SGER: Feasibility of Using Old Antarctic Cores for New Paleomagnetic Studies

University Of California-Davis, Davis CA

Investigators

Abstract

This Small Grant for Exploratory Research supports a paleomagnetic survey of previously collected sediment cores from Antarcticas continental margin. Many of these cores were originally interpreted with methods that, though advanced for their time, were barely adequate. Nonetheless, these results are still used to construct an overall stratigraphic record for marine sediments and major events related to the Southern Ocean, global climate, and Antarcticas glacial history. With the advances in paleomagnetic techniques over the intervening decades and the great interest and current work on Antarctic marine sediments by major projects such as ANDRILL and ShalDrill, a reassessment of these cores is needed. In addition, these new studies will offer insight into the behavior of the geomagnetic field within the Earths tangent cylinder, the region delineated by an imaginary cylinder parallel to the Earths rotation axis and tangent to the equator of the inner core boundary. The broader impacts of this work include support of postdoctoral student research and improving societys understanding of global climate change through an improved understanding of the Antarctic marine sediment record.