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5 - Can Paleomagnetism Distinguish Dynamo Regimes?

from Part II - Geomagnetic Field

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2019

By
Stuart A. Gilder  and
Florian Lhuillier
Edited by
Mioara Mandea ,
Monika Korte ,
Andrew Yau  and
Eduard Petrovsky
Mioara Mandea
Affiliation:
Centre National d'études Spatiales, France
Monika Korte
Affiliation:
GeoforschungsZentrum, Helmholtz-Zentrum, Potsdam
Andrew Yau
Affiliation:
University of Calgary
Eduard Petrovsky
Affiliation:
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague
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Summary

This section describes a paleomagnetic approach to test whether the geodynamo has existed in distinct operating modes through Earth’s history. A central question surrounds how the geodynamo functions during superchrons, where periods lasting 10’s of millions of years passed with no reversals, versus times closer to the present, when reversals happened four to five times per million years. Five numerical dynamos with characteristic reversal frequencies ranging from 2 to 13 Myr-1 were studied to derive the parameters that discriminate them using datasets routinely acquired by paleomagnetists. Once defined, the feasibility of the approach was tested through field and laboratory work.

Keywords

geodynamopaleomagnetismnumerical dynamosreversal frequencysuperchron
Type
Chapter
Information
Geomagnetism, Aeronomy and Space Weather
A Journey from the Earth's Core to the Sun
 , pp. 48 - 53
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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