Discovery of an aborted reversal (geomagnetic excursion) in the Late Pleistocene sediments of Pinjor Dun, NW Himalaya

Abstract

We report here the occurrence of an aborted reversal (geomagnetic excursion) in the Late Pleistocene sediments of Pinjor Dun near Chandigarh, NW Himalaya. The event discovered at ~697.5 cm level from the base of Kiratpur section corresponds to the OSL date of 40±5 Ka coinciding with the Laschamp excursion and palaeointensity minima elsewhere. The Pinjor Dun sediments are deposited at a high rate of sedimentation that enables quite enlarged records of remanent geomagnetic field, hence suitable for further high resolution study of the excursion (under progress) to extend its utility as a stratigraphic marker in the Quaternary sediments at the foothills of the Himalaya.