Geophysical Studies of North African Cenozoic Volcanic Areas: II. Jebel Soda, Libya

Abstract

This study is the second of a series in which a main concern will be to try to establish the Neogene absolute motion of the African Plate. A combined paleomagnetic and K–Ar whole rock age dating study has been made of the Jebel Soda basaltic volcanic area of central Libya. Sixty basaltic flows were sampled in an area centered on 28°45′N, 15°30′E. Precisely defined paleomagnetic directions were obtained for 57 of the flows. Considerable attention has been given to the problem of data selection to obtain a best measure of the pole representing the dipole field during the period of volcanic activity. The equatorial nature of the directions, with equivalent poles extending continuously to 30°N latitude, provide a problem in data selection. Similar characteristics are apparent in the results of Schult and Soffel (1973) for the same area. A provisional average pole for the combined data sets, located at 73°N, 195°E(K: 26, A95: 5.6°) is significantly different from the geographic pole. Reasons for the 17 °divergence of paleomagnetic and geographic poles are discussed briefly.