HIGH-RESOLUTION PALEOMAGNETIC CORRELATION OF MIDDLE WEICHSELIAN ICE-DAMMED LAKE-SEDIMENTS IN 2 COASTAL CAVES, WESTERN NORWAY

Olahola is a wavecut cave positioned well above the postglacial marine limit. The sediment sequence in the cave can be litho- and magnetostr atigraphically correlated with the sequence in the Skjonghelleren cave , 36 km northeast of this locality. Three boulder formations in Olahol a represent three ice-free periods (including the Holocene) and two fo rmations of laminated clay represent periods of ice-cover. Paleomagnet ic excursions in the laminated clays have been correlated with the Lak e Mungo/Mono Lake excursion (28 ka), and with the Laschamp excursion ( 43 ka), but the resolution of these events is much better in the caves than anywhere else. The paleomagnetic records from Skjonghelleren and Olahola suggest that during the Laschamp excursion at least 0.75-1 m of sediment accumulated in Skjonghelleren before sedimentation started in Olahola, indicating also an earlier ice coverage at Skjonghelleren .