"Hunting the Earth’s Magnetic Field"

Lisa Tauxe, professor of geophysics, director of the earth sciences major, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego

Experience the complete proceedings on-line: streaming video of the lecture is now available.
Video (1:09 minutes)

The Earth's magnetic field acts both as an umbrella, shielding us from cosmic radiation, and as a window, offering one of the few glimpses of the inner workings of the Earth. Thanks to its essentially dipolar nature, the magnetic field has acted as a guide, pointing to the spin axis and providing latitudinal information for both explorers and geologists. Ancient records of the Earth's magnetic field inform us about its early history. Study of the ancient field prior to human records requires the use of "accidental" recordings made in rocks and archeological artifacts. This lecture will describe the search for such records and summarize what they tell us about the behavior of the Earth's magnetic field.

Lecture is designed for the interested layperson and is free and open to the public.