An OSU Facility supported by the National Science Foundation
Welcome to the Paleo-and-Environmental Magnetism Laboratory in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. The P-Mag Lab is an NSF supported OSU facility dedicated to sediment magnetism and a resource for Pacific NW, national and international scientific communities.
The U-Channel Magnetometer
The P-Mag Lab is built around the unique capabilities of the liquid helium free 2G Enterprises superconducting rock magnetometer (SRM) optimized for u-channel samples. U-channel samples are rigid u-shaped plastic liners (2 x 2 cm cross-section) that completely enclose cored sediments up to 1.5 m in length. This state-of-the-art system provides the capability to rapidly acquire high quality environmental and paleomagnetic data continuously on u-channel samples. The several orders of magnitude increase in data acquisitions allows new archives to be explored and older ones to be more thoroughly examined. Discrete samples can also be rapidly measured with this system.
Our Research
Our approach is to use the high throughput of the u-channel SRM to:
- Reconstruct the space/time patterns of the geomagnetic field.
- Develop and employ geomagnetic change as a stratigraphic dating tool.
- Reconstruct environmental variability through the rock magnetic response to laboratory magnetizations.
Materials for study come from a wide range of sources, including international science programs such as the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program and the International Continental Drilling Program, PI driven field programs and retrospective research on the large core collection available at the OSU-Marine Geology Repository.
Recent Blog Posts
Off to Copenhagen to support IODP Proposal: Assessing the history of the south Greenland Ice Sheet and its interaction with ocean circulation, climate, and sea level
Joe, Rob, and Brendan are off to Copenhagen in support of their IODP proposal, 814-Full: Assessing the history of the south Greenland Ice Sheet and its interaction with ocean circulation, climate, and sea level. This drilling proposal was the result of a 2012 IODP,...
The P-mag Lab Continues Strong Partnership with IODP During the 2018/19 Academic Year
The P-mag Lab will continue to have a strong partnership with IODP in the 2018/19 academic year and is committed to developing, implementing, and achieving IODP scientific objectives. We are starting the year by participating in two IODP workshops focused on planning...
Moving the P-mag Lab U-Channel Collection
The new Oregon State University Marine and Geology Repository (OSU-MGR; www.osu-mgr.org) is getting close to be up and running. Last year, Joe and fellow CEOAS professor Anthony Koppers, led an initiative to expand the OSU-MGR by building a new facility and acquiring...