University of Alberta grad student Dunia Blanco Acuña has won international recognition for her work in tracing the prehistoric migration of the Siberian continental platform.
The American Geophysical Union recently notified Blanco that she had won an Outstanding Student Paper Award for her poster presentation of her work at the December 2011 AGU annual meeting, a gathering that attracted 20,000 delegates, including 250 who submitted posters in Blanco's field of study. "I didn't expect it," she says of the award.
Blanco almost declined to create the poster because the research is still in progress. "But people liked my work," she says. Her co-authors are Physics professor Vadim Kravchinsky and Royal Military College of Canada assistant professor, Konstantin Kabin (formerly a research associate at UAlberta).
Blanco is doing pioneering work to establish the path that Siberia took in the period between 500 million and 250 million years ago.
Siberia was originally part of Rodinia, a supercontinent that existed from 1,000 to 800 million years ago, when it broke up, yielding large tectonic pieces such as Siberia. Eventually, Siberia migrated until it completely fused with Eurasia about 75 million years ago.
Scientists have established a path for Siberia's movements from 250 million years ago to the present, but Blanco's study looks the preceding 250 million years. "What we want to create an Apparent Polar Wander Path (APWP) that has longitudinal information," says Blanco . "We know that 250 million years ago, Siberia was in the same location as Iceland today, so we have a reference point. "
The next step is to look at what the rocks say about Siberia's historical positioning. Blanco says that the remnant magnetization in rocks gives geophysicists an idea of where the rocks were created.
"We look at igneous rocks because while they are cooling down, the ferro-magnetic particles inside align with the magnetic field of the planet," says Blanco. "Under cooling temperatures, minerals that carry magnetization lock in the information about the magnetic vector for hundreds of millions of years."
In this way, rock samples give scientists an idea of where the rock was formed with reference to the location of the geomagnetic north pole. However, because of the north-south nature of Earth's dipolar magnetic field, researchers have evidence of only the latitude of the rocks' position.
"We did an APWP," says Blanco. "You have different paleomagnetic poles for different ages, and you apply different mathematical methods to construct the path that best fit the data."
By considering the known location of Siberia 250 million years ago (Iceland actual position) as a reference point, the longitudinal variation of the continental platform can be derived. "That has never been done before."
Blanco, who began this study last summer, estimates that it will be completed this summer. While the AGU singled out her "excellent science and effort" in its letter conferring the award, Blanco is looking forward to updating the poster with her conclusions.
"I'm still working on that research," she says. "It's been reaching a complete answer, which is nice."
Q & A with Dunia Blanco Acuña
Dunia Blanco Acuña began her research in tracking Siberia's apparent polar wander path during the summer of 2011. She expects to complete her work this summer, in time to present her final findings at the 2012 meeting of the American Geological Union. This international meeting is where her original poster earned an Outstanding Student Paper Award.
Although Blanco's work is at a stage that emphasizes data analysis, collaboration and person-to-person sharing has been key to her success.
How did you feel about getting the AGU award?
I did not expect that. This was a gigantic conference: there were 20,000 people. In my section (Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism), there were 250 posters. It was really awesome that they liked my work. And in my field, here, pretty much no one here knows much about paleomagnetism, so going to this conference is super-interesting because I talk to people who know what I'm talking about and I get a lot of feedback.
Do you know what you would like to investigate next?
Parallel to Siberian APWP, we have been using paleomagnetism to date some ancient kimberlites field in Siberia. I have learned how paleomagnetism can be applied to several problems in geophysics and I'm thinking of going into academia to continue exploring the possibilities. I would like to apply the techniques I have learn to South America, where not enough paleomagnetic studies have been done, and help to improve the actual international paleomagnetic data base. I'm definitely interested in the intensity of the magnetic field as well.
How did you become interested in Geophysics?
I did my undergraduate degree in Physics in my country, Colombia. I realized when I was in my last semester that I really like geology, because in my house, my dad always had stones and we had fossils. I discovered there was a field called geophysics. I talked with some people at my university about it, and they told me about Natalia Gomez, who did her PhD here [at the University of Alberta]. She answered me by email and told me about the university; I applied and I'm here.
You know, you have to write an essay when you apply. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but then I looked at the research that was being done here, and I found paleomagnetism. It's amazing: you can travel through time with rocks. It's awesome, all the things you can see with just a simple rock.