New directional archeomagnetic data of burned cave sediments from Switzerland and geomagnetic field variations in Central Europe

• Published in: Geophysical Journal International
• Main Authors: Kapper, K. L., Donadini, F., Mauvilly, M., Panovska, S., Hirt, A. M.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 2014
• Subjects: Geomagnetism; rock magnetism and palaeomagnetism; Fennoscandia
• Online Access: http://gji.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/198/2/1208; https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggu184

This paper presents new directional archeomagnetic data from nine Meso-/Neolithic fireplaces, sampled in a cave shelter, at Arconciel, in western Switzerland. Rock magnetic measurements indicate a homogenous magnetic mineralogy in all fireplaces, with magnetite as the main magnetic carrier. The remanent magnetization is stable and generally shows one characteristic directional component. Nine new directions, which were obtained from Arconciel, are combined with 356 other archeomagnetic data from a circular area with a radius of 700 km around this site, to obtain a penalized least square spline fit for the past 9000 yr. We found in general good agreement with other local compilations, such as the Balkan curve, the regional SCHA.DIF.8k model and with lake sediments from UK, Fennoscandia and Switzerland. Nevertheless, a time lag of several centuries is observed for a declination maximum between the archeomagnetic spline fit and the other European data records around 5900 BC. This time lag is also observed in the Swiss lake sediment record; therefore we interpret this shift as a local feature of the Earth's magnetic field.