Continental sedimentary archives of Quaternary warm episodes as high-fidelity recorders of the Earth`s magnetic field - high resolution palaeomagnetism of lake sediments, loess-palaeosol sequences and travertine covering OIS 5 and 7
Final Report Abstract
During the last two interglacial periods (ca. 190 and 250 kyr and ca. 70 and 130 kyr bp) the dipole moment of the Earth’s magnetic field (EMF) was probably weaker than average. The main objective of our research project was to document the temporal and spatial evolution of the probably complex configurations of the EMF in these time intervals. High-resolution palaeomagnetic studies were conducted on a variety of terrestrial sedimentary archives that can be dated with the necessary precision and with a proven ability to retain quasi-continuous, unbiased ‘high-fidelity’ records of the directional variations of the palaeomagnetic field vector. Specifically did we want to test the hypothesis that a patch of reverse flux exists in high northern latitudes that it is stationary and responsible for some of the outstanding palaeomagnetic signatures observed in Europe during palaeointensity lows of the last 500 kyr. To achieve this goal we followed a special approach based on the assumption that the documentation of a largely similar palaeomagnetic signal in different geoarchives proves that these palaeovariations are records of the respective variations of the past Earth’s magnetic field. This “multi facies approach” (MFA) has a major advantage over more conventional “one facies – one record” approaches (OFORA). It allows authenticating an individual data set out of a number of similar data sets as a true record of the past Earth’s magnetic field. The actual research started in July 2002. Until June 2004 we investigated numerous sites from Central Europe to the Black Sea coast. It turned out that the sampled travertine and shallow lacustrine sediments do not properly record the Earth’s magnetic palaeofield (EMPF). Nevertheless, stimulated by the work already done and by the experience gathered in the course of the common research we continued. Lacustrine archives from Eifel dry maar lakes and loess-palaeosol sequences in general provided good records of the EMPF. Concentrating on these archives and we were able to elaborate interesting results which form the basis of our future research: A: The study of a 50 m core interval from a Eifel dry maar lake revealed a dataset that supports the hypothesis that a patch of reverse flux exists in high northern latitudes that it is stationary and responsible for some of the outstanding palaeomagnetic signatures observed in Europe during palaeointensity lows. B: Loess-palaeosol sequences are able to record even palaeosecular variation and geomagnetic excursions depending on sedimentation rate. The achieved results were continuously presented on conferences and are documented in publications.
Publications
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22. Interglacial and glacial fingerprints from lake deposits in the Gobi Desert, NW China. In: Sirocko,F., Claussen, M.,
Sánchez-Goñi, M.F., Litt, T. (Eds.). The Climates of the Past Interglacials. Developments in Quaternary Sciences, Vol. 7. 2007, pp. 323–347.
Wünnemann, B., Hartmann, K., Altmann, N., Hambach, U., Pachur, H.-J., Hucai Zhang
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Paläomagnetische Bearbeitung der Schichten von Klinge. Natur und Landschaft der Niederlausitz, Heft 24. 2007, S. 152-161, Hrsg: Naturwissenschaftl. Verein der Biederlausitz e.V. in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Museum der Natur und Umwelt Cottbus.
Reinders, J. & Hambach, U.
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Magnetic Dating of an Upper Palaeoltihic Cultural Layer Bearing Loess from the Krems-Wachtberg Site (Lower Austria). - In: J. REITNER et al. (Hrsg.), Veränderter Lebensraum – Gestern, Heute und Morgen. DEUQUA Symposium Wien, 2008. Abhandlungen der Geologischen Bundesanstalt, Bd. 62.2008, S. 153-157, ISBN 978-3853160435.
Hambach, U., Zeeden, C., Hark, M., Zöller, L.
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Paläo- und umweltmagnetische Untersuchungen an Sedimenten der Bohrung Frankenbach 1. In: Hansch, W. & Rosendahl, R.: 600.000 Jahre Zeitgeschichte am Neckar. MUSEO, Bd. 24. 2008, S. 68-76, Heilbronn, ISBN 978-3-936921-06-9
Hambach, U., Markovic, S.B., Rolf, C., Zöller, L.
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Using the relative intensity variation of the Earth's magnetic palaeofield as correlative dating technique: A case study from Upper
Palaeolithic cultural layers bearing loess at Poiana Cireşului, Romania. Quartär, Vol. 56. 2009, pp. 175-185.
Zeeden, C., Hambach, U., Steguweit, L., Fülling, A., Anghelinu, M., Zöller, L.
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Uranium-series dating of travertine from Süttö: implications for reconstruction of environmental change in Hungary. Quaternary International, Vol. 222, 2010, Issues 1–2, pp. 178–193.
Sierralta, M., Kele, S., Melcher, F., Hambach, U., Reinders, J., van Geldern, R., Frechen, M.
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Loess stratigraphy using palaeomagnetism: Application to the Poiana Cireşului archaeological site (Romania), Quaternary International,
Vol. 240. 2011, Issues 1–2, pp. 100–107.
Zeeden, C., Hambach, U., Steguweit, L., Anghelinu, M.
