March 15 2005

IGPP graduate student Kristin Lawrence wins outstanding student paper award for Geomagnetism, Paleomagnetism & Tectonophysics at the Fall 2004 AGU meeting in San Francisco

In the March 15th edition of Eos (the publication of the AGU) it was announced that IGPP graduate student Kristin Lawrence won an outstanding student paper award for Geomagnetism, Paleomagnetism & Tectonophysics at the Fall 2004 AGU Meeting in San Francisco.

Kristin's poster titled "Evaluation of Agreement Between Paleosecular Variation Models and Empirical Distributions at 20 Degrees Latitude" outlined a study in which she compiled paleomagnetic directional data from multiple published studies of volcanic provinces in four regions from latitudes around 20 degrees (Hawaii, Mexico, Reunion & French Polynesia) in order to test the accuracy of models used to derive paleosecular variation (PSV) of the magnetic field. She also determined the validity of their statistical and symmetry assumptions of the models.

For each region the following parameters were calculated: virtual magnetic poles (VGPs), paleomagnetic directions projected along the expected axial dipole field, a principal component analysis, calculating shape and strength parameters for the data distributions. The total angular dispersion of the calculated VGPs for each region was determined.

Kristin Lawrence presenting her poster at the Fall 2004 AGU Meeting

Congratulations to all IGPP's students who made successful oral and poster presentation's at the Fall 2004 AGU meeting. The breadth of research undertaken by our students is a credit to IGPP, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the University of California San Diego.