Collaborative Research: Morphology and Timing of the Reunion/Huckleberry Ridge Event(s)

地球磁场的强度对现代社会很重要，因为它保护地球及其通信卫星免受有害水平的太阳辐射。 在地球的相对磁场强度下降的时期（例如，在太阳耀斑期间），更多的太阳辐射可以进一步穿透到高层大气，对卫星造成损害，干扰短波无线电通信。 因此，了解地球磁场的自然短期变化非常重要。 火山岩和沉积岩中的磁性矿物保存了过去地磁场行为的记录。 虽然科学家长期以来一直使用这些记录来研究磁极反转的长期历史，但更短暂的地磁不稳定性的记录在时间上解决得很差，通常不完整，并且缺乏细节。 开发具有精确年龄控制的增强型全球记录对于确定磁场不稳定期间的共同趋势和导致磁场不稳定至关重要。该基金支持的研究旨在产生迄今为止全球最完整的不稳定地磁场行为记录。 我们计划整合从世界各地的火山岩和沉积岩中收集的磁性记录，以编制一个按时间顺序校准的、连续的全矢量记录，记录大约发生在200万年前的留尼汪地磁事件期间的地磁场行为。 这项研究将使我们能够解决几个基本问题：地磁不稳定性如何迅速表现出来？地磁不稳定性是在全世界同时发生的，还是对某些地理区域的影响比其他地区更长、更严重？在不稳定事件期间，地球的磁场有多弱？ 除了帮助解决这些问题，在这项研究中产生的数据将是未来旨在模拟地球完整行为的关键。的磁场，并将细化下第四纪的磁性地层，从而提高在全球范围内的地层对比。

The strength of the Earth's magnetic field is important to modern society because it protects Earth and its communication satellites from harmful levels of solar radiation. During periods when the Earth's relative magnetic field strength drops (e.g., during solar flares), increased amounts of solar radiation are allowed to penetrate further into the upper atmosphere causing damage to satellites and interfering with shortwave radio communication. For this reason, it is important to understand the natural short-term variability of the Earth's magnetic field. Records of past geomagnetic field behavior are well-preserved by magnetic minerals within volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Although scientists have long used these records to study the long-term history of magnetic polarity reversals, records of more short-lived geomagnetic instabilities are poorly resolved in time, typically incomplete, and lacking in detail. Developing enhanced, global records with precise age control is essential to identifying common trends during and leading to magnetic field instability.The research supported by this grant aims to produce the most globally complete record of unstable geomagnetic field behavior to date. We plan to integrate magnetic records collected from volcanic and sedimentary rocks from around the world in order to compile a chronologically calibrated, continuous full-vector record of geomagnetic field behavior during the Réunion geomagnetic event, which occurred roughly two million years ago. This research will allow us to address several fundamental questions: How quickly to geomagnetic instabilities manifest themselves? Do geomagnetic instabilities occur synchronously around the world, or do they affect some geographic regions longer and more severely than others? How weak is the Earth's magnetic field during an instability event? In addition to helping resolve these questions, the data generated during this research will be key to future efforts aimed at modeling the complete behavior of the Earth?s magnetic field and will refine the magnetostratigraphy of the Lower Quaternary, thereby improving the correlation of strata on a global scale.