The axial (Brunhes) magnetic anomaly over the Galapagos spreading center shows consistent short-wavelength anomalies that are not consistent with a uniformly magnetized layer. We interpret this anomaly to confirm the presence of the Emperor reversed event at 0.49¿0.05 mybp, with a duration about 0.01 m. y. Further, this anomaly is consistent with a two-layer magnetic source, with the lower layer having very broad transition zones, offset away from the axis from those of the upper layer by about 10 km.