As a part of the Hawaii Scientific Drilling Project we have performed paleomagnetic studies of volcanic rocks from a 1056 meter core which was obtained near Hilo, Hawaii. This core is comprised of 227 different rock units, primarily basalts, erupted from Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii.
This project has produced a record of geomagnetic field inclination for approximately the past 400,000 years at Hawaii. This record shows several major deviations of the geomagnetic field from its normal state which we are now studying in more detail.
There was a special JGR issue on the HSDP results in May of 1996. This
was Volume 101, No. B5, May 10, 1996. The
paleomagnetic inclination record was reported in:
Holt, J.W., J.L. Kirschvink, F. Garnier, Geomagnetic field inclinations for the past 400 kyr from the 1 km core of the Hawaii Scientific Drilling Project, pp. 11,655 - 11,663 Click here for abstract
Paleointensity information was reported in the same JGR issue in:
Garnier, F., C. Laj, E. Herrero-Bervera, C. Kissel, and Don Thomas, Preliminary determinations of geomagnetic field intensity for the last 400 kyr from the Hawaii Scientific Drilling Project core, Big Island, Hawaii, pp. 11, 665 - 11, 673.
