New data from Hadar (Ethiopia) support orbitally tuned time scale to 3.3 MA

Abstract

Support for the astronomically calibrated geomagnetic polarity time scale is provided by new 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating and magnetostratigraphic data from the Hadar Formation, Ethiopia. Three tuffs and a basalt flow at Hadar span the Mammoth subchron of the Gauss chron, and range in age from 3.18±0.01 to 3.40 ±0.03 Ma. Interpolation of sediment accumulation rates in two magnetostratigraphic sections yields an estimated age range of 3.30±0.02 to 3.21±0.01 Ma for the Mammoth subchron, closely coinciding with orbitally based predictions of 3.33 to 3.22 Ma rather than with previous estimates of 3.15 to 3.05 Ma.