The investigators will directly measure the depth distribution along which naturally-deposited deep-sea sediments acquire their natural remanent magnetization in the surficial layers of sedimentary deposits. The investigators will study this remanence-lock-in distribution, and associated rock- magnetic and sedimentary characteristic, in a suite of oriented box-cores collected in basins of the California Continental Borderland and in the deep ocean beyond the Patton Escarpment. These box cores were collected in a previously NSF/funded pilot study for a similar kind of research. The results of this pilot study show a valid methodology for estimating ten lock-in depths and other interesting facts about the process of how sediments acquire magnetization. In this study, the investigators also propose to collect box-cores that will sample both bioturbated and non-bioturbated localities with sedimentation rates which vary from about 2 to 50 cm/ky. By combing the measurement of the remanence-lock-in distribution with the study of benthic mixing and sedimentation in the natural environment, it is hoped that a fundamental contribution will be made in understanding of acquisition of natural remanent magnetization in sediment.
