Tentative Correlation of Samoan and Hawaiian Islands using ‘Reversals’ of Magnetization

Abstract

PALÆOMAGNETIC studies in the oceanic islands of the Pacific were started in March 1960 when a collection of 564 oriented rock samples was made from various islands in the South and South-West Pacific. A further 164 samples were collected from most of the major islands of the Hawaiian Group during June–September 1961. Palæomagnetic results from a collection made by Doell somewhat earlier in 1961 on the Island of Hawaii (that is, one island within the Hawaiian Group) have already been reported¹. No samples were taken from this Island to avoid duplication of Doell's sampling. This investigation of the magnetic properties of the rocks in these Islands was undertaken for several reasons, one of which was to investigate the possibility of using the occurrence of ‘reversals’ of magnetization as a basis for geological correlation both within and between the island groups. Previous correlations have been difficult or impossible to establish because of the absence of fossil or other marker horizons.