9305261 Bogue The goal of this project is to document the variation of the ancient geomagnetic field intensity during a normal-to-reverse (N-R) polarity transition that occurred approximately 4 million years ago. An existing sample collection from 28 superposed basaltic lava flows from the Hawaiian island of Kauai provides a paleomagnetic record of this reversal. Paleointensities of these samples will be determined using a modified version of the classic double-heating experiment. Finally, this study will continue an ongoing effort to improve the efficiency of the paleointensity experiment by letter identifying samples that are likely to undergo serious thermal alteration in the lab. Research will focus on low-temperature demagnetization, both in preliminary rock magnetic experiments and during the paleointensity experiment itself. Undergraduate students will play a central role in this research. ***
