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

MacDonald, W.D., H.C. Palmer, A.L. Deino and Po-Yu Shen,  2012. Insights into deposition and deformation of intra-caldera ignimbrites, central Nevada. Journal of Volcanology and Geothemal Research, 245-246, 40-54.

Palmer, H.C., Ernst, R.E., and K.L. Buchan. 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.

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.

Students

Erika Szabo, PhD candidate (with Maria Cioppa and Phil McCausland)

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