Geomagnetic polarity epochs: new data from Olduvai Gorge, Tanganyika

The lower lava flow of Bed I in Olduvai Gorge, Tanganyika, carries natural remanent magnetization (NRM) having normal polarity. Thermal demagnetization experiments demonstrate the stability of this NRM. Thus the Olduvai geomagnetic polarity event, which was originally named from the upper lava flow in Bed I, is represented in its type locality by two normally magnetized lavas. These lavas have been shown to be 1.9 m.y. old, and although they are distinct from each other in composition and surface structure, their eruptions appear to have been closely spaced in time.