Paleomagnetism is defined as the study of recording the Earth's ancient magnetic field using igneous and sedimentary rocks. It has been instrumental in our understanding of how planet Earth works and is one of the cornerstones of the theory of plate tectonics. As rocks form, they record the direction, polarity, and absolute or relative intensity of the Earth's magnetic field, which can be extracted using paleomagnetic methods. Paleomagnetism has several applications, including for reconstructing plate movements and plate tectonic configurations, and in magnetostratigraphy as a tool for dating sedimentary rocks. It can also provide information on the past behavior of the Earth's magnetic field in absolute and relative paleointensity studies. The application of paleomagnetism as a dating tool is widely used by geoscientists (e.g. Langereis, 2010; Tauxe, 1993). Paleomagnetic methods have also been developed to use the polarity of the geomagnetic field as the sole means of assigning absolute (radiometric) ages to sedimentary rocks. Radiometric dating and magnetostratigraphy are the methods commonly used as absolute dating tools in igneous and sedimentary rocks. Paleomagnetic studies of igneous rocks provided the first reliable information on magnetic polarity reversals. In 1906, Brunhes observed that lava flows were magnetized in the direction opposite to the current geomagnetic field (Langereis, 2010; Brunhes, 1906). This question was studied in more detail by Matuyama (1929) and Hospers (1951). Additionally, some scientists have used the polarity of lava flows as a correlation tool for stratigraphy (Irving, 1988; Stern, 2002). Khramov (1985) was the pioneer who used both volcanic and sedimentary rocks to develop a single geochronogica...... middle of paper ......tasks are often required to accurately determine polarity magnetic at each depth. These experiments include stepwise demagnetization and collection of other magnetic data on the rocks.18 The orientation and intensity of magnetization measured during incremental demagnetization constitutes a magnetization vector whose "tip" forms a point in a three-dimensional coordinate space; the set of all these points produced during progressive demagnetization defines the demagnetization path of the specimen (Kirschvink, 1980). These results are used to construct a two-dimensional diagram of the behavior of the demagnetization vector, the Zijderveld plot. An example of a demagnetization vector diagram for cored sediments at the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) site U1386 is shown in Figures 4 and 5. This includes projecting the vector endpoints onto a horizontal and vertical plane.