Developing exploration tools: Microstructural controls on magnetic minerals and magnetic anomalies on the Norwegian continental margin

Geomagnetic field research is in a period of unprecedented opportunity, with the Oersted, Champ, SAC-C Earth satellites, and the new SWARM mission recently approved by ESA. Advances in technology and instrumentation have provided the scientific community with a vast amount of high-quality data from satellites. With dramatic improvements in data acquisition, processing, satellite navigation, micro-leveling techniques and image processing for high-resolution aeromagnetic surveys, a critical need has been cr eated for better understanding of relationships between magnetic signatures, magnetic mineralogy and the geology. Aeromagnetic surveys provide a wealth of information from sources at all depths within the crust and have been widely used for many decades in mineral and offshore petroleum exploration. Software now allows for sophisticated 3D modeling. Though magnetic interpretation has the potential for becoming a powerful technique for 3D modeling of rock bodies, a major limiting factor has been the non- uniqueness of solutions to models. The two most important constraints on magnetic models are the reliability of the magnetic properties and petrophysical data used, and the known the geological structure. Without one firm constraint this non-uniqueness o f potential field data limits the amount of information and knowledge we can gain from magnetic surveys. Given the millions of Euros spent on the acquisition of magnetic data, and the future use of magnetic surveys in exploration, the detailed studies of rock-magnetic properties proposed here, will strongly aid in modeling of magnetic anomalies on Earth, in understanding crustal magnetism at depth, and in understanding the geology of other planetary bodies. We propose to work in three areas on the Norwe gian continental margin, determine the magnetic properties of the crustal rocks and tackle some longstanding questions about local magnetic anomalies.