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Long-lived transitional states of the geomagnetic field and the two dynamo families

Abstract

Palaeomagnetic data from lavas produced at the Hawaii and Society Islands hotspots suggest that one or more specific, long-lived field configurations recur during successive polarity reversals spanning perhaps several million years. The apparent quasistationarity of these states and the relative placement of the two recording sites offer a rare opportunity to explore the fundamental geometrical properties of transitional fields.

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Hoffman, K. Long-lived transitional states of the geomagnetic field and the two dynamo families. Nature 354, 273–277 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/354273a0

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