Paleomagnetic studies of volcanic rocks in Siberia and sedimentary rocks in Southern Alberta: From long-term geomagnetic field variations to age determinations

• Author / Creator

  Blanco Acuna, Dunia

• Paleomagnetism is a fundamental tool to understand the ancient variations of Earth’s magnetic field through time. Important applications to geochronology and paleography come from interpreting the variations of the planetary magnetic vector. This dissertation explores the different applications of paleomagnetism to uncover important characteristics of the paleointensity magnetic field during the Permo-Triassic boundary and the nature of the apparent polar wander path (APWP) of Siberia, and to create geochronological frameworks for kimberlites in the Siberian platform and for sediments at the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin.
  Detailed absolute paleointensity measurements from Permo-Triassic sills at the Siberian platform are studied to determine the existence of a low dipole field, which has been previously reported in the area. We found a mean virtual dipolar moment value of 6.01 ± 1.45 × 1022 Am2 which is over 50% higher than the results previously obtained by other authors.
  Diamondiferous kimberlite pipes are exposed across the north-central part of the Siberian platform. The age of the magmatic activity cannot be clearly determined from isotopic age data – this is the reason why new paleomagnetic poles from four kimberlite pipes are obtained to study their paleomagnetic age. On the basis of a comparison with the Siberian APWP, we estimate the age of the kimberlite magmatism. The acquired paleomagnetic ages span from the Early Silurian to the Middle Late Jurassic.
  Magnetostratigraphic analysis is used as a dating tool on three deep drilling cores that penetrate Santonian-Campanian strata in southern Alberta, Canada. Chrons 34n and 33r are clearly identified from the studied sections - providing a high-resolution age boundary that creates new age boundaries between adjacent stratigraphic units. In addition, normal polarity zones are observed within C33r, previously described as reverse polarity over its entire length.
  Siberian APWP contains long unresolved segments; therefore, the nature of the path depends largely on the curve fitting method used. A least square fitting method computed through singular value decomposition is applied to create the path. The method is compared to a smoothing cubic spline fitting and to the most recent version of the Siberian APWP from the literature. For the Mesozoic Era two possible scenarios are explored.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Magnetostratigraphy
  • Dating
  • Paleomagnetism
  • Rock magnetism
  • Paleointensity

• Graduation date

  Fall 2013

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3XW4868K

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.