Relative palaeointensity and reservoir effect on Lake Esmeralda, Antarctica

Abstract Four cores from the bottom sediments of Lake Esmeralda, Vega Island, Antarctica (60°48'S, 57°37'W) were studied. Analysis of rock magnetics indicates that the main carriers of magnetization are ferrimagnetic minerals, predominantly pseudo-single-domain (titano-) magnetite with a s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antarctic Science
Main Authors: Irurzun, M.A., Chaparro, M.A.E., Sinito, A.M., Gogorza, C.S.G., Nuñez, H., Nowaczyk, N.R., Böhnel, H.N.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102017000050
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102017000050
Description
Summary:Abstract Four cores from the bottom sediments of Lake Esmeralda, Vega Island, Antarctica (60°48'S, 57°37'W) were studied. Analysis of rock magnetics indicates that the main carriers of magnetization are ferrimagnetic minerals, predominantly pseudo-single-domain (titano-) magnetite with a small proportion of paramagnetic and antiferromagnetic minerals. The magnetic grain size of the samples is in the range of 1–5 μm and the variation of the interparametric ratios is less than one order of magnitude. Demagnetization of the natural remanent magnetization shows a stable remanent magnetization in most of the samples. Thus, the samples fulfil the necessary conditions to calculate relative palaeointensity (RPI) and the curves obtained correlated with global models enabling dating of the cores. The 250 cm of sediment recovered spans the last 10 200 yr bp . Finally, some samples with high organic matter content were dated by accelerator mass spectrometry 14 C. By comparison with the age defined by the RPI curves, a reservoir effect of c. 5200 years is suggested for this region of Vega Island.