ALBERT

Beschreibung: The main sources of magnetic minerals in soils unaffected by anthropogenic pollution are iron oxides and hydroxides derived from parent materials through soil formation processes. Soil magnetic minerals can be used as indicators of environmental factors including soil forming processes, degree of pedogenesis, weathering processes and biological activities. In this study measurements of magnetic susceptibility are used to detect the presence and the concentration of soil magnetic minerals in topsoil and bulk samples in a small cultivated field, which forms a hydrological unit that can be considered to be representative of the rainfed agroecosystems of Mediterranean mountain environments. Additional magnetic studies such as isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM), anhysteretic remanent magnetization (ARM) and thermomagnetic measurements are used to identify and characterize the magnetic mineralogy of soil minerals. The objectives were to analyse the spatial variability of the magnetic parameters to assess whether topographic factors, soil redistribution processes, and soil properties such as soil texture, organic matter and carbonate contents analysed in this study, are related to the spatial distribution pattern of magnetic properties. The medians of mass specific magnetic susceptibility at low frequency ( lf ) were 36.0 and 31.1 10 –8 m 3 kg –1 in bulk and topsoil samples respectively. High correlation coefficients were found between the lf in topsoil and bulk core samples ( r  = 0.951, p  〈 0.01). In addition, volumetric magnetic susceptibility was measured in situ in the field ( is ) and values varied from 13.3 to 64.0 10 –5 SI. High correlation coefficients were found between lf in topsoil measured in the laboratory and volumetric magnetic susceptibility field measurements ( r  = 0.894, p  〈 0.01). The results obtained from magnetic studies such as IRM, ARM and thermomagnetic measurements show the presence of magnetite, which is the predominant magnetic carrier, and hematite. The predominance of superparamagnetic minerals in upper soil layers suggests enrichment in pedogenic minerals. The finer soil particles, the organic matter content and the magnetic susceptibility values are statistically correlated and their spatial variability is related to similar physical processes. Runoff redistributes soil components including magnetic minerals and exports fine particles out the field. This research contributed to further knowledge on the application of soil magnetic properties to derive useful information on soil processes in Mediterranean cultivated soils.

Beschreibung: We report a palaeomagnetic investigation of the last full geomagnetic field reversal, the Matuyama-Brunhes (M-B) transition, as preserved in a continuous sequence of exposed lacustrine sediments in the Apennines of Central Italy. The palaeomagnetic record provides the most direct evidence for the tempo of transitional field behaviour yet obtained for the M-B transition. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating of tephra layers bracketing the M-B transition provides high-accuracy age constraints and indicates a mean sediment accumulation rate of about 0.2 mm yr –1 during the transition. Two relative palaeointensity (RPI) minima are present in the M-B transition. During the terminus of the upper RPI minimum, a directional change of about 180 ° occurred at an extremely fast rate, estimated to be less than 2 ° per year, with no intermediate virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs) documented during the transit from the southern to northern hemisphere. Thus, the entry into the Brunhes Normal Chron as represented by the palaeomagnetic directions and VGPs developed in a time interval comparable to the duration of an average human life, which is an order of magnitude more rapid than suggested by current models. The reported investigation therefore provides high-resolution integrated palaeomagnetic and radioisotopic data that document the fine details of the anatomy and tempo of the M-B transition in Central Italy that in turn are crucial for a better understanding of Earth's magnetic field, and for the development of more sophisticated models that are able to describe its global structure and behaviour.

Beschreibung: Palaeosecular variation (PSV), as estimated from the scatter of remanent magnetization directions or poles, can be used to shed light to processes in the geodynamo, and potentially, to model the growth of the solid inner core. To understand the temporal aspects of the geomagnetic field behavior in the far past, we have calculated the scatter of palaeomagnetic poles (S) from a set of 55 high-quality observations derived from a new Precambrian paleomagnetic data compilation. Our analysis supports former Phanerozoic and Precambrian analyses of PSV, which favour a lower reversal rate, a higher stability of the geodynamo and a substantially smaller size of the inner core prior to 1.5 billion years ago.

