Paleomagnetic results from the lower Permian Dunkard series of West Virginia

Measurements have been made of the direction of remanent magnetization in more than 100 field samples of Permian age from the Dunkard series of West Virginia in the eastern United States. Most samples have a reversed polarity (i.e., north-seeking vector pointing southward) but a few of the samples have a normal polarity, the first to be reported in Lower Permian rocks. Subsequent ac demagnetization experiments have shown the magnetization of most of these samples to be stable and suggest that some of the initial observed scatter in direction was due to small isothermal moments acquired by the samples before measurement. The resulting virtual magnetic pole is in good agreement with the mean pole derived from the published data from rocks in the western United States but is in disagreement with the other data from eastern North America. To resolve these differences the following seem to be necessary: (1) additional data from eastern North America and/or the Arctic; (2) a study of the NRM of associated Permian red beds and lavas; and (3) a study of the cause of the scatter present in the measurements from the southwestern United States.