Blake polarity episode in two cores from the Greater Antilles Outer Ridge

Two large-diameter cores from the Greater Antilles Outer Ridge have confirmed the Blake episode 0.1 m.y. B.P. as a genuine paleomagnetic reversed interval at least in that region. The feature is clearly defined in more than 125 stably magnetized specimens of Last Interglacial abyssal brown clay, but its precise age and duration cannot yet be estimated reliably from these or other available data. During the reversed period, positions of the virtual geomagnetic pole lay about 20° from the south geographic pole, with polarity transitions traversing paths in the eastern hemisphere. Each core also recorded a normally polarized excursion within the Blake feature. Because the most acceptable Blake episode data presently span only a small geographic area, they are insufficient for distinguishing between global and local geomagnetic models for the feature.