A significant limitation toward a more complete understanding of the geodynamo process results from the scarcity of high quality observations. Recent historic secular variation (HSV) studies have characterized the global pattern of short-term HSV and have related its variability to the core dynamo process. Paleomagnetic studies make it clear, however, that the Earth's magnetic field has undergone a much wider range of spatial and temporal variations than have been seen in historic times. From an observational perspective, our most complete understanding of paleomagnetic secular variation has come from paleo-and archeomagnetic studies of Holocene materials. In contrast, high-resolution paleomagnetic secular variation (PSV) studies from the Pleistocene are much rarer. Archeological materials are absent; lava flows are discontinuous and difficult to date. And Pleistocene sediment sequences with accumulation rates comparable to Holocene PSV records (> 50 cm/kyr) have only rarely been recovered. Therefore, long-term PSV and excursional field behavior, which is exclusively a pre-Holocene phenomenon, are rarely scrutinized to the extent required for a full understanding of their dynamics. To alleviate this observational data gap, that is especially prevalent for the southern hemisphere, a u-channel paleomagnetic study of Late-Pleistocene geomagnetic field behavior from Chilean margin sediments cored during ODP Leg 202 is being undertaken. Sites 1233 (41 degrees 0 S, 74 degrees 26W, water depth 838 m), 1234 (36 degrees 13 S, 73 degrees 40W, water depth 1015 m), and 1235 (36 degrees 9 S, 73 degrees 33 W, water depth 489 m) recovered replicate sediment sequences with accumulation rates ranging from approximately 50 to > 200 cm/kyr. Paleomagnetic studies on the Holocene part of these sequences demonstrate that these sediments provide a reliable and high quality paleomagnetic archive of geomagnetic behavior. Shipboard studies undertaken during Leg 202 show that the late-Pleistocene sediments, from the base of the Holocene to approximately 70 ka, record PSV, relative paleointensity (RPI) and excursional records at unprecedented temporal resolution. Along with the high accumulation rates (up to 5 yrs/cm) and excellent magnetic properties associated with these sediments, high-resolution independent radiocarbon chronologies and millennial climate based stratigraphies have been developed. PSV records from these three sites based on u-channel and discrete sample paleomagnetic measurements provide an opportunity to reconstruct the most complete and best dated record of late-Pleistocene directional PSV, relative paleointensity, and associated excursions ever recovered from the Southern Hemisphere and, perhaps, anywhere in the world. These results will describe the interrelationships between geomagnetic field intensity, normal directions (PSV), and extreme events (excursions) with unprecedented temporal resolution and independent chronologic control. Particularly, these sediments preserve the most completely resolved record of the Laschamp Excursion (ca 41 ka) ever recovered and will provide a better understanding of its relationship to normal secular variation, paleointensity and excursional field behavior. A regional and global inter-comparison of all late Pleistocene PSV records to assess data quality and space/time patterns of field variability is being undertaken to facilitate a low-order spherical harmonic analysis of this most (Laschamp Excursion) recent geomagnetic extreme event. Such observations are required to test concepts of timescales of geomagnetic field variability, the origin and nature of excursions, their relationship to dynamo behavior and there importance to the Earth system.
