Archeomagnetic dating in western North America: An updated reference curve based on paleomagnetic and archeomagnetic data sets

Abstract

A robust database of paleomagnetic (PM) and archeomagnetic (AM) data for western North America covering the past 4 millennia is assembled from three data sets: (1) published PM data for dated lava flows, (2) recently published AM data generated by R. L. DuBois, and (3) published AM data generated by J. L. Eighmy. Chronologic information for the AM data sets has been reassessed, and the data points have been assigned to age ranges depending on their archeological contexts. We have selected the computer program ArcheoCourbe, available from M. Le Goff (http://www.ipgp.fr/∼legoff) or the auxiliary material (see also http://EarthRef.org), to construct AM reference curves and to quantitatively estimate AM dates for archeological and geological samples. The updated curve provides a more detailed record of prehistoric secular variation for western North America than was previously available and shows a short interval of rapid secular variation (SV) in the 10th or 11th centuries at near-excursional rates. Similar and coeval features in the Hawaiian and, to a lesser extent, Arkansan SV data sets possibly indicate a rapid amplitudinal shift in the regional nondipole field at that time. Copyright 2010 by the American Geophysical Union.