Magnetization of the oceanic crust beneath the Labrador Sea

The aeromagnetic anomalies of the oceanic crust northeast of Newfoundland, Canada, are strongly skewed, with an anomalous skewness of 33–52°, with respect to the anomalies calculated using the standard sea-floor spreading model. This paper examines the possibility that the anomalous skewness is on account of an oceanic crust with a thermo-viscous remanent magnetization, where unlike the standard model the lower crust is magnetic. The thermo-viscous remanent magnetization of the lower crust beneath the Labrador Sea has dominant contributions to broad-scale marine magnetic anomalies and to the negative Magsat anomaly of the Sea.