Transitional field clusters from uppermost Oligocene volcanic rocks in the central Walker Lane, western Nevada

Abstract

Three sections of the Candelaria Hills volcanic sequence, west-central Nevada, appear to have recorded parts of two transitional field records or reversal excursions. Paleomagnetic data and 40 Ar / 39 Ar laser fusion sanidine age estimates for pyroclastic rocks and associated flows show that these rocks recorded the unusual field behavior at about 25.7 Ma and about 23.8 Ma. Fifteen sites yield northeast declination, moderate to shallow negative inclination mean directions and 16 sites yield west to southwest declination, moderate negative inclination directions. Both populations of site mean directions, representing a total of 12 independent eruptive units, are highly discordant to a time-averaged late Tertiary field direction, and neither can be explained by a geologically reasonable magnitude of vertical axis rotation. Virtual paleomagnetic poles (VGPs), estimated from the directional data, lie at low to intermediate latitudes; 29 of the 31 flows at intermediate latitudes (<60°), and 11 at very low latitudes (<30°). Two well-grouped VGP clusters are defined by these data with each cluster roughly corresponding to one of the age groups. Stratigraphically corrected VGPs from most of the 23.8 Ma group roughly cluster at intermediate to low latitudes at about 150°E longitude. The cluster at about 150°E corresponds to VGP clusters that have been interpreted to reflect a long lasting near-dipole configuration during several field reversals. The second stratigraphically corrected cluster lies at intermediate to low latitudes at about 80°E longitude and, notably, is defined by pyroclastic flows of the 25.7 and 23.8 Ma age groups. The VGP data at about 80°E do not fall into any previously identified preferred longitudinal band, however, they are consistent with data from some sedimentary records of reversal excursions in western North America. We recognize that the VGPs returned to a preferred location in both age populations, which we interpret as a preferred directional position, thus reflecting a potentially stable non-dipole component during a complete reversal or a reversal excursion. The observation that the VGPs maintained a preferred location during separate high amplitude events supports the hypothesis that preferred VPG clusters and thus persistent non-dipole field components can factor into the behavior of the geomagnetic field during full reversals or reversal excursions.