scholarly journals A geomagnetic polarity timescale for the Carboniferous

2020 ◽  
pp. SP512-2020-102
Author(s):  
Mark W. Hounslow

AbstractThe geomagnetic polarity pattern for the Carboniferous is incompletely known, but with the best resolved parts in the Serpukhovian and Bashkirian. Hence, data from both igneous and sedimentary units are also used in an additional polarity bias evaluation. In the Tournaisian to mid Visean interval polarity is mainly derived from palaeopole-type palaeomagnetic studies, allowing identification of polarity bias chrons. Seven polarity bias chrons exist in the Mississippian (MI1nB to MI4nB) with an additional 33 conventional magnetochrons and submagnetochrons (MI4r to MI9r). The Moscovian and Gzhelian polarity is best resolved in magnetostratigraphic studies from the Donets Basin and the southern Urals. Dispute about the reliability of these data is ill-founded, since an assessment of supporting data from palaeopole-type studies suggests that these datasets currently provide the best magnetic polarity data through the Pennsylvanian. Polarity bias assessment indicates a normal polarity bias zone in the Kasimovian. In the Pennsylvanian there are 27 conventional magnetochrons and submagnetochrons (PE1n to CI1r) and one normal polarity bias chron (PE8nB). The Kiaman Superchron begins in the mid Bashkirian, with clear data indicating brief normal polarity submagnetochrons within the Superchron. The magnetochron timescale is calibrated using 31 U-Pb zircon dates and a quantitative Bayesian-based age-scaling procedure.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josep M Pares ◽  
Mathieu Duval ◽  
Isidoro Campaña ◽  
José M. Bermúdez de Castro ◽  
Eudald Carbonell

<p>Magnetostratigraphy has proven to be a powerful and versatile method as well the first line of defence for dating sediments. When properly anchored to the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale (GPTS), chron boundaries provide a basis for numerical dating by correlating the local magnetostratigraphy to the GPTS. A caveat and intrinsic limitation when anchoring magnetic stratigraphy to the GPTS is that we deal with essentially a binary code, a sequence of normal and reverse polarity zones. To overcome such limitation biostratigraphy or (ideally) numerical (absolute) age dating is required. Unfortunately, numerical dating of sediments is typically hampered by the lack of amenable minerals for the application of standard methods such as Ar-Ar, requiring thus the use of less conventional methods. Burial dating is possible using methods such as Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) on optically bleached quartz grains. Similar to luminescence, ESR is a paleodosimetric method that provides the time elapsed since the last exposure of quartz grains to natural sun light. Cave sediments are particularly amenable for paleodosimetric methods, as sediments are preserved in the dark and the ESR signal should survive over the geologic history of the deposits. On the down side, we date the moment when the quartz grain enters the karst system, not its deposition. If the transit time is too long, this might be an issue and we would be significantly overestimating the true burial age. Caves at Atapuerca (N Spain) hold the richest Quaternary paleontological record in Eurasia, including fossils and lithic tools. Sediments in these caves have been traditionally dated via magnetostratigraphy by identifying the Matuyama-Brunhes reversal (0.78 Ma) thus providing the Lower to Middle Pleistocene boundary. Nevertheless, the appearance of older sediments in the caves required the combination of paleomagnetism with methods such as ESR to interpret older intra-Matuyama Subchrons. In the deepest levels of the Gran Dolina cave, close to the floor of the cavity, a number of short intervals of normal polarity have been identified in the fluviatile sediments belonging to TD1 unit, which we interpret in terms of Subchrons using ESR ages of quartz grains. We will discuss both paleomagnetic data and interpret the magnetic polarity stratigraphy in the view of the ESR ages obtained from the Multiple Centre (MC) approach. </p>


Author(s):  
Ziaul Haque ◽  
John W. Geissman ◽  
Peter G. DeCelles ◽  
Barbara Carrapa

