RUI: Paleointensity Before and After the Kauai R-N Transition

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"Epitransitional" geomagnetic fields (i.e, those which immediately precede or follow polarity reversals) probably reflect changes in normally stable core processes. They are therefore more likely to exhibit repeatable behavior than the fields resulting from the less stable, more disorderly processes predominant during the midpoints of reversals. Distinctive epitransitional field behavior is apparent in the Steens Mountain transition zone, which shows 1) field dispersion being high before the reversals and normal afterwards and 2) field intensity steady before the reversal and oscillating afterwards. Work supported by the Research Corporation shows that the dispersion of field directions follows exactly the same pattern before and after an R-N reversal recorded in basaltic flows on Kauai, Hawaii. The key question is whether the behavior of field intensity is also repeated. Construction of an apparatus for paleointensity experiments (funded by a RUI Research Instrumentation grant) has exhausted summer salary support from the Research Corporation grant. This award provides support for the paleointensity experiments and thus allow completion of the Kauai project. Undergraduate students will continue to be involved in every aspect of the study.