Title: The Paleomagnetic Field as Inferred from Marine Magnetic Studies
Abstract: It has recently become possible to study the history of the geomagnetic field from the magnetization of the oceanic crust and independently from the magnetization of the oceanic sediments. Both studies show, essentially, the same history of the geomagnetic field as that derived from the study of volcanic rocks on land. Such comparisons are only possible for the last 4.5 million years.Extending in time the geomagnetic field history from the study of the oceanic crust permits one to map large scale crustal movement. The possibilities of such movements being related to the generating mechanism of the geomagnetic field and to other global phenomena is discussed.