PALEOMAGNETIC STUDY OF MESOZOIC BASALTS FROM SCANIA, SOUTHERNMOST SWEDEN

The Mesozoic basalt necks of central Scania, southernmost Sweden, yiel d dual polarity palaeomagnetic directions: decl. 33-degrees, incl. 66- degrees, N = 15 and decl. 225-degrees, incl. -73-degrees, N = 6. The c ombined mean with the negative directions reversed is decl. 35-degrees , incl. 68-degrees, N = 21. The corresponding palaeopole is situated a t lat. 69-degrees-N, 103-degrees-E. This pole corresponds with an Earl y Jurassic pole for Europe and with Early Jurassic poles for North Ame rica after closing of the Atlantic. The Early Jurassic age is in contr ast with K-Ar datings, ranging between 171 and 81 Ma, but is in agreem ent with datings based on microfossils found in tuffaceous layers conn ected with the basalts.