Paleomagnetic and rockmagnetic data are reported for the aeolian Botucatu Formation, in the southern Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Sul. Oriented samples were taken from a section located between the cities of Jaguari and Santiago. After thermal and alternating field demagnetization, both normal and reversed characteristic remanent magnetizations were found. These results yielded 13 reversed and 5 normal polarity sites, composing a magnetostratigraphic column displaying a sequence of reversed-normal-reversed polarity events. The paleomagnetic pole calculated for 18 sites is located at 114.7ºE, 78.5ºS (dp=8.1º; dm=1.2º), after restoring the strata to the paleohorizontal. This paleomagnetic pole indicates a Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous age to the Botucatu Formation in the investigated area, and places the sampling sites at paleolatitudes as low as 21ºS.
paleomagnetism; Botucatu Formation; magnetostratigraphy; magnetic anisotropy; Late Jurassic
