Paleosecular Variations During the Last Glacial Period From Tengchong Qinghai Lake, Yunnan Province, China

In recent years, the evolution of the magnetic flux lobes in terms of location and intensity has been attributed to paleosecular variation of the geomagnetic field, reflecting outer-core fluid convection close to the core-mantle boundary. However, most results were based on observational data for the past 400 years supplemented by sparse archeomagnetic studies with data for approximately 3 kyr. In this paper, we construct a relative paleointensity (RPI) record and an inclination record spanning the past similar to 90 kyr based on two cores from Tengchong Qinghai Lake (Yunnan Province, China), a closed crater lake that formed in the late Pleistocene. The evolution of flux lobes and the non-dipole field can be assessed on a much longer time scale. Although the concentration and domain state of magnetic grains in the cores vary significantly, the RPI record is still representative of geomagnetic field features in the region of Yunnan Province, China. The contrasting trends in RPI with the records for eastern China since the late Holocene indicate the southeastward migration of the Siberian flux lobe. During the last glacial period, the RPI records of Tengchong Qinghai Lake and the North Atlantic Ocean show opposite trends, denoting the diverse and strong influence of the two flux lobe systems. The strong reverse flux lobe in the North Atlantic Ocean strengthened the non-dipole field, while the weak normal flux lobe in Tengchong weakened the non-dipole field.

Automated summary

This study presents a paleomagnetic record of the geomagnetic field in Yunnan Province, China, over the past 90,000 years. The evolution of magnetic flux lobes and non-dipole field are found to be influenced by various factors and exhibit different trends during different periods, particularly related to the Siberian and North Atlantic flux lobes.