New palaeointensity results from Cretaceous basalt of Inner Mongolia, China

Abstract

We present new Thellier–Thellier palaeointensity results from three cooling units (32 samples) of Inner Mongolia lava flows (91.7 Ma) emplaced during the Cretaceous Normal Superchron (CNS). Based on rock-magnetic and microscopy observations the magneto-mineralogy of all samples is determined to be primary and unaltered high-Ti titanomagnetite. Accepted palaeointensity determinations, obtained in the 80–200 °C temperature interval, are of good technical quality with positive standard partial thermoremanent magnetisation (pTRM) checks and pTRM-tail checks. Obtained palaeointensity estimates range from 14.7 to 28.0 μT, with virtual axial dipole moments (VADM) of 2.4 to 4.6 (× 10 22 Am 2). The data agree well with recently published results from the same region and, combining the two datasets, we obtain independent estimates from six different cooling units yielding a time-averaged VADM of 3.2 ± 1.6 (× 10 22 Am 2). These data suggest a relatively low dipole moment towards the end of the Cretaceous Normal Superchron.