Abstract
The classical Gubbio (Italy) Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary section has been resampled for both magnetostratigraphy and iridium. Paleomagnetic samples were taken over 7 m in the Maastrichtian and 6 m in the Paleocene. Previous results obtained a decade ago are confirmed. The reversal sequence is well defined and the individual reversals are somewhat more precisely located. A noticeable difference is the location of the position of the 29N/29R limit which may be lowered by 20–30 cm in the stratigraphic column. This would imply that the KTB occurs near the middle of chron 29R. Iridium measurements were made on samples from both shales and surrounding limestone beds from 2 m below to 3 m above the boundary: these measurements indicate that Ir is associated with clay minerals. Concentrations in the two types of samples are indeed compatible when reduced to a carbonate-free basis. Iridium concentrations stand above background over almost 3 m of section, corresponding to half a million years based on magnetostratigraphy. This is likely to indicate a protracted duration of the (external or internal) source of iridium, on top of which the main (short-lived) KTB anomaly proper stands.
Published Version
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