Marine magnetic anomalies

Reviews of Geophysics
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Abstract

Marine magnetic data have been available for many years from all of the world's oceans, and their contribution to marine geophysics and geology is profound. These data, for example, have allowed charting the age of the ocean floor, reconstruction of the geologic history of the major ocean basins, development of a Cenozoic and Mesozoic timescale of geomagnetic reversals, and speculation on the processes of sea‐floor spreading. Research on these and similar problems actively continued during this quadrennial, but here we discuss only a few topics in which we believe the most significant advances have been made during the last four years: the source of marine magnetic anomalies, the geomagnetic time‐scale, high‐amplitude anomalies, and studies of back‐arc basins.

Source of Anomalies

Studies of magnetic surveys over continental areas can often be constrained by the magnetic properties of samples collected from below the survey. Until recently, model studies of marine magnetic anomalies have enjoyed the luxury of an inaccessible source. Except for samples scraped from the ocean floor by dredging [e.g., Irving, 1970] and inferences drawn from magnetic studies of ophiolite sequences [e.g., Vine and Moores, 1972], very little information was available for constraining studies of marine magnetic anomalies.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Marine magnetic anomalies
Series title Reviews of Geophysics
DOI 10.1029/RG017i002p00204
Volume 17
Issue 2
Year Published 1979
Language English
Publisher Wiley
Contributing office(s) Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Description 11 p.
First page 204
Last page 214
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