Variations of the geomagnetic field during the Holocene: Relative paleointensity and inclination record from the West Pacific (ODP Hole 1202B)

We conducted detailed rock magnetic investigations on 36 m of drill core collected during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 195 at Hole 1202B (24°48.24′N, 122°30.00′E), in the Southern Okinawa Trough, with the goal of extracting a reliable paleointensity signal with centennial resolution. An age-depth model was established from a chronology obtained by accelerator mass spectromety 14C dating. The sedimentary section spans almost the entire Holocene (0–9.4 kyr) and exhibits sedimentation rates close to 400 cm/kyr. The magnetic properties are dominated by stable, pseudo-single domain magnetite. High-field hysteresis data and the grain-size sensitive ratio of anhysteretic remanent magnetization (ARM) to low field magnetic susceptibility indicate a narrow range of grain sizes and concentrations. Magnetic parameters vary by a factor of 4 thereby fulfilling the usual criteria for a relative paleointensity study. The relative geomagnetic paleointensity was obtained by normalizing the intensity of natural remanent magnetization (NRM) by the ARM and the low field magnetic susceptibility. Both normalizations yield nearly identical results (r = 0.89). Spectral analysis indicates that the record is not significantly affected by local environmental conditions. Comparison of this West Pacific paleointensity curve with other curves suggests a geomagnetic origin for the signal. Millennial-scale features of our record correlate to variations of the archeomagnetic dipole moment. This suggest that the sediments at Hole1202B recorded changes of the geomagnetic field over the studied time interval.