Plate Tectonics And Geomagnetic Reversals

This 1994 book examines how reversals of the Earth's magnetic field have played a major role in establishing plate tectonics and a geological time scale.

Palaeomagnetism, plates, hot spots, trenches and ridges are the subject of this unusual book. Plate Tectonics is a book of exercises and background information that introduces and demonstrates the basics of the subject. In a lively and lucid manner, it brings together a great deal of material in spherical trigonometry that is necessary to understand plate tectonics and the research literature written about it. It is intended for use in first year graduate courses in geophysics and tectonics, and provides a guide to the quantitative understanding of plate tectonics.

This book provides an overview of the history of plate tectonics, including in-context definitions of the key terms. It explains how the forerunners of the theory and how scientists working at the key academic institutions competed and collaborated until the theory coalesced.

This book explores the basic principles and methods of paleomagnetology and gives a systematic description of paleomagnetic phenomena such as geomagnetic reversals, paleosecular variations, long-term intensity changes and apparent polar wandering paths. Special emphasis is laid on results obtained from research work done in the Soviet Union. Together with data from other parts of the world they allow the critical discussion of aspects of magnetostratigraphy, plate tectonics and accretion tectonics. In diesem Buch werden grundlegende Fragen der Paläomagnetologie und des Paläomagnetismus abgehandelt. Durch die Einbeziehung zahlreicher Daten aus der Sowjetunion werden Probleme der Magnetostratigraphie sowie der Platten- und Akkretionstektonik kritisch beleuchtet.