Evidence for Geomagnetic Field Excursions Recorded in Postglacial (9-15,000 Calendar YBP) Carbonates of the Tahiti Coral Reef

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Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition #310 recently recovered 37 cores of coral-reef sediments from the current reef tract surrounding the island of Tahiti. The overall scientific goal of this expedition is to understand how the Tahiti coral reef has developed over the last ~18,000 years as global sea level has risen more than 150 meters since the ocean low-stand associated with the last global glaciation. Paleomagnetic samples were recovered from 651 horizons within these cores to help date and correlate the cores. The coral reef sediments record the orientation of the local magnetic field as the coral reef grows; known variations in the magnetic field provide a time record of how the Tahiti coral reef grew. The magnetic directions recorded in the corals also provide a way to correlate the cores and reconstruct what the reef looked like at different times in the last 18,000 years. The focus of this study is the unexpected observation that 18 samples from three different times show clear evidence for local magnetic field reversals at 10,700±200 cal. YBP, 12,900±200 cal. YBP, and 14,200±200 cal. YBP. The age estimates come from more than 250 radiocarbon dates from the same cores. The three possible local reversals (excursions) have never before been recorded. This study is collecting new paleomagnetic samples from all cores in intervals with possible reversals (excursions) to verify these results. This study is helping to understand how coral reefs grow/develop as sea level increases. This is important for understanding how the Tahiti coral reef (and other tropical reefs) will change as sea level rise continues associated with future global warming. Understanding the evidence for anomalous magnetic field behavior is also important to develop a better understanding of the Earth's magnetic-field dynamo source process in the Earth's outer core (one of the Grand Challenges in geophysics). The Earth's magnetic field acts as important filter/buffer for Solar variability (Solar Wind, Magnetic Storms); it is important to evaluate how the Earth's magnetic field filter operated in the past and whether it may have been a factor in global climate change. In addition to the scientific goals of the project, the award is contributing to the support of a soft-money researcher who is a member of an underrepresented group in the earth sciences. The project is also providing training for an undergraduate student and a high school student. Research results are being disseminated through professional presentations, contributions to the peer-reviewed scientific literature, and the datasets generated by the study are being disseminated via web-based database initiatives.