Records of geomagnetic secular variation have been obtained from three cores recovered from the Salerno Gulf (southern Italy). High-resolution petrophysical and palaeomagnetic measurements enabled the reconstruction of a composite curve of geomagnetic palaeosecular variation (PSV), which is compared with the reconstructed PSV curve from Britain and with the French archaeomagnetic data of the last 2.1ka. The good agreement of the Salerno Gulf record with the above data conforms that our PSV record reaches back for some 9.0ka. In addition to a thick pumice layer originated during the Somma-Vesuvius eruption at 79, two other tephra layers were recognized, at about 1.3 and 3.0ka BP, that are probably also of Vesuvian origin. The comparison provides an initial chronological framework for assessing the increasing trend of sedimentation rate and its significant changes at about 2.7ka and 7.0ka BP. This variation in the deposition rate suggests a link with climatic changes recognized in the Mediterranean region.
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