Astrochronology of the Early Turonian-Early Campanian terrestrial succession in the Songliao Basin, northeastern China and its implication for long-period behavior of the Solar System

The first complete Early Turonian-Early Campanian lacustrine succession has been recovered from the SK-I south (SK-Is) borehole in the Songliao Basin (SLB), northeastern China. We conducted a detailed cyclostratigraphic study of natural gamma-ray (GR) log, thorium (Th) log, and magnetic susceptibility (MS) data from this core. Spectral analysis of the upper Quantou Formation (K(2)q(3+4)), Qingshankou Formation (K(2)qn), Yaojia Formation (K(2)y), and lower Nenjiang Formation (K(2)n(1+2)) reveals a hierarchy of meter- to decameter-scale cycling in the data. The wavelength ratios of the cycles in these stratigraphic units are similar to 20:5:2:1, corresponding with those of Milankovitch cycle periods of 405 kyr (long eccentricity):100 kyr (short eccentricity):37 kyr (obliquity):20 kyr (precession), indicating astronomical control on sedimentation. An astronomical time scale (ATS) was established by tuning interpreted 405 kyr cycles to a 405 kyr orbital eccentricity target curve, and to four SIMS U-Pb zircon radioisotope ages. This 'absolute' ATS provides precise numerical ages for stratigraphic boundaries, biozones, geological and geophysical events, and serves as a basis for correlation of strata and events between marine and terrestrial systems. The ages of the C33r/C34n geomagnetic polarity boundary in K(2)n(2) and three short reversal events in K(2)y are estimated as 83.633 Ma, 84.819-84.862 Ma, 84.982-85.092 Ma and 85.240-85.629 Ma, respectively. Long-period amplitude modulations in the obliquity and eccentricity bands of the 405-kyr-tuned GR-Th series provide strong evidence that long-period orbital forcing influenced climate change and depositional processes in the SLB. The extracted amplitude modulations provide evidence that the orbits of Earth and Mars were not in secular resonance, and were undergoing chaotic interactions during this time, although the modulations do not match those of recent astronomical models. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.