Geomagnetic variations recorded in Older (≫ 23 000 B.P.) and Younger Yoldia Clay (∼ 14 000 B.P.) at Nørre Lyngby, Denmark

Abstract

Summary. Detailed palaeomagnetic results from a rapidly deposited 12.5‐m Younger Yoldia Clay sequence of age around 14 000 B.P. at the coast cliff at Nørre Lyngby (northern Jutland, Denmark) and a 2‐m Older Yoldia Clay sequence of age somewhere between 23 000 and 40 000 B.P. are presented and discussed. The Younger Yoldia Clay spans some 1000–1500 yr and shows swings in inclination and declination of about that period, and also more rapid oscillations which are particularly marked in inclination, showing that rapid secular variations as have occurred during historic times were indeed also present back in time. There exist easterly declinations of 80° to 90° in the upper half of the Younger Yoldia Clay which cause the virtual geomagnetic pole to migrate clockwise to around 50° away from the rotation pole. This we name the ‘Nørre Lyngby declination excursion’. In the Older Yoldia Clay, as well as secular variations in both declination and inclination, significant low inclination values are found, confirming the existence of the recently named ‘Rubjerg low inclination excursion’, with the virtual geomagnetic pole moving first in a clockwise then in an anticlockwise sense at 40° to 60° away from the rotation pole. It is therefore inferred that models for the Earth's geomagnetic field should involve at least local rapid eastward as well as westward ‘drift’ of the non‐dipole field components at various times in the past. Copyright © 1980, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved