Skewness of magnetic anomalies M0 to M29 in the northwestern Pacific

Abstract

M-sequence magnetic anomalies from the Phoenix, Japanese, and Hawaiian lineation patterns in the western Pacific have been analyzed for cross-sectional skewness to determine a palaeomagnetic apparent polar wander path for the Pacific plate for the Early Cretaceous and Late Jurassic. Results from magnetic anomalies M0 to M29 have been averaged to yield pole locations ranging in age from 122 to 155 Ma both with and without the possibility of anomalous skewness. The Pacific plate was moving south from 155 to 129 Ma. The plate then reversed this motion and began to move slowly to the north. This slow northward drift continued until about 82 Ma, when the Pacific plate began moving more rapidly to the north. A discrepancy in the skewness of the Phoenix lineations relative to the Hawaiian and Japanese lineations becomes apparent just prior to M10n time and grows to a maximum at M29 time. -from Authors