Palaeomagnetic investigations on lake sediments from NE China: a new record of geomagnetic secular variations for the last 37 ka

Detailed palaeomagnetic investigations were carried out on two 23 m long sediment cores from Erlongwan maar lake, NE China. The sediment composition of both cores is nearly identical. Based on a macroscopical inspection of the cores 410 graded layers intercalated into the laminated sediments were identified. Measurements of the anisotropy of the magnetic susceptibility revealed that these layers have not disturbed the sediment structure in general, but only in intervals where their thicknesses exceeds 50 cm. The age model for Erlongwan is based on 15 AMS C-14-datings on bulk sediment, showing that the sediment profile spans the last 37 ka cal BP. Although one of the sediment cores has been slightly deformed during core recovery, similar inclination and declination records could be obtained by standard palaeomagnetic methods. The stacked inclination and declination records show both variations similar to those known from palaeosecular variation records from Eastern China and Japan. Therefore, the presented study is a contribution to the ongoing process of compiling a PSV mastercurve for East Asia.