Properties of Pliocene sedimentary geomagnetic reversal records from the Mediterranean

Abstract

In the history of the Earth the dipolar geomagnetic field has frequently reversed polarity. Though this property was already known early this century (Brunhes, 1906), nowadays the characteristics and the origin of polarity transitions are still largely unknown. The geomagnetic field and its variations are recorded in rocks as a natural remanent magnetization (NRM) during the formation of these rocks. The study of the NRM in sedimentary reversal records is the subject of this dissertation.