Paleomagnetism: Quantifying Earth history

Please note: the information in the course manual is binding.
 

 

This course aims to develop a quantitative understanding of how Earth’s magnetic field, as recorded in rocks, can be used to reconstruct the timing, rates, and dynamics of Earth history. By the end of the course, students will be able to interpret paleomagnetic signals as robust geological tools that constrain when events occurred, how fast processes operated, and how Earth’s surface and interior have evolved through time.

Students will learn to:

• Use paleomagnetic data to quantify geological time, applying magnetostratigraphy and integrating it with other dating methods to build high-resolution chronologies of Earth history.
• Understand how rocks acquire and preserve magnetic signals, and critically evaluate geomagnetic field behavior through geological time, including reversals, excursions, paleointensity variations, and superchrons, and relate these to processes in Earth’s core and deep interior.
• Use paleomagnetic data to quantify motion, using paleolatitudes, declination data, and apparent polar wander paths to track plate velocities, rotations, and large-scale geodynamic evolution.
• Integrate paleomagnetic, geological, and geochemical datasets to construct quantitative, process-based reconstructions of Earth’s evolution, linking tectonics, climate, and the history of life.

Overall, the course trains students to move beyond qualitative interpretations and use paleomagnetism as a rigorous, quantitative framework for decoding Earth’s history across spatial and temporal scales.

Earth’s history is written in stone, but deciphering its timing, motion, and evolution requires more than rocks, fossils and stratigraphy alone. This course explores how paleomagnetism transforms rocks into precise recorders of time, planetary dynamics, and the shifting geography of continents. By reading the magnetic signatures locked within minerals, it is possible to reconstruct the age of geological events, constrain the timing of biological evolution, and track the motion of tectonic plates through deep time, ultimately revealing the paleogeographic evolution of our planet.

Building on an integrated foundation of geophysics, geochemistry, and geology, the course will explore the behavior of Earth’s magnetic field across all time scales. Students will explore geomagnetic variations ranging from short-term secular variation and excursions to polarity reversals and long-lived superchrons. These records provide a window into processes operating within Earth’s core and at the core-mantle boundary, linking surface observations to deep Earth dynamics. At the rock magnetic scale, the course investigates how rocks acquire and preserve magnetic signals. From atomic-scale magnetic behavior to bulk rock properties and emerging techniques such as micromagnetic tomography, students will learn why certain minerals act as reliable recorders of the geomagnetic field over millions of years. Particular emphasis is placed on natural remanent magnetization (NRM), including its formation mechanisms, and the laboratory and field methods used to isolate and interpret these signals.

The geological applications form the central narrative of the course. Paleomagnetism is presented as a powerful quantitative tool for building Earth’s timescale through magnetostratigraphy, often integrated with high-resolution methods such as astrochronology. Students will explore how these approaches constrain the timing of climatic shifts, environmental changes, and tectonic events recorded in the geological archive. At larger scales, paleomagnetic data are used to reconstruct continental drift, determine paleolatitudes, quantify block rotations, and develop apparent polar wander paths, key elements in understanding plate tectonics and paleogeography.

The geological applications form the central narrative of the course, where paleomagnetism becomes a tool for reconstructing Earth’s history with both precision and scope. Students will learn how magnetostratigraphy provides a globally correlatable timescale, enabling the dating of sedimentary sequences even in the absence of fossils. When integrated with high-resolution techniques such as astrochronology, this approach allows for exceptionally precise temporal frameworks, critical for resolving the rates and sequencing of geological and biological change. These methods are then applied to a wide range of geodynamic problems. Students will explore how tectonic events (rifting, basin formation, mountain building, and plate reorganization) can be dated and quantified, providing insight into the coupling between surface processes and deep Earth dynamics. At larger spatial scales, paleomagnetism enables the reconstruction of continental configurations through time. Students will work with paleolatitudes, declination data, and apparent polar wander paths to trace the movement of continents, quantify rotations of crustal blocks, and test competing plate tectonic models. Particular emphasis is placed on distinguishing tectonic signals from climatic or depositional overprints, a key challenge in interpreting the geological record. Through targeted case studies, the course highlights how paleomagnetic data help resolve longstanding debates on basin evolution, plate boundary dynamics, and the assembly and breakup of supercontinents.

Through case studies, hands-on exercises, data analysis, and critical evaluation of scientific literature, students will engage directly with real-world datasets and interpretations. By the end of the course, they will be able to use paleomagnetic evidence to construct coherent, quantitative narratives of Earth’s history, linking the evolution of life, climate, and tectonics into a unified, dynamic story of our planet.


Program and approach
The first part of the course will be directed to a combinaton of lectures, excercises and scientific class discussions including presentations by students. Different topics will include: Quantifying time; magnetostratigraphy, rock magnetism, magnetic reversals, paleointensity, Quantifying motion; statistics and models, apparent polar wander paths, plate tectonic reconstructions. The second part of the course will deal with selecting new individual research topics which will be evaluated by writing a 4 page scientific proposal of the students own topic of (paleomagnetic) interest and an oral presentation defending the proposal for the class audience. Students will be informed about key papers, practical exercises or assignments, and the approach at the beginning of and during the course.
 
Assessment and grading

• Written Exam 60%
• Scientific proposal 40%

Place in curriculum
The course Paleomagnetism is highly recommended for students of the master programme Earth, Structure and Dynamics (in particular for the tracks 1) Physics of the Solid Earth and Planets, 2)  Basins, Orogens and the Crust-Lithosphere System and 3)  Earth materials and the master programme Earth, Life and Climate, track Integrated stratigraphy and sedimentary systems. The course is meant for students who are particularly interested in the fundamentals and applications of the geomagnetic field and its registration in the rock record.

Development of Transferable Skills

• Ability to work in the team: students will work in small teams on a literature topic that should be jointly presented in class and submitted as written document.
• Written communication skills: students will write their own research proposal that will be evaluated on the topics of quality, innovation and feasibility.
• Verbal communication skills: students will have to present and defend their research proposal in an oral communication for a broad scientific audience.
• Analytical /quantitative skills: analytical expertise will be obtained during topical computer exercises. 
• Technical skills: using the computer programmes Excel, and several paleomagnetic programs available on Paleomagnetism.org.
• Problem solving: several case studies must be solved during the exercises and different approaches will have to be used to solve these research problems.
• Initiative: students will have to define, elaborate and solve their own research question; all to be worked out in detail in an individual research proposal.