Moment 7

Lecture 1: The Earth’s magnetic field at sea

Reading:

Chapter 7, pages 163–197 in Marine Geophysics by E.J.W. Jones
Skip subchapters 7.6 and 7.71–7.72 (p. 181–191). Note: Error in Table 7.2; should be *10–3 (SI).

Chapter 7 in the course book is more comprehensive than we intend to cover the subject of Earth’s magnetic field in this course. In this Lecture we have included the information we expect you to know for the final exam. However, reading chapter 7 in the course book will help you to place the facts presented here in a broader concept, especially the figures.

The paleomagnetic field imprinted in the seafloor crust in not an active research area at Department of Geological Sciences, however the paleomagnetic signal captured in ocean sediments is since it is a widely used parameter used for establishing age models for sediment cores. For this reason, we have included some additional information on the application of how the paleomagnetic signal locked into marine sediments can be used in paleoceanographic studies, with specific emphasis on establishing age models.