Constraining Planetary Science Problems with Micro-Paleomagnetism

Abstract

With the development of micro-paleomagnetic techinques we can measure the magnetic field of micro-scale samples that have direct implications for problems in planetary science. In this thesis I used the techniques from micro-paleomagnetism to address two main problems: (1) when Earth’s magnetic field started and (2) how did the magnetic field in the solar nebula varied in space and time. For the first, I conducted paleomagnetic measurements with the Jack Hills zircon grains from Western Australia to address the early evolution of Earth’s magnetic field, which has implications for the thermal evolution of the Earth and habitability. For the latter I focused on the paleomagnetism of three different components from CO carbonaceous chondrites: calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions, chondrules and matrix, with them we can measure the solar nebula magnetic field which have directs implications to planetary formation. This thesis is divided into 6 chapters. The first one introduces the general theme of the thesis. The second presents my work on the early evolution of Earth’s magnetic field. The third, fourth and fifth present my results from meteoritic magnetism. The sixth chapter discusses future work.