Detection and Correction of Inclination Shallowing in Deep-Sea Sediments Using the Anisotropy of Anhysteretic Remanence

Paleomagnetic data from recent Pleistocene to recent deep sea sediments from the continental rise of eastern North America exhibit a cyclical inclination shallowing, up to 30-degrees with respect to the geocentric axial dipole value. This shallowing is strongly correlated with a ratio of anhysteretic remanent magnetization (ARM) anisotropy determined from a four position ARM anisotropy method. It is therefore proving that inclination variations in these cores are not due to paleosecular variation but in part to a bias in the remanence recording processes linked to depositional anisotropy. This study suggests that ARM anisotropy could provide a method to identify and correct for inclination shallowing in natural sediments.