Brunhes–Matuyama reversal

The Brunhes–Matuyama reversal, named after Bernard Brunhes and Motonori Matuyama, was a geologic event, approximately 781,000 years ago, when the Earth's magnetic field last underwent reversal.[1][2] The reversal may have occurred slowly over several thousand years, or more quickly; opinions vary.[3][4][5] The apparent duration at any particular location varied from 1,200 to 10,000 years depending on geomagnetic latitude and local effects of non-dipole components of the Earth's field during the transition.[6]

The Brunhes-Matuyama reversal is a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GBSSP), selected by the International Commission on Stratigraphy as a marker for the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene, also known as the Ionian Stage.[7] It is useful in dating ocean sediment cores and subaerially erupted volcanics.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gradstein, Felix M.; Ogg, James G.; Smith, Alan G., eds. (2004). A Geological Time Scale 2004 (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge University Press. p. 28. ISBN 9780521786737.
  2. ↑ "Global chronostratigraphical correlation table for the last 2.7 million years". International Commission on Stratigraphy. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  3. ↑ Witze, Alexandra (Sep 2, 2010). "Geomagnetic field flip-flops in a flash". ScienceNews. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
  4. ↑ Coe, R.S.; Prévot, M.; Camps, P. (20 April 1995). "New evidence for extraordinarily rapid change of the geomagnetic field during a reversal". Nature 374 (6524): 687. Bibcode:1995Natur.374..687C. doi:10.1038/374687a0.
  5. ↑ Bogue, S. W.; Glen, J. M. G. (2010). "Very rapid geomagnetic field change recorded by the partial remagnetization of a lava flow". Geophysical Research Letters 37: L21308. Bibcode:2010GeoRL..3721308B. doi:10.1029/2010GL044286.
  6. ↑ Bradford M. Clement (8 April 2004). "Dependence of the duration of geomagnetic polarity reversals on site latitude". Nature 428 (6983): 637–40. Bibcode:2004Natur.428..637C. doi:10.1038/nature02459. PMID 15071591.
  7. ↑ "Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point". International Commission of Stratigraphy. Retrieved 31 March 2014.

Further reading