MAGNETIC LINES OF FORCE OF A GEOCENTRIC AXIAL DIPOLE
I have a
suggestion for all of you who follow Nick Zentner’s lectures, as well as any
other people out there with an active, if perhaps comparatively non-professional,
interest in geology and, especially, geotectonics. Much of current discussion surrounding
Cordilleran tectonics revolves around data from the field of
paleomagnetism. Thus it would be very useful
to understand how rocks acquire a permanent magnetic direction, as well as what
that direction can tell us. Bob Butler
has written an excellent book on those and related subjects which is available
free on line. However, I suspect that
Bob’s treatment of rock and earth magnetism may be a bit beyond the average
non-professional reader. For that reason,
I suggest that you go to your local library and bully them into obtaining a
copy of Paleomagnetism and its
application to geological and geophysical problems, written by E. Irving and published by John Wiley
and Sons in 1964. Section 2 explains rock magnetism in a way
that is easy to comprehend, and the rest of the book – while outdated in some
areas, of course – is also worth studying.
You might
even think about buying a copy. Although
currently out of print, there is a used one for sale listed on the web site www.abebooks.com, But I warn you – it’s not cheap!
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