This post follows the last two which were inspired by discovering that the virtual geomagnetic pole (VGP) wander path during the Laschamp reversal as revealed in Black Sea sediments by the work of Norbert R. Nowaczyk consistently follows lows in the gravity geoid.

Further research has revealed that this path has been very common in magnetic excursions over at least the last five million years and raises the possibility that at some point we may be able to determine paleogeoid gravity configurations from wander paths. It would be very interesting to know how the geoid responded to large impact events.

Researchers (Clement and Kent 1986) (Laj et al 1991) noticed the tendency for VGP paths to track “down the Americas” and Constable 1992 found a strong statistical signals for VGP paths along longitudes 90 and -90. These are the longitudes of the Laschamp path and the opposing longitudes, not intuitively apparent on a flat map, leaves open the possibility of a dipole swing.