Absolute inclination values from deep sea sediments: A reexamination of the Cretaceous Pacific record

New data are used to examine anomalously shallow paleomagnetic inclinations derived from previous analyses of Cretaceous DSDP sediments of the central western Pacific Ocean. While VRMs are shown to produce a similar effect, the bias toward shallow values is still present with thoroughly demagnetized data. Superimposed upon this bias is a trend towards maximum flattening at an expected inclination of ∼55°, with the flattening falling to zero at the equator and pole. Flattening due to sediment compaction, or ‘inclination‐error’, is proposed to explain these observations.