Palaeomagnetism of the quaternary sediments of the locality Červený Kopec (red hill)

Abstract

As the result of the palaeomagnetic research into the loesses and soils of Quaternary age from the locality of Cervený Kopec (Czechoslovakia) it was found that the viscous remanent magnetism (RM) of these rocks exceeds the stable component of the RM. Figures 1–6 show polar graphs and the demagnetization curves corresponding to cases when the rocks sedimented in a magnetic field, the direction of which corresponded to the direction of the present geomagnetic field, or when the X and Z components of the field were of the opposite sense. The positions of the magnetic N pole were computed for the interval of transition from Matuyama's epoch of negative polarity to Brunhes's epoch of positive polarity. At the time of the reversal it was found that the pole moved along an oval at time intervals of about 10 000 years and that their was an apparent west-ward drift of the pole. The reversal found in the Quaternary is compared with the reversal in the Pliocene. The agreement in the pole movements in these two cases seems to indicate constant causes of these large changes in the magnetic field and a possible relation between the pole movement and the boundaries of the lithospheric blocks.