Magnetostratigraphic characterization of a thick Lower Pleistocene lacustrine sequence from the Baza Basin (Betic Chain, Southern Spain)

Abstract

The magnetic polarity stratigraphy from a lacustrine sequence of the Baza Basin (Betic Chain, Southern Spain) has been interpreted as having a Lower Pleistocene age. Fifty-nine paleomagnetic sites have been obtained and a set of 179 specimens has been demagnetized with both thermal and alternating field procedures. Several magnetic parameters, that depend on the lithology, have been obtained. The characteristic remanent magnetization polarity has been unambiguously recovered over the whole sequence. The materials studied span chron 1r.2, located in the upper Matuyama epoch. This allows the placement of the faunas studied, ranging from the Late Villanyian to the Late Biharian, in the magnetic polarity time scale (MPTS). This work also proves that magnetostratigraphy can be established in lacustrine sediments even with extremely low magnetic intensities. © 1994.