Researchers report the magnetic polarity sequence of a long sediment core from Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, that correlates with part of a continuous astrochronostratigraphic polarity timescale (APTS) spanning approximately 209.5-215.5 million years ago; detrital zircon ages in the core determined by radiometric dating agree closely with those predicted from the APTS, suggesting that certain assumptions about planetary interactions involved in constructing the APTS are valid as far back as the Late Triassic.
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Article #18-00891: "Empirical evidence for stability of the 405-kiloyear Jupiter-Venus eccentricity cycle over hundreds of millions of years," by Dennis V. Kent et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Dennis V. Kent, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, NY; tel: 848-445-2044; e-mail: < dvk@ldeo.columbia.edu >
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences