Pleistocene magnetostratigraphy of four cores in the West Philippian Basin and regional sedimentary shift during the Mid‐Pleistocene transition

• Published in: Geological journal (Chichester, England) England), 2021-06, Vol.56 (6), p.2919-2929
• Main Authors: Yao, Huiqiang, Wang, Fenlian, Wang, Haifeng, Yu, Miao, Ren, Jiang‐bo, He, Gaowen, Chen, Weiwei, Yi, Liang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: abyssal sediments; Abyssal zone; Basins; Carbonate compensation depth; Carbonates; Climate change; Compensation depth; Cores; Geochronology; Geochronometry; Geomagnetism; Gravity; Isostasy; Magnetostratigraphy; Marginal basins; Mid‐Pleistocene transition; Palaeoclimatology; Paleoclimatology; Pleistocene; Polarity; sediment accumulative rate; Sediments; Tropical climate; West Philippian Basin
• ISSN: 0072-1050; 1099-1034
• DOI: 10.1002/gj.4082

The Philippine Sea is a well‐preserved, extinct, marginal basin, and due to generally deeper than the carbonate compensation depth, the geochronology and its geological significance of the abyssal sediments are less studied in previous researches. In this work, we studied the magnetostratigraphy of four gravity cores from the centre of the West Philippian Basin and establish a reliable chronology for sedimentary sequences in the Pleistocene. The main results include: (a) several magnetozones are recognized in the studied four cores, which can be correlated to the geomagnetic polarity timescale from chrons C1n to C2An (0–3.0 Ma); (b) since ~1.2 Ma, the depositional rates across the West Pacific are relatively consistent, about 160–250 cm/Myr; (c) a transition in depositional rates around ~1.2 Ma was identified in the studied area, from a spatial variety in the Early Pleistocene to a persistent pattern since the Middle Pleistocene. Based on these findings, we report that this sedimentary shift in the Philippian Sea can be correlated to global climate changes during the Mid‐Pleistocene transition, representing a major change in the studied area. Therefore, we suggest that the sedimentary processes in the studied area can be linked to a common shift in palaeoclimatology across the inner Asian continent, the Philippian Sea, and the tropical Pacific during the late Early Pleistocene. Four cores were studied in magnetostratigraphy. A major transition in depositional rates around 1.0–1.5 Ma was confirmed. A linkage between the inner Asia and the tropical Pacific was proposed.