A paleomagnetic record in loess–paleosol sequences since late Pleistocene in the arid Central Asia

• Main Authors: Guanhua Li, Dunsheng Xia, Erwin Appel, Youjun Wang, Jia Jia, Xiaoqiang Yang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2018-03-01
• Series: Earth, Planets and Space
• Subjects: Geomagnetic excursion; Blake excursion; Laschamp excursion; Relative paleointensity; Loess; Arid Central Asia
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40623-018-0814-8

Abstract Geomagnetic excursions during Brunhes epoch have been brought to the forefront topic in paleomagnetic study, as they provide key information about Earth’s interior dynamics and could serve as another tool for stratigraphic correlation among different lithology. Loess–paleosol sequences provide good archives for decoding geomagnetic excursions. However, the detailed pattern of these excursions was not sufficiently clarified due to pedogenic influence. In this study, paleomagnetic analysis was performed in loess–paleosol sequences on the northern piedmont of the Tianshan Mountains (northwestern China). By radiocarbon and luminance dating, the loess section was chronologically constrained to mainly the last c.130 ka, a period when several distinct geomagnetic excursions were involved. The rock magnetic properties in this loess section are dominated by magnetite and maghemite in a pseudo-single-domain state. The rock magnetic properties and magnetic anisotropy indicate weakly pedogenic influence for magnetic record. The stable component of remanent magnetization derived from thermal demagnetization revealed the presence of two intervals of directional anomalies with corresponding intensity lows in the Brunhes epoch. The age control in the key layers indicates these anomalies are likely associated with the Laschamp and Blake excursions, respectively. In addition, relative paleointensity in the loess section is basically compatible with other regional and global relative paleointensity records and indicates two low-paleointensity zones, possibly corresponding to the Blake and Laschamp excursions, respectively. As a result, this study suggests that the loess section may have the potential to record short-lived excursions, which largely reflect the variation of dipole components in the global archives.