A paleomagnetic study of secular variation in New Zealand

Ancient secular variation in New Zealand was determined from paleomagnetic measurements on 22 volcanic formations with ages of less than 0.68 m.y. The angular standard deviation from the field of an axial dipole is 13.2° with 95% confidence limits between 10.9° and 16.7°. The angular standard deviation of the corresponding virtual geomagnetic poles is 19.6° with confidence limits between 16.2° and 24.7°. These values are larger than those predicted by most models for secular variation. No difference was detected between the angular secular variation in New Zealand and that at the same latitude in North America.