PuffinPlot: A versatile, user‐friendly program for paleomagnetic analysis

PuffinPlot is a user‐friendly desktop application for analysis of paleomagnetic data, offering a unique combination of features. It runs on several operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux; supports both discrete and long core data; and facilitates analysis of very weakly magnetic samples. As well as interactive graphical operation, PuffinPlot offers batch analysis for large volumes of data, and a Python scripting interface for programmatic control of its features. Available data displays include demagnetization/intensity, Zijderveld, equal‐area (for sample, site, and suite level demagnetization data, and for magnetic susceptibility anisotropy data), a demagnetization data table, and a natural remanent magnetization intensity histogram. Analysis types include principal component analysis, Fisherian statistics, and great‐circle path intersections. The results of calculations can be exported as CSV (comma‐separated value) files; graphs can be printed, and can also be saved as publication‐quality vector files in SVG or PDF format. PuffinPlot is free, and the program, user manual, and fully documented source code may be downloaded from http://code.google.com/p/puffinplot/.