunhes (1906) made first use of a field test for primary thermal remanent magnetization (TRM) that is now referred to as the “baked contact” test. Matuyama (1929) was the first to attribute reverse magnetizations in (volcanic) rocks from Japan and China to reversal of geomagnetic polarity, and to differentiate mainly Pleistocene lavas from mainly Pliocene lavas based on the polarity of the magnetization. In this respect, Matuyama (1929) was the first person to use the sequence of geomagnetic reversals as a means of ordering rock sequences.

The reality of geomagnetic reversals was then...

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Acknowledgments

I thank Alain Mazaud for helpful discussions during the writing of the manuscript.

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  1. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat, Unité mixte CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91190, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Carlo Laj

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  1. National Geophysical Research Institute, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Hyderabad, India

    Harsh K. Gupta

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Laj, C. (2011). Geomagnetic Field, Polarity Reversals. In: Gupta, H.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8702-7_116

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