Rock-magnetic and paleomagnetic studies on late-Holocene sediments from Laguna Cháltel (Patagonia, Argentina)

Abstract

Paleomagnetic and rock magnetic studies performed on sediment cores from Laguna Cháltel (Patagonia, Argentina) show strong and stable remanence carried by pseudo-single domain (PSD) magnetite. Concentration of magnetic minerals varied between 0.01 and 0.08%. Paleomagnetic records from four cores document little scatter of directions with very good inter-site correlation. The new paleosecular variation curve from Laguna Cháltel extends to 4700 cal. BP and was compared with other records from Patagonia, including lacustrine records from Lakes El Trébol, Moreno, Escondido, Carmen and Laguna Potrok Aike. These results represent a major step forward in constructing a Paleosecular Variation (PSV) type curve for southern Argentina that can be used to improve stratigraphic correlation of sedimentary sequences.