“…Despite this progress, the surface field morphology and the physical origin of excursions remain unclear. Although significant advances have been made in determining the age, duration and global character of excursions from volcanic rocks (e.g., Jicha et al, 2011;Laj et al, 2014;Singer, 2014) and sediments (e.g., Laj et al, 2006;Channell et al, 2012;Channell, 2014;Nowaczyk et al, 2012Nowaczyk et al, , 2013, sparse spatial coverage, age uncertainties, and the fidelity of palaeomagnetic records hinder our understanding of the global behavior of excursions.…”