What is palaeomagnetism?
Palaeomagnetism is a record of the Earth’s past magnetic field. When lava is erupted at the surface, magnetic minerals, such as iron, in the lava align parallel with the Earth’s magnetic field. The magnetic minerals have a declination that points towards the magnetic north pole and an inclination related directly to latitude (at the equator inclination is 0˚ and at the North Pole inclination is 90˚). By looking at magnetised rocks we can work out. This is used to tell where the continents were in the past and how they’ve moved. This is used to construct apparent polar wander paths for continents.
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