Abstract
In this study, we offer significant improvement over previous results
that identified the Matuyama-Brunhes magnetic reversal in cave sediments
from the Czech Republic in Central Europe. We collected discrete samples
from the sedimentary profile in Za Hajovnou cave located in the eastern
part of the Czech Republic. The rock magnetism measurements indicated
that the magnetic carrier of most of the samples is maghemite.
Characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) directions and related
virtual geomagnetic pole (VGP) paths indicated that the Matuyama-Brunhes
transition boundary was within 5.7 cm of the sediment, located in the
upper part of the sampled sedimentary section. This result showed a new,
more detailed behavior of the polarity transition from that of the
central European location. The migration of the paleopole between
eastern Africa and western North America was established as a
significant marker for the central European paleomagnetic record in
terms of global magnetic data. The transition duration was 8.1±0.2 kyr,
and the precursor of the reversal occurred 4±0.2 kyr before the
transition. In addition, we estimated the sedimentation rate of the
studied section (~35 cm) in the cave as 0.7±0.2 cm/kyr.