A sedimentary paleomagnetic record of the upper Jaramillo transition from the Lantian Basin in China

• Published in: Earth, Planets and Space
• Main Authors: Wu, Yi, Ouyang, Tingping, Qiu, Shifan, Rao, Zhiguo, Zhu, Zhaoyu
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: SPRINGER HEIDELBERG 2015
• Subjects: Geology; Geomagnetic reversal; Upper Jaramillo; Loess; Lantian Basin; Chinese Loess Plateau; Geosciences; Multidisciplinary; BRUNHES GEOMAGNETIC REVERSAL; LOESS-PALEOSOL SEDIMENTS; MATUYAMA-BRUNHES; MAGNETIC-SUSCEPTIBILITY; RELATIVE PALEOINTENSITY; POLARITY REVERSAL; LOCK-IN; PALEOCLIMATIC SIGNIFICANCE; ASTRONOMICAL CALIBRATION; NORTH-ATLANTIC; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://ir.gig.ac.cn/handle/344008/54633; https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-015-0341-9

The termination of the Jaramillo (normal to reverse) subchron is a key chronostratigraphic marker for dating global Pleistocene sedimentary sequences. However, the stratigraphic position of the geomagnetic polarity reversal varies greatly across the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), from near the bottom of paleosol unit S9 to the middle-upper part of S10. Here, we present paleomagnetic and rock magnetic results from high-resolution sampling of the Yushan loess section of the Lantian Basin located within the southern CLP. Our combined analyses determine that the polarity reversal is located in the middle-lower part of the paleosol unit S10. This stratigraphic position is lower than most of other studies conducted throughout the CLP. We attribute the difference in the location of the reversal to a deeper lock-in depth of remanence acquisition, which may have occurred from postdepositional processes under favorable hydrothermal conditions along the southern margin of CLP. It is important to note that age determinations through magnetic stratigraphy on sedimentary sections, particularly in discontinuous and/or imperfect sequences, should be treated with caution; there are significant differences with respect to the location of the polarity reversal throughout the CLP.