Based on detailed stratigraphic investigations on a 200.6m long core (BGS borehole No. 81/26) from the Fladen Ground area (British sector), core material from the Sleipner field (Norwegian sector) and shallow seismic profiles between the core-sites, the following conclusions are drawn: (1) The North Sea was glaciated sometime during the later part of Matuyama reversed period. A complete glacial-interglacial-glacial cycle is recorded in these sediments.(2) In a period of marine sedimentation in the Middle Pleistocene, a transgression-regression cycle under boreal-arctic regime i s recorded. (3) The Fladen area has subsided between 0.9 and 0.6m/ka through the later parts of the Quaternary. (4) A major glacial event dated at between 130 and 200 ka is recorded as a thick till unit in 81/26. This till, which was deposited by ice moving from the southwest (Scotland), probably represents a period when the Scandinavian and British ice sheets coalesced in the North Sea. (5) Based on the seismic data and the stratigraphy of the Sleipner core, an ice-free, open embaymenudry land is favoured for the central North Sea during the Late Weichselian. (6) From the amino-acid data, it is shown that there has been an episodic style of sedimentation through the Quaternary. (7) Of the investigated sediments (which span the last 1 mill. year) ca 98% have been deposited under arctic to boreal-arctic conditions. Journal of Quaternary Science

A paleomagnetic record for the Grande Pile lacustrine sequence deposited during the last interglacial-glacial cycle has been constructed based on continuous sampling (n = 792) of a 15-m-long oriented core (GPXX). The NRM intensity, magnetic susceptibility, and saturation isothermal remanent magnetization show pronounced variations related to the climatic zonations in the sequence. The stratigraphic consistency of the paleomagnetic directions vary considerably due to variations in signal/noise ratios. Paleosecular variation patterns occur throughout most of the core, as well as several zones of inferred geomagnetic excursions. The application of magnetic fabric (AMS) shows that some apparent Lanterne (Weichselian) excursions reside in deformed sediments, while anomalous paleomagnetic directions in the 70,000 to 120,000 yr B.P. time interval appear in sediments with low signal/noise ratios and a high degree of compaction. The signature is hence not likely to reflect genuine records of geomagnetic field variations in these levels. Discrepancies between the magnetostratigraphy of GPXX and a previously investigated core implies that the earlier claimed regional correlations based on the paleomagnetic signature of low intensity levels should be critically reassessed. The Grande Pile sequence is not regarded as a magnetostratigraphic standard for the last interglacial-glacial cycle.

SUMMARY Subglacial deposited sediments from three deep karst caves in Nordland, northern Norway, carry single‐component palaeomagnetic directions interpreted to represent discrete records of palaeosecular variations (PSV) defining a clockwise rotation of the vector with time. The results suggest that preserved sediment sections commenced accumulating at the highest altitude in this cave system, consistent with an inverse stratigraphic sedimentation. Anomalously low inclinations are interpreted to represent a detrital remanent magnetization acquired at the time of deposition and affected by inclination error. The preservation of the inclination error in these sterile sediments is attributed to the absence of processes that may cause post‐depositional alignment of magnetic grains. Non‐systematic directional scatter is also attributed to poor smoothing of geomagnetic field variations in these cave sediments compared with lacustrine deposits. The ahnost closed PSV loop may represent discrete periods of sedimentation during one or, alternatively, several subglacial events. The PSV loop exhibits amplitudes in declination and inclination comparable with Holocene or Weichselian lacustrine PSV records. The minimum duration of sediment accumulation may be of the order of 400 to 1000 yr. If the investigated sediments represent succeeding records of geomagnetic secular variations during the last Late Weichselian glacial retreat, the reasonably good correlation with the PSV records from the Torreberga (Southern Sweden) varved clay sequence (12 200‐10 200 bp) and UK lacustrine sediments (0‐10 000 bp) tentatively suggests that the Rågge Javre Raigi sediments accumulated during the final Weichselian glacial retreat between 10 900 and 9 800 bp.