Magnetostratigraphy of sediment cores from the Greenland Sea

High-resolution magnetostratigraphic analysis of three sediment cores from the base of the volcanic seamount Vesteris Banken in the Greenland Basin and one core from the Jan Mayen Fracture Zone revealed records of three pronounced geomagnetic events within the last 200 ka. Dating by stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis, AMS14C measurements and biostratigraphic data (foraminifera abundances) yielded ages of 28-27 ka for the Mono Lake excursion, 37-33 ka for the Laschamp event, and 189-179 ka for the Biwa I event. In at least one of the cores the Laschamp event exhibits a full reversal of the local geomagnetic field vector. The same is true of the Biwa I event, documented in one of the cores.