TY - JOUR
T1 - Embracing Uncertainty to Resolve Polar Wander
T2 - A Case Study of Cenozoic North America
AU - Gallo, L. C.
AU - Domeier, M.
AU - Sapienza, F.
AU - Swanson-Hysell, N. L.
AU - Vaes, B.
AU - Zhang, Y.
AU - Arnould, M.
AU - Eyster, A.
AU - Gürer, D.
AU - Király,
AU - Robert, B.
AU - Rolf, T.
AU - Shephard, G.
AU - van der Boon, A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023. The Authors.
PY - 2023/6/16
Y1 - 2023/6/16
N2 - 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.
AB - 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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U2 - 10.1029/2023GL103436
DO - 10.1029/2023GL103436
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85167991775
SN - 0094-8276
VL - 50
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
IS - 11
M1 - e2023GL103436
ER -