Comparison and Renormalization of Holocene Paleointensity Records From Central North America (17°N–51°N, 205°E–295°E)

This paper develops a composite absolute paleointensity record for Holocene paleomagnetic secular variation (PSV) from central North America. Twelve full-vector (inclination, declination, paleointensity) PSV records were assessed in order to build the composite record. Nine of the paleointensity records come from sediment paleomagnetic studies and are considered relative in intensity. Three of the paleointensity records come from absolute paleointensity measurements of archeological materials and lava flows. This paper develops a new method to normalize the sediment relative paleointensity records to the absolute intensity records. The final composite paleointensity record describes intensity variability over a region of Central North America delineated by 35°–48.6°N and 240.4–291.4°E (∼14° × 50°). This composite record shows a distinctive long-duration (∼104 year) oscillation and a series of millennial-scale intensity oscillations that are consistent over our study region