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[1] Paleomagnetic results from an Upper Vendian sedimentary sequence exposed along the White Sea shoreline, NW Russia are described. These classical exposures have been the subject of intense paleontological investigations due to their well-preserved Ediacara fauna, but no paleomagnetic results have as yet been published. A total of 337 hand samples and 210 oriented drill cores (35 sites) along three profiles have been collected at the locality (65.5°, 40.0°E) where a 555 ± 3 Ma U-Pb age of comagmatic zircons from volcanic ash layers has been recently obtained. Standard paleomagnetic procedures yield two main natural remanent magnetization (NRM) components: an intermediate-temperature (150°-350°C), single-polarity component (D = 121°, I = 72°, n = 232 samples, k = 46.0, a 95 = 1.3°, pole position at 40.0°N, 79.0°E, dp = 2.0°, dm = 2.3°) and a high-temperature (550°-680°C) dual-polarity component (normal polarity: D = 278°, I = 43°, n = 54 samples, k = 25.2, a 95 = 3.9°, reversed polarity: D = 101°, I = À39°n = 40, K = 23.3, a 95 = 4.8°, south pole position at 24°S, 132°E, dp = 2.3°, dm = 3.8°). This latter component, termed Z, passes reversal, stratigraphic, and consistency tests and is interpreted to reflect the direction of the Earth's magnetic field during Late Vendian times. These results put Baltica into low northern latitudes (between 10°and 35°) and the resulting pole position requires modification of the most recent Apparent Polar Wander Paths (APWP) for Baltica.

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The Quaternary history of Beringia and of the Arctic-Pacific marine connection via the Bering Strait is poorly understood because of the fragmentary stratigraphic record from this region. We report new borehole and seismic-reflection data collected in 2006 in the southwestern Chukchi Sea. Sediment samples were analyzed for magnetic properties, grain size, heavy minerals, and biostratigraphic proxies (spores and pollen, foraminifers, ostracodes, diatoms, and aquatic palynomorphs). Two shallow boreholes drilled between the Chukotka Peninsula and the Wrangel Island recovered sediments of two principal stratigraphic units with a distinct unconformity between them. Based on predominantly reverse paleomagnetic polarity of the lower unit and pollen spectra indicative of forested coasts and climate warmer than present, the age of this unit is estimated as Pliocene to early Pleistocene (broadly between ca. 5 and 2 Ma). Attendant sedimentary environments were likely alluvial to nearshore marine. These deposits can be correlated to the seismic unit infilling valleys incised into sedimentary bedrock across much of the study area, and possibly deposited during a transgression following the opening of the Bering Strait. The upper unit from both boreholes contains Holocene 14 C ages and is clearly related to the last, postglacial transgression. Holocene sediments in Borehole 2 indicate fast deposition at the early stages of flooding (between ca. 11 and 9 ka) to very low deposition, possibly related to expansive sea ice. Closer to shore, deposition at Borehole 1 resumed much later (ca. 2 ka), likely due to a change in the pattern of coastal erosional processes and/or the demise of a landbridge between the Chukotka Peninsula and the Wrangel Island inferred from studies on mammoth distribution.