ИСТИНА

The dating of sediments of the Sarmatian and Meotian of the Upper Miocene of the Eastern Paratethys is still controversial. Magnetostratigraphic data together with biostratigraphic and lithologic data have been used for many years as a dating tool for the Miocene rocks of the Eastern Paratethys (Popov et al., 2016; Rostovtseva et al., 2016; etc.). At the same time, the most important question about the correlation between the age of magnetization and the age of sediment accumulation is often insufficiently discussed. The main goal of our studies was to determine the magnetic polarity and origin of the natural remanent magnetization (NRM) recorded in the transient sediments of the Sarmatian-Meotian. To solve this problem, we investigated collections of oriented samples (280 stratigraphic levels) from the overlapping sections of Popov Kamen, Panagia, Taman, and Tuzla, which are located on different wings of folds of a single folded system formed during the Quaternary (Gaidalenok, 2020). At least two magnetic minerals, greigite and magnetite, have been established thanks to petromagnetic studies. The NRM directions of the two polarities were determined, recorded predominantly in the low-temperature interval and apparently associated with greigite. According to the results of the paleomagnetic studies, a correlation between the elements of occurrence and the NRM directions in the stratigraphic coordinate system is detected. This, as well as the thermomagnetic results, showing that the fold test for the Popov Kamen and Panagia sections is negative, testify in favor of remagnetization, at least partial, of these sections. The results of the paleomagnetic studies of the Popov Kamen, Panagia, Taman, and Tuzla sections, as well as our data on the Tarhanian deposits of the Kop-Takyl section (Pilipenko et al., 2021), have shown remagnetization of the Miocene deposits of the Taman Peninsula and Crimea for the first time. This raises an important question about the necessity of carefully studying the NRM in the magnetostratigraphic studies of the Miocene sections of the Kerch-Taman region. This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant N 19-77-10075.