Palaeomagnetic data from the late Cenozoic Tagay section (Olkhon Island, Baikal region, Eastern Siberia)

Abstract

One of the most important fossil fauna localities in the Baikal region is the Tagay section. It is located on the shore of Tagay bay at the northwestern coast of Olkhon Island in the Baikal Lake and consists of two different exposures, Tagay-1 and Tagay-2. The Tagay-1 section exposes predominantly lake sediments of Miocene age and contains a faunal complex. The Tagay-2 section is composed of slope wash and subaerial sediments of Early Pleistocene (Calabrian?) age with remains of small mammals. A total of 95 samples for palaeomagnetic studies were taken in both sections. Magnetic susceptibility (MS), its frequency dependence (Fd) and anisotropy were measured from all samples. The stable component of the natural remanent magnetization (NRM) was obtained using stepwise alternating field (AF) demagnetization. The magnetic polarity pattern was constrained for the Tagay-1 section. It includes an extended zone of reversed polarity, complicated by three normal subzones of minor rank. Palaeontological data allow correlation of the Tagay-1 pattern with the magnetic chrons C5Dn to C5Cn.1n (late Burdigalian – early Langhian). Palaeomagnetic directions in the upper part of the Tagay-2 section are randomly distributed due to intensive slope-wash processes resulted in mechanical perturbation of the sediments. The lower part of Tagay-2 section demonstrates only reversed polarity, although the scatter of directions is quite large due to landsliding. This reversed interval may be correlated with the Matuyama chron between Cobb Mountain and Olduvai subchrons. Synchronous increase of MS and Fd values in palaeosols suggests a pedogenic (or “Chinese”) mechanism influencing magnetic properties of the Tagay-2 section under warm palaeoclimatic conditions.