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Title: Paleolatitude of the Hawaiian Hot Spot Since 48 Ma: Evidence for a Mid-Cenozoic True Polar Stillstand Followed by Late Cenozoic True Polar Wander Coincident With Northern Hemisphere Glaciation
NSF-PAR ID:
10079124
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  
Publisher / Repository:
DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume:
45
Issue:
21
ISSN:
0094-8276
Page Range / eLocation ID:
p. 11,632-11,640
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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  1. Abstract

    Our understanding of Earth's paleogeography relies heavily on paleomagnetic apparent polar wander paths (APWPs), which represent the time‐dependent position of Earth's spin axis relative to a given block of lithosphere. However, conventional approaches to APWP construction have significant limitations. First, the paleomagnetic record contains substantial noise that is not integrated into APWPs. Second, parametric assumptions are adopted to represent spatial and temporal uncertainties even where the underlying data do not conform to the assumed distributions. The consequences of these limitations remain largely unknown. Here, we address these challenges with a bottom‐up Monte Carlo uncertainty propagation scheme that operates on site‐level paleomagnetic data. To demonstrate our methodology, we present an extensive compilation of site‐level Cenozoic paleomagnetic data from North America, which we use to generate a high‐resolution APWP. Our results demonstrate that even in the presence of substantial noise, polar wandering can be assessed with unprecedented temporal and spatial resolution.

     
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