Acquisition of a Vibrating Sample Magnetometer for the Paleomagnetism Laboratory, Western Washington University

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0421457HousenThis Major Research Instrumentation Grant provides funds for acquisition of a Princeton Measurements 3900-04 Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM), with high temperature furnace, for the Western Washington University Paleomagnetism Lab. The new VSM will provide opportunities to collect important new data that will greatly augment the existing paleomagnetic and rock magnetic research programs at WWU and will also enable new research lines and collaborative work to be made. Existing research efforts focused on plate and terrane (micro-plate, or deformed plate margin regions) kinematics and paleogeographic reconstructions, use of magnetic fabrics as a structural tool in deformed rocks, and magnetostratigraphic studies will all be greatly enhanced by the ability to more completely characterize the magnetic mineralogy of rocks and sediments. Additional new lines of research will involve expanded use of anisotropy of high-field susceptibility as a petrofabric tool in deformed plutonic rocks, fault zones and accretionary prisms, and as a measure of compaction-shallowing of remanence in sedimentary rocks. Other new research efforts will also include use of rock-magnetic properties to explore climatic changes recorded in Holocene sediments cored from alpine lakes in the Cascade Range, and environmental magnetism aimed at rapid and inexpensive detection of urban pollution in regional lakes. The WWU Physics Department will also utilize the VSM for a significant part of their research on the magnetic properties of advanced semiconductors. A significant number of undergraduate and MS students in the WWU Geology and Physics Departments, as well as visitors from within the region, will benefit from this new device.***