Fine-tuning of age integrating magnetostratigraphy, radiocarbon dating, and carbonate cyclicity: Example of lacustrine sediments from Heqing basin (Yunnan, China) covering the past 1 Myr

High-resolution magnetostratigraphy, wavelength spectra of carbonate cyclicities, and AMS radiocarbon dating are integrated to establish an optimum age model for a 168 m long drill core of lacustrine sediments from Heqing basin, Yunnan Province, southwestern China. A 14C age of 51.62 +2.42/−1.85 kyr BP is obtained at a depth of 7.3 m. Remanent magnetization is carried by maghemite and partly in addition by magnetite, both showing the same direction. The polarity sequence clearly reveals the Brunhes/Matuyama (B/M) boundary at 141.5 m. Blake Event is found between 16.3 and 17.5 m, and the upper boundary of Jaramillo is indicated at 167.0 m. Carbonate content and magnetic susceptibility were used for spectral analysis. Fourier analysis was done on the depth section for sliding windows with different window lengths. The spectra within the range of window centers (30–140 m) show a dominant long wavelength, which changes from about 18.5 m in the lower part (>65 m depth) to about 14.5 m in the upper part (<65 m depth) of the core. It is assumed that the long wavelength peak represents the 95-kyr Milankovitch eccentricity cycle. The B/M boundary and Blake Event match very well with this model, but the age of Jaramillo is strongly underestimated. Fourier spectra of sliding windows slightly indicate a drop of the sedimentation rate at the lowermost part of the core. An optimum age model is calculated by cubic spline interpolation using tie points from 14C dating, magnetostratigraphy (‘true’ ages of Blake Event, B/M boundary, and Jaramillo), and wavelengths of carbonate (change in sedimentation rate at 65 m). Alternative depth-to-age transfer functions were tested, i.e. a wavelength age model (using sedimentation rates with 14C as a tie point), a cyclostratigraphic model (using bandpass-filtered carbonate data corresponding to 95 kyr eccentricity cycles) and correlation of carbonate variations to the marine oxygen isotope curve. However, none of the approaches lead to a convincing Milankovitch spectrum of whole-core carbonate data. The Fourier spectra of whole-core carbonate and susceptibility time series calibrated by the optimum age model show clear Milankovitch cyclicities (95, 41, 23, and 19 kyr) indicating that a global palaeoclimatic signal is recorded. According to this result the Heqing core spans almost the complete past 1 Myr (5–1001 ka). Detailed depth-to-age conversion is listed. The optimum age model can be used as a fine-tuned time basis for interpreting the existing data set of palaeoclimatic proxies which have been already measured for this sequence.