Assessing inclination flattening in the Holocene: insights from sediment data and global models

Lacustrine and marine sediments are one of the main sources of information in constructing Holocene global geomagnetic field models. The use of sediment records, however, leads to the question whether the compaction of sediments leads to a systematic biasing of inclination. We evaluate 78 sedimentary records worldwide for inclination flattening using the Elongation/Inclination (E/I) method; 20 records indicate flattening. The uncorrected and corrected values for inclination are compared to global geomagnetic field models. The results suggest that the uncorrected values agree better with the predictions from global geomagnetic field models based on sediment and archaeomagnetic data, but also with a model independent of sediment data. The 20 sites are located in mid-latitudes where inclination anomalies are predicted both in the Holocene and throughout the Brunhes epoch. Our results demonstrate that shallow inclination may not only result from compaction but may reflect the structure of the geomagnetic field on short timescales. This suggests that secular variation is not averaged out over a time period that covers the Holocene.

Automated summary

Lacustrine and marine sediments are important sources of information for constructing Holocene global geomagnetic field models. The question of whether sediment compaction leads to biasing of inclination is evaluated using the Elongation/Inclination (E/I) method on 78 sedimentary records worldwide, with 20 records indicating flattening. The results suggest that shallow inclination may not only result from compaction but may reflect the structure of the geomagnetic field on short timescales, indicating that secular variation is not averaged out over the Holocene.