Age of the Tananwan formation in northern Taiwan: A reexamination of the magnetostratigraphy and calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the succession strata of the Tananwan Formation exposed horizontally on the Linkou Tableland in northwestern Taiwan has been either dated to a short time interval of 0.9 - 0.7 Ma or assigned to a vague long period within the Matuyama Epoch covering probably both the Olduvai and Jaramillo normal events. In this study, a reexamination of magnetostratigraphy and calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy of this formation was carried out. The results show that the strata with stable remanent magnetizations have reversed magnetic polarities only, and the layers with marine sedimentary facies consistently contain specimens of large Gephyrocapsa. These updated results suggest that the Tananwan Formation was deposited within the interval of 1.46 - 1.24 Ma, corresponding to a short period of reversed magnetic polarity of the Matuyama Epoch.