[1] It is frequently displayed on the present latitude-longitude map as a path connecting the locations of geomagnetic poles, inferred at distinct times using paleomagnetic techniques.
Therefore, the concept of apparent polar wander is useful in plate tectonics, since it can retrace the relative motion of continents, as well as the formation and break-up of supercontinents.
[2] The technique of drawing apparent polar wander was first developed by Creer et al. (1954), and was a major step taken towards the acceptance of the plate tectonics theory.
Since then many discoveries have been made in that field, and apparent polar wander has become better understood with the evolution of the theory and of the geocentric axial dipole (GAD) model.
The inclination (Im) and declination vectors (Dm) are preserved and therefore the paleolatitude (λp) and paleolongitude (φp) of the pole can be found.
Paleomagnetic poles are usually a group mean determined from different samples, in order to average out the secular variation over time to respect GAD hypothesis.
However, there are two major problems for constraining finite rotation:[3] The goal of much paleomagnetic research is to assemble poles in APWPs for the different continental fragments, which is the first step in reconstructing the paleogeography.
Once poles are selected and attributed a certain degree of reliability, the task of curve fitting remains, in order to define apparent polar wander paths.