Assessing the reliability of paleomagnetic datasets using the R package PmagDiR

Abstract

Paleomagnetism is the most important source of information for determining the position of tectonic plates in the geological past. Over the last few decades significant advancements have been made in improving the reliability of paleomagnetic data, ranging from analytical methods to statistical assessments. Here I present the first version of PmagDiR, an R-based open-source package which displays, assesses the reliability, and, when possible, corrects given paleomagnetic directions distributions. The main functions of the package are to: plot paleomagnetic directions, their averages and confidence boundaries; apply different direction cut-offs to identify and filter outliers; perform a test for antipodality; compare the distribution shape with the one predicted by a widely accepted paleosecular variation model; correct flawed distributions for paleomagnetic inclination flattening; and correct for strain-derived paleomagnetic directions deviations when the strain fabric is known. Furthermore, directions can be converted in virtual geomagnetic poles and plotted on a spherical projection for comparison with reference apparent polar wander paths. All main functions of the PmagDiR package return results as comma separated value text files as well as vector graphic files (pdf), optimized for publication purpose with minimal manipulation.