Aleksey Smirnov
Michigan Technological University, MI·Earth & Environmental Science
Earth's magnetic field is produced by the geodynamo, the churning of liquid iron in the planet's core. Its strength and direction have changed over millions of years, and the field has repeatedly reversed.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
Physics
- Topics
paleomagnetism
paleointensity
geomagnetic field
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Dec 2027
What they work on
- Measure ancient magnetic field strength in Miocene Vestfirðir lava flows using the IZZI Thellier-Thellier and LTD-DHT-Shaw paleointensity methods, backed by rock magnetic analyses, to fill gaps in the global database.
- Date a representative set of basalts, including Iceland's oldest lava flows, with 40Ar/39Ar incremental heating, a radiometric technique based on argon isotopes.
- Combine field-direction and field-strength data to refine paleosecular variation estimates for Iceland and test for long-term non-dipole features of the geomagnetic field.
- Use the new ages to constrain how long volcanism paused during the shift from the Northwest Iceland rift zone to the Snæfellsnes-Húnaflói rift zone about 15 million years ago, and to correlate lava sequences.
More about the research
Lava records the field at the moment it cools, so stacks of old lava flows act as a magnetic diary of the deep Earth. Iceland has had nearly continuous volcanic activity for about 16 million years, which makes it an unusually complete archive. However, there are few measurements of field strength (paleointensity) from the Miocene epoch, and few reliable lava ages.
Why it matters
Better records of how Earth's magnetic field behaved between 8.5 and 16 million years ago will extend geomagnetic field models by several million years. They will also test ideas about how the core generates the field and why it reverses. The new lava ages will refine the timeline of Iceland's rift and volcanic history, which helps geologists understand how fast plate-boundary processes unfold.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Craig Martin
University of Texas at Austin, TX·Earth & Environmental Science
Characterize the magnetic minerals in modern coral skeletons from living reefs, using rock-magnetic analyses and microscopy.
Alison Graettinger
University of Missouri-Kansas City, MO·Earth & Environmental Science
Determine at what depths silica-rich and basaltic magmas build up beneath Askja and how often magma is refilled, using plagioclase and clinopyroxene mineral analyses and gabbro xenoliths, chunks of deep rock carried up by eruptions.
Aurelie Germa
University of South Florida, FL·Earth & Environmental Science
Constrain the absolute and relative ages of magma intrusion episodes in Utah's San Rafael Volcanic Field, using high-precision 40Ar/39Ar dating and paleomagnetic data, to count intrusive events and calculate their rate.
The school
Michigan Technological University: 9 labs on PI Pages, $107M a year on research, 86 research doctorates a year.
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