Old palaeomagnetism and future trends

Abstract

In my abstract (Runcorn, l993) I have summarized the impact that palaeomagnetism has had on studies of the Earth and the Moon and may be expected to have on Mars, when rocks are returned from this planet and detailed satellite magnetometer surveys are made from moderate heights above its surface. It is surely one of the most remarkable discoveries of science that such a weak field as that of the Earth or early Moon is faithfully recorded in rocks, though today geophysicists accept it as commonplace. It is equally remarkable that palaeomagnetism turned out to be the key technique for settling such fundamental questions of geodynamics as continental drift and sea floor spreading and the constitution and early dynamics of the Moon. Further developments in palaeomagnetism are difficult to predict but in my abstract I have produced a list of priorities with which I expect most palaeomagnetists would agree.