The Reunion Subchronozone at ODP site 981 (Feni Drift, north Atlantic)

At Ocean Drilling Program Site 981, the Reunion Subchron is recorded from the Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 81/82 boundary to MIS 79 as a single normal polarity zone spanning the 2.115-2.153-Ma interval. According to the age model, produced by matching the Site 981 delta(18)O record to an orbitally-tuned reference record, the duration of the Reunion Subchron (38 kyr) is almost four times that assumed in current geomagnetic polarity timescales. High interval sedimentation rates (18 cm/kyr) during MIS 81 at Site 981 have resulted in an unusually detailed record of the Subchron. Virtual geomagnetic poles during the onset and demise of the Reunion Subchron trace a series of mainly anticlockwise loops over eastern Asia. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.