MAGIC-DML

Last week, we shared with you how we use carbon to help us date the rocks. This week, Dr. Derek Fabel is sharing how we do something similar with Beryllium and Aluminum: Because we know at what rate our isotopes, like Beryllium and Aluminum, are produced within the quartz when it is exposed at the surface of the Earth we have a ‘clock’. By measuring the concentration of isotopes in quartz we can determine how long the quartz has been exposed at the surface of the Earth. MAGIC

Last week, we mentioned how isotopes are created in quartz. One of these isotopes is carbon-14. We can use carbon-14 to tell how old the rocks are by a process called in situ carbon-14 dating. What is in situ carbon-14 dating? Have you heard of radiocarbon dating? Traditional radiocarbon dating uses atmospherically-produced C-14 found in living things, but our method uses C-14 produced in nonliving things like rocks. There are three major steps for carbon in getting from quar

So, last week on Let’s Talk Science we talked about cleaning up our rock samples to so that they become pure quartz. But why quartz? What makes quartz so important? Quartz sample from the field. Quartz is important to us because we use it to determine how old the rocks are! In order to determine ages of the rocks we collect, we isolate and measure the concentrations of special atoms inside the quartz, called isotopes. These rare isotopes are beryllium-10, aluminum-26, carbon-

Welcome to our blog series, “Let’s Talk Science,” where we break down the science behind our team’s work. With the team back from Antarctica, many people are wondering… “what now?” Today, we’ll share with you one of the first things our team will do once back home. We’ve talked a lot about Mapping, but now it is time for us to talk about Measuring. Remember all those rock samples we collected? Well, inside those rock samples is quartz! Quartz sample while in the field. Quartz

In this week's installment of Let's Talk Science, we feature some of the ways in which our team has been talking science with students of all ages! One central mission of MAGIC-DML is bringing our research into classrooms and to students of all ages. While in Antarctica and since coming home, our team members have been able to do just that. Before leaving for the field, Dr. Jon Harbor was contacted by Barbara Tilley and her class of 3rd graders at Mintonye Elementary. They we

Welcome to our blog series, “Let’s Talk Science,” where we break down the science behind our team’s work. Over the past couple weeks, we’ve talk about how our team uses satellites and clues on the ground to create the maps of Antarctica. Today, we will look at some of those maps! Has it been a while since you’ve read the other posts? No worries! Use the links in the article to go back and refresh your memory. --- We use remote sensing images to see the ice from a bird’s eye v

Welcome to our blog series, “Let’s Talk Science,” where we break down the science behind our team’s work. Last week, we talked about nunataks (rock that is exposed when the ice moves). This week, we’re sharing one way the ice moves and allows those nunataks to become exposed. --- In some places, glaciers move and change really slowly. In other places, the ice moves much, much faster. The fast-moving areas of ice within an ice sheet are called ice streams. Ice streams move fas

Welcome to our blog series, “Let’s Talk Science,” where we break down the science behind our team’s work. Last week, we talked about how we look for certain things in the ice to improve our mapping and eventually begin measuring how the ice has changed. But how do we find those clues? One way to find clues is to find nunataks! --- Nunataks, besides being really fun to say, are areas of rock that have peaked out from under the ice. When you look out over a wide expanse of ice,

In our last article, we began explaining how remote sensing helps us with our mapping, the first “M” of our acronym. We use this to begin to create geomorphological maps (maps that show the landscape features on the Earth’s surface produced by geological processes). The next strategy we use is field mapping and verification. --- Not all the mapping of ice and rock surface features we need can be done through our satellites. Some of it needs to be done hands on “in the field”

Remote sensing uses satellites to help us see a big chunk of land from a bird’s-eye-view. When the sun shines on the land, radiation bounces