Facility Support: Institute for Rock Magnetism

该地球科学仪器和设施计划奖将在未来五年内继续为明尼苏达大学的岩石磁性研究所提供运营支持。该仪器是一个多用户设备，用于岩石、沉积物和矿物磁性的纯研究和应用研究。IRMS为地球科学界和地球、行星和环境科学研究的相关学科提供仪器基础设施、技术专长和教育推广。该实验室是一个国家设施，用于研究地球系统中地质、生物和人为过程产生的天然材料中磁化的物理和化学，涵盖从现在和最近到数十亿年前的时间尺度。天然材料磁性研究是更大规模科学工作的重要组成部分，旨在了解地磁场以及地球和类地行星内部深处的起源和演变;构造板块的历史;以及地球表面环境和气候的演变。这个为期五年的项目将继续加强以社区为基础的研究机会，并通过以下方式促进科学进步：（1）维护维护地球物理数据库的设施仪器和计算机资源的完整性、功能和准确性;（2）为来自美国和国外的150多名访问科学家提供访问和支持，这些科学家预计将在奖励期间使用地球物理数据库的设施;（3）本科生，研究生和早期职业科学家的培训和教育;（4）通过两年一度的会议，网站，在线数据库和季度通讯向地球科学界和相关学科提供与研究相关的信息。两年一度的岩石磁学暑期学校为研究生和早期职业科学家提供为期十天的实践、实验室培训。铁氧化物、氢氧化物、硫化物和铁合金颗粒组合的磁性行为受纳米至微米级物理和化学过程的影响，这使得磁性测量成为矿物成分、晶体学、微观结构和粒度、形状和取向分布。从这些过程和属性中出现的磁化受到时间，温度，压力，外部磁场和（生物）地球化学环境的影响。了解这些过程如何运作是确定天然样品中磁性矿物成分、浓度和粒度分布的基础，也是了解地球和其他行星上古代磁场的自然反射记录的起源和意义的基础。一套先进的仪器可以在温度、磁场、时间和方向的受控条件下对磁化进行灵敏的测量，并可以对地质、外星、生物和人为材料中的磁性矿物进行详细的表征。通过磁共振成像系统的分析和技术能力促进的研究提高了我们对复杂的自然记录系统如何工作的理解，并最大限度地提高了我们可以从天然材料的磁性分析中恢复的信息。研究活动由地球科学家、学生和访问研究人员进行，涵盖一系列方面，从对岩石和矿物磁性的基本了解到应用研究，其中岩石和沉积物的磁性特征被用作调查各种地质和地球表面过程的工具。研究范围从细菌磁性颗粒和环境重建到板块构造重建和其他行星的磁性测绘。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Division of Earth Science Instrumentation and Facilities Program award will continue operational support for the Institute for Rock Magnetism (IRM) at the University of Minnesota for the next five years. The IRM is a multi-user facility for pure and applied research on the magnetic properties of rocks, sediments, and minerals. IRMS provides instrumental infrastructure, technical expertise, and educational outreach for the Earth Science community and related disciplines for research in Earth, planetary and environmental sciences. The IRM serves as a national facility for research into the physics and chemistry of magnetization in natural materials resulting from geologic, biologic, and anthropogenic processes in the Earth system and covering time scales from the present and recent past to billions of years ago. Natural-material magnetic research is an essential part of larger scientific efforts to understand the origin and evolution of the geomagnetic field and the deep interior of Earth and terrestrial planets; the history of tectonic plates; and the evolution of Earth’s surficial environments and climate. The five-year project will continue to strengthen opportunities for community-based research and promote the progress of science by: (1) maintaining the integrity, function, and accuracy of the facility instrumentation and computer resources, which maintains the IRM database; (2) providing access and support to over 150 visiting scientists from the US and abroad projected to use IRM facilities during the award period; (3) training and education of undergraduate, graduate students, and early career scientists; and (4) providing research-related information to the Earth science community and related disciplines through biennial conferences, website, online database, and a quarterly newsletter. The well-established biennial rock magnetism summer school provides a ten-day workshop for hands-on, lab-based, training for graduate and early career scientists.The magnetic behavior of particle assemblages of iron oxides, hydroxides, sulfides and iron alloys is governed by a combination of physical and chemical processes at the nanometric to micrometric levels which makes magnetic measurements sensitive indicators of mineral composition, crystallography, microstructures, and particle size, shape and orientation distributions. The magnetization that emerges from these processes and properties is affected by time, temperature, pressure, external magnetic fields, and (bio)geochemical surroundings. Understanding how these processes operate is the foundation for determining magnetic mineral compositions, concentrations and size distributions in natural samples, and for understanding the origin and significance of natural remanent records of ancient magnetic fields on Earth and other planetary bodies. A suite of advanced instruments enables sensitive measurements of magnetization under controlled conditions of temperature, magnetic fields, time, and orientation, and allow detailed characterization of magnetic mineralogy in geological, extraterrestrial, biological, and anthropogenic materials. Research facilitated by the analytical and technical capabilities of the IRM improves our understanding of how the complex natural recording systems work, and to maximize the information that we can recover from magnetic analysis of natural materials. Research activities are carried out by IRM scientists and students and visiting researchers, and encompass a range of aspects, from basic understanding of rock and mineral magnetism, to applied studies in which magnetic characteristics of rocks and sediments are used as tools for investigating a wide variety of geological and surficial Earth processes. The scale of investigations extends from bacterial magnetic particles and environmental reconstructions to plate tectonic reconstructions and magnetic mapping of other planets.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.