MagNetZ With Eric Font (2022/07/27) - Magnetism of Speleothems: Advances and Perspectives
Channel: MagNetZ
Date: 2022-07-27

Magnetism of Speleothems: Advances and Perspectives

The video is also available for download at: https://earthref.org/ERDA/2536/
and can be referenced with the doi: 10.7288/V4/ERDA/2536

Title: Magnetism of Speleothems: Advances and Perspectives
Author: Eric Font from the University of Coimbra, Portugal

Speleothems are secondary mineral deposits formed in caves and are potential recorders of variations in the Earth’s magnetic field and climate during the Quaternary. Their age can be determined precisely using U-Th disequilibrium series dating, and the magnetic, geochemical and mineralogical signatures preserved in their thin laminations provide high-resolution climate- and environmental proxy time series, from subannual to millennial time-scales. Magnetic studies of speleothems provide two important forms of data: i) continuous and high-resolution records of short-term variations of the Earth´s magnetic field (EMF), and conversely the use of paleomagnetism as a dating tool of speleothems; and ii) high-resolution records of climate variability by linking rock magnetic properties to climate and environmental forcing parameters acting on soils. However, applications on the use of speleothem magnetic properties as archives of climate change are at an embryonic stage and require a great deal of maturation before they can be comparable to traditional studies. Here, a review of recent advances in the magnetism of speleothems is presented, as well as technical and scientific limitations and possible perspectives to calibrate and improve the quality of magnetic records of speleothems. Preliminary results obtained from Portuguese stalagmites obtained in the frame of an ongoing research project (Speleothems as magnetic, environmental and paleo-fire archives; ref. PTDC/CTA-GEO/0125/2021) and of a bilateral exploratory MIT-FCT project (Analyzing environmental and climate records in Portuguese speleothems using ultra-high sensitivity magnetic microscopy; ref. MIT-EXPL/ACC/0023/2021) funded by the Foundation of Sciences and Technology (FCT) are presented.



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00:00 - Intro
01:04 - Presentation
27:24 - Questions
36:02 - Announcements