Data on the strength of the Precambrian magnetic field are important for understanding the behavior of Earth’s geodynamo in the deep past. Furthermore, Precambrian paleointensity has been used to explore a multitude of important interconnected Earth’s evolution processes including the Earth’s thermal evolution, age of the inner core, core thermal conductivity, mantle convection, plate tectonics, magnetospheric shielding, atmospheric chemistry, and even the emergence of life. However, obtaining reliable Precambrian paleointensity data still remains one of the most challenging tasks of paleomagnetic research due to high failure rates resulting from natural and laboratory alteration, sparsity of source material, non-optional carriers of magnetization and other factors. Consequently, although the Precambrian spans more than 85% of the entire geological record, the Precambrian paleointensities only comprise about 9% of the available data and are characterized by an uneven geographical and temporal distribution. Here, a critical review of the Precambrian paleointensity records is provided together with the related perspectives and challenges. A special emphasis will be given to a discussion of what questions we can or cannot realistically address based on the available paleointensities: What are the knowns and unknowns related to the existing Precambrian paleointensity record?

About the Keynote Speaker

Elisa Piispa is a geophysicist at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Her expertise is magnetism of Earth and its materials, which provides invaluable tools to address variable questions in Earth Sciences from global to regional scale. Her postdoctoral research focuses on obtaining new palaeomagnetic and archeomagnetic data in the South-West Pacific and utilizing that information to understand how geodynamo, the source of the Earth’s magnetic field, works. She earned her PhD at Michigan Technological University, USA 2015, where she used palaeomagnetic and rock magnetic data to address variable questions from plate motions and dynamics to True Polar Wander Events and the morphology of the geomagnetic field during the Precambrian. She has published her work on high impact journals including Nature.