Descripción del proyecto
Una tomografía pionera proporciona unas instantáneas más claras sobre el magnetismo cambiante de la Tierra
El campo magnético de la Tierra forma una burbuja que protege de la radiación que emite el Sol. A lo largo de los años, los minerales ricos en hierro afectados por influencias magnéticas han registrado los cambios en el campo magnético de la Tierra. Cuando los minerales quedan atrapados en un lugar, son como instantáneas en el tiempo del campo magnético cambiante de la Tierra. Sin embargo, las «instantáneas» pueden estar desenfocadas cuando están presentes pequeñas cantidades de minerales que no son buenos registradores. Mediante una tomografía micromagnética no destructiva, MIMATOM prevé enfocar un solo mineral en lugar de la masa, de forma que proporcionará una imagen más clara de los cambios del campo magnético a lo largo del tiempo. La información nos permitirá predecir con mayor precisión el futuro de nuestra burbuja magnética.
Objetivo
Our knowledge on the past behavior of the Earth’s magnetic field critically depends on our ability to obtain and interpret magnetic signals from geological materials such as lavas. These materials contain mixtures of different magnetic minerals, some of which are good recorders of the Earth’s magnetic field, others are not. Even the presence of a small amount of minerals with adverse magnetic properties obscures the signal of good recorders, resulting in >80% of measurements of the past Earth’s magnetic field strength being flawed. Understanding the Earth’s magnetic field is pivotal for predicting the future of its shielding capacity against the Sun’s electromagnetically charged particles, which globally weakened by >20% over the last millennium.
With MIMATOM, I aim to establish an entirely new way to obtain paleomagnetic and rock-magnetic information from geological materials. I will go beyond measuring magnetizations of bulk samples by determining the magnetic moments of individual minerals embedded in these samples in a non-destructive way. Starting from my recent proof-of-concept of Micro-Magnetic Tomography (MMT), I will develop a radically new technique to assess magnetizations of individual minerals inside geological materials. This will enable understanding which minerals are reliable recorders of the Earth’s magnetic field by characterizing their magnetic behavior as function of their grain size, shape, and chemistry. Then I will use MMT to obtain paleomagnetic information from selections of minerals that I identified as good recorders and unlock information on the past state of the Earth’s magnetic field from even the most challenging and magnetically complex geological materials, such as lavas.
My revolutionary new technique will open archives of the past behavior of the Earth’s magnetic field that currently are inaccessible. Moreover, it will pave the way for radically new venues in paleomagnetic and rock-magnetic research, at mineral level.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitución de acogida
3584 CS Utrecht
Países Bajos