Synthesis of Magnetic Remanence Correlation , Leg 155

Conventional magnetic stratigraphy was not possible due to the young age (<780 ka) of the recovered sediments. Taking advantage of the exceptionally high sedimentation rates, however, we were able to successfully adopt several other less-utilized magnetostratigraphic techniques. Foremost among these was the identification of short periods of anomalous geomagnetic polarity (i.e., events and excursions) in the archive-half magnetic remanence record. Another was the recognition of distinctive patterns in magnetic remanence intensity, which seemingly could be correlated between distant sites. The third method, the identification of sequential secular variation cycles, probably cannot provide unequivocal time correlations from site to site. Nevertheless, it should be useful in determining variation in "true" sedimentation rates within individual lithostratigraphic units. The fourth technique involves the recognition of distinctive changes in remanence inclination, which are less pronounced but of longer duration than geomagnetic excursions.