Environmental and palaeomagnetic laboratory
The Environmental and Palaeomagnetic Laboratory allows characterisation of iron mineral assemblages in rocks, sediments or soils as well as palaeomagnetic dating of suitable samples.
The lab is housed in dedicated space at the recently refurbished ŒObservatory¹ complex. The main facilities available in the lab are
- a Bartington MS2 magnetic susceptibility meter with dual frequency sensor and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility attachment,
- a Molspin 'spinner' magnetometer for measurement of both natural and laboratory induced remanent magnetisation measurements,
- Molspin 1 Tesla and magnetic Measurements 9 T pulse magnetisers,
- a Molspin a.f. demagnetiser with anhysteretic magnetisation attachment and
- a Molspin 'Nuvo' Vibrating Sample Magnetometer.
In addition, a diamond-tipped rock drill (for cutting rock samples of a suitable size for palaeo- or mineral magnetic measurements) and magnetic separation equipment (for isolating the strongly magnetic mineral component from a disaggregated sediment or soil) are available and housed in the School's geochemistry laboratories.
The lab also has links to the Magnetism Research Group within the School of Physics and Astronomy at St Andrews who have a range of highly specialised magnetic and related instrumentation.
Postgraduate students wishing to use any of the School's environmental magnetic facilities should contact Dr John Walden for further information.
