Abstract

A 570 cm-long sediment core was retrieved at <TEX>$9^{\circ}57^{\prime}N$</TEX> and <TEX>$131^{\circ}42^{\prime}W$</TEX> in 5,080 m water depth from the northeast equatorial Pacific and its stratigraphy was established with <TEX>$^{10}Be/^9Be$</TEX> and paleomagnetic measurements. Successive AF demagnetization reveals eight geomagnetic field reversals. In the reference geologic time scale, the eight reversal events correspond to an age of about 4.5 Ma. However, <TEX>$^{10}Be/^9Be$</TEX>-based age yields 9.5 Ma at a depth of 372 cm. Such a large discrepancy in determined ages is attributed to an extremely low sedimentation rate, 0.4 mm/kyr on average, of the study core and resultant loss or smoothing of geomagnetic fields. The composite age model reveals a wide range in the sedimentation rate - varying from 0.1 to 2.4 mm/kyr. However, the sedimentation rate shows systematic variation depending on sedimentary facies (Unit II and III), which suggests that each lithologic unit has a unique provenance and transport mechanism. At depths of 110-80 cm with a sedimentation rate of about 0.1 mm/kyr, ancient geomagnetic field reversal events of at least a 1.8 Myr time span have not been recorded, which indicates the probable existence of a hiatus in the interval. Such a sedimentary hiatus is observed widely in the deep-sea sediments of the NE equatorial Pacific.

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