A new precambrian paleomagnetic pole for northern Europe

Abstract

A paleomagnetic study was made of the granitic rock farsundite, exposed in southern Norway. An objective was to test the contemporaneity of this body with the neighbouring Egersund anorthosite of presumed age about 900 m.y. Two of the nine sites sampled were rejected, as the magnetization was dominantly unstable. At the seven other sites, this unstable component was either absent or it could be equally well removed by AF or thermal demagnetization: after AF treatment, all samples from these sites were left with a very stable remanence, directed steeply upwards. This magnetization was probably acquired at the time of either emplacement or recrystallization of the farsundite. A magnetic test for anisotropy indicated that the stable remanence is misaligned with the ancient Earth's field direction by about 3°, apparently due to layering of the rock fabric. After correction for this anisotropy, the mean direction from the seven sites is D = 341°, I = 82.2°, k = 142, α = 5.0°, corresponding to a paleomagnetic north pole at 43.3°S, 166.0°W, dp = 9.3°, dm = 9.7°, which lies on Spall's European polar wandering curve. The farsundite pole is not significantly different from a pole position based on the Egersund anorthosite, which supports the supposition that the two rock formations are cogenetic.