From Geoscience Australia
JSON format icon JSON RDF format icon RDF ISO19115-3 XML

The Brunhes/Matuyama Polarity Transition (0.78 Ma) as a chronostratigraphic marker in Australian regolith studies

Created 16/10/2025

Updated 16/10/2025

JSON format icon JSON RDF format icon RDF ISO19115-3 XML

The Brunhes/Matuyama (B/M) polarity transition (0.78 Ma) marks the end of the last major period of reversed polarity of the Earth s magnetic field. Weathered regolith materials with reversed polarity chemical remanent magnetisation (CRM) must, therefore, predate the B/M transition. Reversed polarity magnetisation can be preserved in a wide variety of regolith materials in eastern Australia, particularly in oxidising environments. At Sellicks Beach and Hallett Cove near Adelaide, the B/M transition is identified in a strongly mottled unit, the Ochre Cove Formation. In Canberra, strongly weathered fan gravels on the east side of Black Mountain have a mixture of reversed and normal polarities, indicating initial weathering and deposition before 0.78 Ma and continued weathering since then. In north Queensland, a soil formed on a 2.46 Ma basalt flow has reversed polarity in the lower B horizon, indicating that, over the last 0.78 Ma, pedogenesis has had little or no effect on the secondary iron minerals carrying the magnetic remanence in that part of the profile.

Files and APIs

Tags

Additional Info

Field Value
Title The Brunhes/Matuyama Polarity Transition (0.78 Ma) as a chronostratigraphic marker in Australian regolith studies
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/14b0f229-c438-4998-b12c-1e34c7caf8b8
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        127.7,
        -43.89
      ],
      [
        155.38,
        -43.89
      ],
      [
        155.38,
        -10.05
      ],
      [
        127.7,
        -10.05
      ],
      [
        127.7,
        -43.89
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "The Brunhes/Matuyama Polarity Transition (0.78 Ma) as a chronostratigraphic marker in Australian regolith studies". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/the-brunhes-matuyama-polarity-transition-0-78-ma-as-a-chronostratigraphic-marker-in-australian-