Dr. H. Currie Palmer
Paleomagnetism
Professor Emeritus
Office: BGS 1000E
Phone: 1-519-661-2111 ext.86749
Fax: 1-519-661-3198
Email: cpalmer@uwo.ca
Research Interests
My principal research interest is in studying the
fabric of igneous rocks, especially diabases and felsic ashflow tuffs.
The goal of this work is to establish flow patterns in these rocks,
which when integrated over a broad geographic region, may yield
insights into the source vent locations. The diabase studies have the
additional goal of discovering whether major diabase sill provinces are
related to coeval dike swarms. In so doing, I hope to make a
contribution to the space-time patterns of large igneous provinces.
Experimentally much of the fabric determination is performed
through the measurement of anisotropy of magentic susceptibility (AMS)
supplemented by the determination of the anisotropy of
laboratory-induced remanent magnetizations. The techniques of
paleomagnetism are used to establish whether one or more cooling units
are involved in these regional studies.
Selected Publications
Palmer, H.C. and MacDonald,
W.D., 1999. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility in relation to source
vents of ignimbrites; empirical observations. In: K. Benn and H.C.
Halls (Editors), Applications of magnetic anisotropies to fabric
studies of rocks and sediments. Tectonophysics, 307: 207-218.
Gala,
M.G., Symons, D.T.A. and Palmer, H.C., 1998. Geotectonics of the
Hanson Lake Block, Trans-Hudson Orogen, central Canada; a preliminary
paleomagnetic report. Precambrian Research, 90(1-2): 85-101.
MacDonald,
W.D., Palmer, H.C. and Hayatsu, A., 1998. Structural rotation and
volcanic source implications of magnetic data from Eocene volcanic
rocks, SW Idaho. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 156(3-4):
225-237.
Han,
J., Fyfe, W.S., Longstaffe, F.J., Palmer, H.C., Yan, F.H. and Mai,
X.S., 1997. Pliocene-Pleistocene climatic change recorded in
fluviolacustrine sediments in central China. Palaeogeography,
Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 135(1-4): 27-39.
Palmer,
H.C., MacDonald, W.D., Gromme, C.S. and Ellwood, B.B., 1996. Magnetic
properties and emplacement of the Bishop Tuff, California. Bulletin of
Volcanology, 58(2-3): 101-116.
Palmer, H.C.,
Ernst.,R. E., and Buchan, K.L. 2007. Magnetic fabric studies of the
Nipissing sill province and Senneterre dykes, Canadian Shield, and
implications for emplacement. Can. J. Earth Sci., 44: 507-528.
