The proposal provides funding for the acquisition of basic paleomagnetic and rock magnetic equipment for the geology program at Montclair State University. The award provides funding to obtain an AGICO JR6 spinner magnetometer, a D-Tech alternating field demagnetizer, and ASC thermal demagnetizer, and an ASC impulse magnetizer. This equipment complements existing rock magnetic facilities at Montclair State University and is allowing the principal investigator and her students to conduct a full range of paleomagnetic and rock magnetic experiments on a variety of natural and experimentally produced samples, including studies of the carriers of magnetization that contribute to magnetic anomalies on Earth and Mars (including Antarctic dropstones and experiments of synthesized Martian basalts), as well as paired paleomagnetic and paleoclimate studies around the Antarctic margin aimed at assessing ocean-ice-sheet interactions during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. The award contributes to the development of research infrastructure at Montclair State University and the development of research partnerships with other organizations. The equipment complements existing laboratory instrumentation and is facilitating new undergraduate and graduate research projects. The new equipment is leading to the development of new courses in paleomagnetism and environmental magnetism, and is providing opportunities for outreach activities with middle school science teachers. Research conducted using the equipment obtained through this award are being disseminated at national and international geoscience society meetings (including the results of student research projects) and in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.
This grant expanded our capabilities for student research, hands-on education, and analytical training at Montclair State University. The grant funded the acquisition of a JR6 spinner magnetometer, D-tech 2000 combination alternating field demagnetizer and anhysteretic remanent magnetization unit (AFD/ARM), impulse magnetizer, ASC Impulse Magnetizer, and TD-48 thermal demagnetizer. These instruments allow scientists to study the magnetic properties of natural and synthetic samples, including sediment, soil, rocks, or synthetic materials (thin films, recording media, etc). The students and faculty at Montclair State University are using this equipment in projects that seek to understand Earth’s climate history, the modern warming trend in Antarctica, the behavior of planetary magnetic fields on Earth and Mars, and the use of magnetic minerals as forensic tracers of environmental processes affecting the erosion, transport, deposition, and post-depositional alteration of sediment. In polar marine science, these processes include melt water plumes, ice rafting, dilution of terrigenous material with biogenic sediment during intervals of high productivity, sediment redistribution by bottom currents and turbidites, and iron-sulfur diagenesis in the sediment column. At lower latitudes, these processes include transport of material in rivers, transport by wind, natural generation of magnetic particles in soil during forest fires, and synthetic generation of magnetic particles in pollutants. During this 2-year grant we primarily focused on the use of magnetic methods to study environmental change in Antarctica and on the origin of magnetized regions on the planet Mars. The goal of the first project is to construct a record of changes in the direction and strength of the Earth’s magnetic field over the past 14,000 years, which we will use as a chronology tool. Sediments collected from Maxwell Bay, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, are excellent tape recorders of the Earth’s magnetic field. These sediments possess abundant calcite shells suitable for radiocarbon dating. Therefore, this core has the unique combination of a calcite-based radiocarbon chronology and a homogeneous silty-clay lithology that is ideal for magnetic studies. This combination is rarely found in Antarctic continental shelf sediments because the Southern Ocean is corrosive to calcite and Antarctic margin sediment is often highly biosiliceous (poor tape recorders). The equipment funded by this grant allows us to determine the direction and strength of the Earth’s magnetic field tape recorded by sediments, at the time that the particles settled to the ocean floor. The record of directional and intensity variations that we are constructing will serve as a regional reference curves for "tuning" and dating paleoclimate records of ice sheet, ice shelf, and glacier history on both sides of the northern Antarctic Peninsula that lack their own independent age control. In other words, the Maxwell Bay record can serve as the control record for "pattern matching," allowing an un-dated record to important our chronology to the undated site. The second project uses synthetic Mars rocks to simulate conditions in Martian crust and determine how the Martian crust came to be magnetized. Mars does not currently have an internally-generated magnetic field. However, strongly magnetized regions of the Mars crust measured by the Mars Global Surveyor mission suggest that Mars did have a magnetic field in the past (over 4 billion years ago), and that magnetic field has since "turned off." Magnetic fields are tremendously important for shielding a planet from cosmic radiation. On Earth, the magnetic field is also used for navigation. The equipment funded by this grant allows us to explore the magnetic tape recorders in synthetic Mars rocks, with the goal of understanding the origin of the magnetized regions, and the history of the now extinct Martian magnetic field. Thus far, four Montclair State University students were trained to use the equipment. Initially, three undergraduates and one graduate student were trained. Two of the undergraduates subsequently chose to enroll in graduate programs at Montclair State University and continue to use this equipment in their graduate work. Three conference presentations included data generated by this equipment. Two of these students presented their research results at professional conferences of the American Geophysical Union and Geological Society of America. Although the grant as concluded, we expect this equipment to have a lifespan of 15-20 years. The equipment is available to the entire Montclair State University student body, which is composed of >60% women and >20% minorities. We are continuing to use the equipment in geology and physics investigations, with several projects in planning that address lacustrine records of flooding in New Jersey, records of environmental change in Antarctica, and the transport of fly ash in urban rivers.
