Paleomagnetic lab established in Antarctica

Abstract

The world's southernmost paleomagnetic laboratory was established at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, in early October as part of the Cape Roberts Project [Cape Roberts Project International Steering Committee, 1994]. The laboratory's location at McMurdo Station (166°40′10″E, 77°50′18″S) is close to Hut Point, where British explorer Robert Falcon Scott established a base in the early 1900s.The facility is housed in two rooms at the Albert P. Crary Science and Engineering Center. From the laboratory, there is a superb view of southern McMurdo Sound with Black Island, Minna Bluff, Mt. Discovery to the south (where Scott's expedition for the South Pole first traversed), and the Royal Society Range of the Transantarctic Mountains. The lab is equipped with two spinner magnetometers, a thermal demagnetizer, an alternating field demagnetizer, a susceptibility meter, and an impulse magnetizer.