PALEOMAGNETISM.ORG – AN ONLINE MULTI-PLATFORM AND OPEN SOURCE ENVIRONMENT FOR PALEOMAGNETIC ANALYSIS

Abstract:

This contribution provides an overview of the features of Paleomagnetism.org, a new open-source online environment for paleomagnetic analysis that is supported by all modern browsers on multiple platforms. The core functionality of Paleomagnetism.org is written in JavaScript and maintains an interactive website in which paleomagnetic data can be interpreted, evaluated, visualized, and exported. Although being an online platform, the data processing is performed client-sided within the browser to respect the integrity of the data and users.

In the interpretation portal, principle component analysis (Kirschvink et al., 1981) can be applied on visualized demagnetization data (Zijderveld, 1967). The interpreted directions and great circles can be combined using the iterative procedure of (McFadden and McElhinny, 1988). The resulting magnetic directions can be used in the statistics portal or exported as raw tabulated data and figures.

The available tools in the statistics portal cover standard Fisher statistics for directional data and virtual geomagnetic poles (Fisher, 1953; Butler, 1992; Deenen et al., 2011). Other tools include the eigenvector approach foldtest (Tauxe and Watson, 1994), a bootstrapped reversal test (Tauxe et al., 2009), and the classical reversal test of (McFadden and McElhinny, 1990). An implementation exists for the detection and correction of inclination shallowing in sediments (Tauxe and Kent, 2004; Tauxe et al., 2008) and a module to visualize custom or default APWP reference frames (Torsvik et al., 2012; Kent and Irving, 2010; Besse and Courtillot, 2002) for continent-bearing plates.

Paleomagnetism.org provides an integrated approach for researchers to export tabulated and visualized (e.g. equal area projections) paleomagnetic data. The portals construct a custom exportable file that can be shared with other researchers and included in public databases. With a publication, this custom file can be appended and would contain all data used in the respective publication. The appended file can then be imported to the Paleomagnetims.org application by other researchers. The accessibility and simplicity through which paleomagnetic data can be interpreted, analyzed, visualized, and shared should make Paleomagnetism.org of interest to the paleomagnetic community.