Mapping and Interpretation of the Lithospheric Magnetic Field

Abstract

We review some of the controversial and exciting interpretations of the magnetic field of the earth's lithosphere occurring in the four year period ending with the IAGA meeting in Sopron in 2009. This period corresponds to the end of the Decade of Geopotential Research, an international effort to promote and coordinate a continuous monitoring of geopotential field variability in the near-Earth environment. One of the products of this effort has been the World Digital Magnetic Anomaly Map, the first edition of which was released in 2007. A second, improved, edition is planned for 2011. Interpretations of the lithospheric magnetic field that bear on impacts, tectonics, resource exploration, and lower crustal processes are reviewed. Future interpretations of the lithospheric field will be enhanced through a better understanding of the processes that create, destroy, and alter magnetic minerals, and via routine measurements of the magnetic field gradient.