Reliable ages of proximal conglomerates in the Cordilleran foreland basin that are associated with emplacement and erosion of major thrust sheets are essential for reconstructing the kinematic history of the Sevier fold-thrust belt. Although these conglomerates have been dated by palynology, their absolute ages have been difficult to determine because of their coarse-grained texture and a lack of marine interbeds and tuffaceous deposits. We collected sets of oriented samples from outcrops in northeastern Utah, USA, to construct an overall magnetic polarity stratigraphy that can be correlated to the geomagnetic polarity time scale (GPTS). We sampled fine-grained, hematitic interbeds in the Upper Cretaceous Echo Canyon Conglomerate and Weber Canyon Conglomerate. Common paleomagnetic and rock magnetic analyses were conducted, and several rock magnetic results indicated that the dominant magnetic carriers in these weakly magnetized rocks are hematite and very subordinate magnetite/titanomagnetite/maghemite and goethite. Demagnetization results show that hematitic, fine-grained sandstone to siltstone intervals carry a geologically stable magnetization with directions and polarity consistent with the Late Cretaceous geomagnetic field. A small percentage of samples carry a low laboratory unblocking temperature secondary overprint residing primarily in goethite. Magnetic polarity results indicate that the Echo Canyon Conglomerate is exclusively of normal polarity and that the younger Weber Canyon Conglomerate is of normal polarity in its lowermost part, reverse polarity in the middle, and normal polarity in the upper part of the sequence. The new data indicate that these coarse-grained strata were most likely deposited over the time span of the magnetic polarity Chron (C) 34n to C33r interval and the younger C33r to C33n interval; the former interval includes the Santonian-Campanian stage boundary (ca. 83.4 Ma/83.1 Ma). Palynological data suggest that these rocks span Coniacian-Santonian time (ca. 89−84 Ma); thus, the most parsimonious correlation of the normal polarity magnetozone of the Echo Canyon Conglomerate is with the youngest part of C34n Superchron, which is of ca. 30 Ma duration (ca. 115 Ma to 83.4 Ma/83.1 Ma). The normal polarity magnetozone of the lower part of the younger Weber Canyon Conglomerate likely correlates to the youngest part of C34n, whereas the reverse and normal magnetozone from the middle and upper parts of the Weber Canyon Conglomerate likely correlate to C33r and C33n, respectively. We infer that the Santonian-Campanian boundary resides in the lower Weber Canyon Conglomerate, which implies that deposition of the unit started prior to the C34n/C33r boundary age (ca. 83.4 Ma/83.1 Ma) and continued through the C33r and C33n chrons. Sediment provenance data and growth structures tie the Echo Canyon and Weber Canyon Conglomerates to emplacement of the Crawford thrust sheet. Based on the magnetic polarity data, as constrained by the biostratigraphic age estimates from these synorogenic deposits, we hypothesize that the principal displacement along the Crawford thrust started during the Coniacian (>C34n/C33r boundary age) and continued into the middle Campanian (<C33r/C33n boundary age), from ca. 90−75 Ma, which is nearly 10 Ma longer than previously thought. The new age constraints demonstrate complete temporal overlap between proximal and distal coarse-grained deposits in this part of the Cordilleran foreland basin, coeval with active thrust displacement and rapid hinterland exhumation.


Geosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanny Jiménez ◽  
Helbert García-Delgado ◽  
John W. Geissman

