The Lake Mungo geomagnetic excursion

Abstract

Archaeomagnetic studies have been made of prehistoric aboriginal fireplaces occurring along the ancient shore of Lake Mungo, a dried out lake in southeastern Australia. Directions of magnetization preserved in ovenstones and baked hearths show that wide departures of up to 120° from the axial dipole field direction occurred about 30000 years ago. The determination of the variation in geomagnetic field strength from the baked material is complicated by non-ideal behaviour during Thellier’s double heating method. The problem appears to arise from the subsequent (postfiring) formation of iron oxyhydroxides during a period in which the water level in the lake rose. During laboratory heatings these oxyhydroxides dehydrate causing the non-ideal behaviour observed. The ancient field strengths deduced are therefore probably minimum values. The geomagnetic excursion recorded between at least 30780 ±520 and 28140 ±370 years b.p. on the conventional radiocarbon time scale is associated with very high field strengths between 1 and 2 Oe (1 Oe » 79.6 A m_ 1 ). The field strength subsequently decreased to between 0.2 and 0.3 Oe after the excursion. This main excursion is referred to as the Lake Mungo geomagnetic excursion. There is evidence that a second excursion associated with low field strengths of 0.1-0.2 Oe occurred around 26000 years b.p. A review of geomagnetic excursions less than 40 000 years in age shows that it may be premature to assume that these are world-wide synchronous features. The range of ages and their groupings in different parts of the world may indicate they are temporary non-dipole features of continental extent. However, the duration of most excursions (order of 103 years) is very similar to that of polarity transitions and this could indicate they are aborted reversals.