Paleomagnetism of the type Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary section at Santa Maria de Catanzaro,Italy, and the problem of post-depositional precipitation of magnetic minerals |
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| Authors: | ND Watkins DR Kester JP Kennett |
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| Institution: | Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, R.I., USA |
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| Abstract: | In order to assist in global correlation of the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary, a paleomagnetic survey has been made of the world type section for the boundary, in Calabria, Italy. A total of 116 specimens from 36 sites were collected from the section, which as sampled is about 30 m thick. All sites possess stable remanent magnetism and northern hemisphere virtual geomagnetic poles, consistent with deposition during a period of normal polarity. If this period was during the Gilsa event, a minimum sedimentation rate of 17 cm per 1000 years would be required. Since a normal polarity chemical overprint, acquired during the last 0.69 m.y. could also explain the data, thermomagnetic analyses were made of selected samples. The results show the presence of highly unstable superparamagnetic material, which is most likely a product of post-depositional chemical precipitation. This observation enhances the possibility that any longer-duration precipitation could have created coarse and thus magnetically more stable components, the effects of which could not be readily distinguished from the original remanent magnetism.The difficulties of distinguishing between original depositional remanent magnetism and post-depositional chemical remanent magnetism, in outcropping marine sediments, as well as the large range of possible natural causes of the latter, is summarized in the form of a discussion of feasible Eh and pH changes occurring between original deposition at upper bathyal dephts and final sampling above sea level. It is considered that, in the absence of experimental means to distinguish the roles of original and chemically overprinted paleomagnetic signals, similarity of magnetic polarity stratigraphy between sections of sediments representing different paleoenvironments and sedimentation rates is a necessary if insufficient requirement for diagnosis of real geomagnetic behavior during deposition, as opposed to posidepositional effects. |
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