Beschreibung: This paper presents new directional archeomagnetic data from nine Meso-/Neolithic fireplaces, sampled in a cave shelter, at Arconciel, in western Switzerland. Rock magnetic measurements indicate a homogenous magnetic mineralogy in all fireplaces, with magnetite as the main magnetic carrier. The remanent magnetization is stable and generally shows one characteristic directional component. Nine new directions, which were obtained from Arconciel, are combined with 356 other archeomagnetic data from a circular area with a radius of 700 km around this site, to obtain a penalized least square spline fit for the past 9000 yr. We found in general good agreement with other local compilations, such as the Balkan curve, the regional SCHA.DIF.8k model and with lake sediments from UK, Fennoscandia and Switzerland. Nevertheless, a time lag of several centuries is observed for a declination maximum between the archeomagnetic spline fit and the other European data records around 5900 BC. This time lag is also observed in the Swiss lake sediment record; therefore we interpret this shift as a local feature of the Earth's magnetic field.

Beschreibung: State of the art numerical models of the Geodynamo are still performed in a parameter regime extremely remote from the values relevant to the physics of the Earth's core. In order to establish a connection between dynamo modelling and the geophysical motivation, it is necessary to use scaling laws. Such scaling laws establish the dependence of essential quantities (such as the magnetic field strength) on measured or controlled quantities. They allow for a direct confrontation of advanced models with geophysical constraints. We combine a numerical approach, based on a multiple linear regression method in the form of power laws, applied to a database of 102 direct numerical simulations (courtesy of U. Christensen), and a physical approach, based on energetics and forces balances. We show that previous empirical scaling laws for the magnetic field strength essentially reflect the statistical balance between energy production and dissipation for saturated dynamos. Such power based scaling laws are thus necessarily valid for any dynamo in statistical equilibrium and applicable to any numerical model, irrespectively of the dynamo mechanism. We show that direct numerical fits can provide contradictory results owing to biases in the parameters space covered in the numerics and to the role of a priori hypothesis on the fraction of ohmic dissipation. We introduce predictive scaling laws, that is relations involving input parameters of the governing equations only. We guide our reasoning on physical considerations. We show that our predictive scaling laws can properly describe the numerical database and reflect the dominant forces balance at work in these numerical simulations. We highlight the dependence of the magnetic field strength on the rotation rate. Finally, our results stress that available numerical models operate in a viscous dynamical regime, which is not relevant to the Earth's core.

Beschreibung: An exploratory 3-D model of the electrical conductivity structure of the Australian continent is presented. The model is derived from the inversion of vertical magnetic-field transfer functions from the Australia-wide Array of Geomagnetic Stations. Crustal conductivity anomalies evident in the model are consistent with those previously mapped by independent magnetometer array studies and new electrical structures are suggested in the upper mantle. The model represents a seamless continent-scale basis for further models likely to be derived from subsequent studies. The model reveals three upper-mantle enhanced-conductivity anomalies beneath Archaean cratonic regions and two upper-mantle anomalies beneath Phanerozoic terranes in eastern Australia. Two of these anomalies have been investigated by recent magnetotelluric (MT) surveys, one in the Yilgarn Craton–Officer Basin–Musgrave Block the other in the Gawler Craton region, and are consistent with the MT results. Across much of central Australia enhanced conductivity at depths of 50–100 km is observed in the model. This region corresponds well with a recognized seismic velocity gradient at 75–100 km. Conductivity differences are also observed beneath Archaean cratons in Western Australia. The Pilbara Craton is represented as an enhanced conductivity anomaly at about 100 km, corresponding well with the lower-velocity anomaly evident in surface wave tomography models. The Yilgarn Craton is imaged as a low-conductivity body, with conductivity two orders of magnitude lower than the Pilbara Craton, continuing to greater depths.

Beschreibung: This paper presents new directional archeomagnetic data from nine Meso-/Neolithic fireplaces, sampled in a cave shelter, at Arconciel, in western Switzerland. Rock magnetic measurements indicate a homogenous magnetic mineralogy in all fireplaces, with magnetite as the main magnetic carrier. The remanent magnetization is stable and generally shows one characteristic directional component. Nine new directions, which were obtained from Arconciel, are combined with 356 other archeomagnetic data from a circular area with a radius of 700 km around this site, to obtain a penalized least square spline fit for the past 9000 yr. We found in general good agreement with other local compilations, such as the Balkan curve, the regional SCHA.DIF.8k model and with lake sediments from UK, Fennoscandia and Switzerland. Nevertheless, a time lag of several centuries is observed for a declination maximum between the archeomagnetic spline fit and the other European data records around 5900 BC. This time lag is also observed in the Swiss lake sediment record; therefore we interpret this shift as a local feature of the Earth's magnetic field.