ASSESSING RELIABILITY OF DSDP PALEOLATITUDES

Published Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) paleomagnetic data are reviewed and reevaluated in terms of their reliability for paleolatitude calculations. Where possible, new paleolatitudes are calculated from data which were originally used only for paleomagnetic stratigraphy. For basalts, new paleolatitudes are calculated by averaging the data by cooling unit if this was not done previously. In addition, all paleolatitudes are corrected by a small amount because inclination averages without declination control provide low estimates of the true paleolatitude. Standard rating criteria are developed, and all paleolatitudes are rated accordingly.