Collaborative Research: Obtaining paleomagnetic time-series records from corals

Magnetic storms have caused major damage to communications and energy infrastructure in the past. Such storms have the potential to cause trillions of dollars of damage in the United States. Society is more vulnerable to these risks in areas where the Earth’s magnetic field is weak. Continent-scale weak regions have grown over the past century. Studying ancient magnetic fields will help society understand how magnetic storm risks change and evolve. This has been very challenging due to the time-resolution of datasets. This project determines whether coral skeletons contain records of the magnetic field with greater resolution. Corals have the potential to yield yearly records spanning tens of thousands of years. This project aims to unlock coral magnetic records by investigating how corals become magnetized in modern reefs. Extracting magnetic records from corals could provide a new proxy for the pre-historic magnetic field. Constraining past variations of the magnetic field could help predict its future behavior, and its potential impact to society. This project investigates whether corals preserve paleomagnetic records with sufficient temporal resolution to reconstruct geomagnetic field behavior on human-relevant timescales. Preliminary results demonstrate that some modern corals carry stable magnetic remanences consistent with the ambient geomagnetic field at the time of growth. The project will produce detailed paleomagnetic, rock-magnetic, and microscopic analyses of modern corals to characterize the magnetic mineral assemblages, determine the stability and origin of remanent magnetization, and assess how reliably corals record the Earth’s magnetic field during growth. These data will be used to evaluate the feasibility of extending coral paleomagnetic records into the fossil archive. Unlocking coral paleomagnetism will provide high-resolution geomagnetic time series advancing fundamental understanding of Earth’s magnetic field. Improved knowledge of geomagnetic variability will enhance societal preparedness for geomagnetic storms that threaten critical infrastructure and public health. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2545429 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Caue Borlina | Institution: Purdue University, WEST LAFAYETTE, IN | Award Amount: $66,218 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2545429 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2545429.html