On the reliability of the Matuyama–Brunhes record in the Sulmona Basin—Comment to ‘A reappraisal of the proposed rapid Matuyama–Brunhes geomagnetic reversal in the Sulmona Basin, Italy’ by Evans and Muxworthy (2018)

Abstract

The Matuyama–Brunhes Boundary (MBB) recorded in the lacustrine sequence in the Sulmona basin (central Apennines, Italy) raised considerable scientific interest and has been the focus of various papers (Giaccio et al. 2013; Sagnotti et al. 2014; 2016). The interest comes from evidence for a very sharp geomagnetic polarity transition, that is radioisotopically dated. A paper recently published by Evans and Muxworthy (2018) questions the reliability of the Sulmona palaeomagnetic record. With new measurements on companion samples from the same stratigraphic block studied by Evans and Muxworthy, we show that directional results obtained by different demagnetization treatments (AF, thermal and thermal + AF) are in close agreement.We here propose a different interpretation of the magnetostratigraphy, and confirm that the palaeomagnetic record of the MBB geomagnetic reversal in the Sulmona basin is properly documented