Paleomagnetism of Archean Batholiths and Hadean Zircons in Australia

对地球古代磁场演化的测量可能有助于限制磁场最初产生的时间，外核开始快速对流的时间，以及内核的起源时间。这些事件反过来可能对行星内部、大气和生命的演化产生了关键的影响。然而，由于普遍缺乏未改变的古老物质，人们对地球磁场的早期历史知之甚少。然而，研究人员的初步工作表明，西澳大利亚州皮尔巴拉克拉通的部分邵氏岩基和其他岩石可能保留了可以追溯到22-35亿年前形成的磁性记录。因此，这些岩石可能包含一些地球上已知的最古老的古地磁记录。这笔赠款将有助于确定邵氏岩基最北端的磁化年龄和性质，并确定它是否保留了最古老的地磁反转记录，以及(2)开始评估皮尔巴拉其他地区地表和钻探岩心样品中的地磁、磁地层和环境磁记录的保真度。

Measurements of the evolution of the Earth's ancient magnetic field may help constrain when the field first originated, when rapid convection began in the outer core, and the time of origin of the inner core. These events in turn may have had critical implications for the evolution the planetary interior, atmosphere, and life. However, little is known about the early history of the Earth's magnetic field due to the general absence of unaltered, ancient materials. However, the investigator's preliminary work suggests that part of the Shaw Batholith and other rocks in the Pilbara craton, Western Australia likely retain magnetic records dating back to their formation from 2.2-3.5 billion years ago. These rocks may therefore contain some of the oldest known paleomagnetic records on Earth. This grant will help determine the age and nature of the magnetization in the northernmost portion of the Shaw Batholith and to establish whether it retains records of the oldest geomagnetic reversals, and (2) begin to assess the fidelity of the geomagnetic, magnetostratigraphic, and environmental magnetic records in surface and drill core samples from other areas of the Pilbara.--