We report paleomagnetic results from the Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous continental sedimentary succession exposed in the eastern limb of the Los Yariguíes anticlinorium, Eastern Cordillera, Colombia. About 820 m of a strati­graphic section of the upper part of the Girón Group (Angostura del Río Lebrija and Los Santos Formations) was sampled to construct a magnetic polarity stratigraphy. A total of 199 independent samples that yield interpretable and acceptable data have a characteristic remanent magnetization component (ChRM) isolated between 400 °C and 680 °C in progressive thermal demagneti­zation. Demagnetization behavior and rock magnetic properties are interpreted to indicate that hematite is the principal magnetization carrier with a possible contribution by magnetite in some parts of the section. After tilt correction, 123 samples are of normal polarity (declination [D] = 44.9°, inclination [I] = +9.7°, R = 110.64, k = 9.87, and α95 = 4.3°), and the other 76 accepted samples are of reverse polarity (D = 216.4°, I = −6.1°, R = 68.29, k = 9.72, and α95 = 5.5°). The sta­tistical reversal test conducted on virtual geomagnetic poles is positive (class B). Based on paleontologic age estimates for the Cumbre and Rosablanca Formations, we assume a Berriasian age for the Los Santos Formation. The magnetostratigraphic data from the Girón Group strata are interpreted to suggest an age for the sampled part of the section between early Kimmerid­gian and early Valanginian (ca. 157–139 Ma). The age of the Angostura del Río Lebrija Formation is estimated as between early Kimmeridgian and early Tithonian (ca. 157–146.5 Ma). The age of the Los Santos Formation is esti­mated between early Tithonian and early Valanginian (146.5–139.3 Ma). With our proposed, but nonunique, correlation with the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale, the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary is interpreted to be located within the Los Santos Formation. The Girón Group is characterized by two periods of high (>8 cm/k.y.) and two periods of low (< 2 cm/k.y.) sedimentation rates. An inferred clockwise rotation of ~44°, based on paleomagnetic declination data from the Girón Group, is similar to rotation estimates reported in some previous studies in the general area, and this facet of deformation could be related to local and regional response to displacement along regional-scale strike-slip faults.


2019 ◽  
Vol 132 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 373-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Sahy ◽  
Joe Hiess ◽  
Anne U. Fischer ◽  
Daniel J. Condon ◽  
Dennis O. Terry ◽  
...  

AbstractAn accurate and precise geomagnetic polarity time scale is crucial to the development of a chronologic framework in which to test paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental interpretations of marine and terrestrial records of the Eocene–Oligocene transition (EOT). The magnetic polarity patterns of relatively continuous marine and terrestrial records of the EOT have been dated using both radio-isotopic techniques and astronomical tuning, both of which can achieve a precision approaching ±30 k.y. for much of the Paleogene. However, the age of magnetic reversals between chrons C12n and C16n.2n has proved difficult to calibrate, with discrepancies of up to 250 k.y. between radio-isotopically dated and astronomically tuned marine successions, rising to 600 k.y. for comparisons with the 206Pb/238U-dated terrestrial record of the White River Group in North America. In this study, we reevaluate the magnetic polarity pattern of the Flagstaff Rim and Toadstool Geologic Park records of the White River Group (C12n–C16n.2n). Our interpretation of the Flagstaff Rim polarity record differs significantly from earlier studies, identifying a previously unreported normal polarity zone correlated to C15n, which eliminates discrepancies between the WRG and the 206Pb/238U-dated marine record of the Rupelian Global Stratotype Section and Point in the Italian Umbria-Marche basin. However, residual discrepancies persist between U-Pb–dated and astronomically tuned records of the EOT even when stratigraphic and systematic uncertainties associated with each locality and dating method are taken into account, which suggests that the uncertainties associated with astronomically tuned records of the EOT may have been underestimated.


Author(s):  
A. O. Khotylev ◽  
N. B. Devisheva ◽  
Al. V. Tevelev ◽  
V. M. Moseichuk

Within the Western slope of the Southern Urals, there are plenty of basite dyke complexes of Riphean to Vendian among Precambrian terrigenous-carbonate formations. In metamorphic formations of the Taratash complex (Archean to Early Proterozoic, the northern closure of the Bashkirian meganticlinorium) there was observed the andesitic dyke with isotopic age of 71±1 Ma (U-Pb SHRIMP II on zircons) and near Bakal two bodies of gabbroids with zircons of similar ages were found. These are the first evidence of possible Mezozoic magmatism in this region.


2017 ◽  
Vol 212 (12) ◽  
pp. 48-50
Author(s):  
Ju.P. Gorichev ◽  
◽  
A.N. Davydychev ◽  
A.Yu. Kulagin ◽  
◽  
...  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document