Palomagnetic samples of basalt and sediment from four Deep-Sea Drilling Project sites in the Nazea plate were studied in order to detect any possible paleolatitude changes and to evaluate the contribution of different portions of the igneous basement to the overlying magnetic anomalies. Penetration of the basement basalts yielded both coarse-grained massive flow units and fine-grained pillow basalts. The massive flow samples had titanomagnetite grains that were relatively unoxidized, while all the pillow had been extensively subjected to low-temperature oxidation. Average intensity of magnetic remanence in the massive flow units (99.4¿10-4 emu/cm3) was approximately an order of magnitude higher than that found in the pillow basalts (10.3¿10-4 emu/cm). All coarse-grained massive flow samples had large components of soft magnetization that was probably due to a viscous remanent magnetization (VRM) acquired both in situ and during the drilling process. In some cases this VRM component dominated the initial thermal remanence and could be responsible for the inability of some areas of the oceanic crust to record observable magnetic anomaly patterns. Large deviations in stable inclination from that expected from an axial centered dipole field were recorded by both basalt and sediment samples. Tightly grouped and anomalously high inclinations in the basalt samples from the younger sites indicate that the upper part of the oceanic igneous crust was formed in less than 102 yr, and this formation may be episodic. Paleomagnetic inclinations from the sediments, averaged over roughly 106 yr for each site, indicated no latitudinal change for the Nazea plate between 15 and 40 m.y. B.P. and arc consistent with a southward paleolatitude movement of 3¿--5¿ during the last 15 m.y.