Equatorial paleopoles and behavior of the dipole field during polarity transitions

Abstract

One of the reasons for performing paleomagnetic studies is to determine whether the geomagnetic field remains dipolar during a polarity transition. Data on 23 field reversals of Recent, Tertiary and Upper Mesozoic age are examined with regard to the longitudinal and latitudinal distribution of paleomagnetic poles during a polarity change. Both frequency distributions of the transitional pole positions are not random. The results suggest that some field reversals are characterized by the rotation of the dipole axis in the meridional plane and show that two preferential meridional bands of polarity transitions exist centered on planes through 40°E–140°W and 120°E–60°W respectively. The latitudinal distribution of transitional paleopoles shows that there is a decrease in the number of observed poles with decreasing latitude. This is interpreted as the result of an acceleration in the motion of the dipole axis when it approaches the equator. Comparison of transitional velocities and paleointensity magnitudes reveals that the dipole moment is very weak only for a short part of the transitional period when the paleopole position lies within the latitudes of 10°N and 10°S. The overall conclusion is that the geomagnetic field retains its dipolar character during polarity changes.