The Palaeomagnetism laboratory was founded in the early 1980s by Carlo Laj at the Centre des Faibles Radioactivités (CFR), which, after merging with the LMCE, became in 1998 the LSCE. Originally located on the CNRS campus in Gif-sur-Yvette, the laboratory moved to the new LSCE building at Orme des Merisiers CEA centre on the Saclay plateau.
Initially, palaeomagnetic studies mainly focused on applications in structural geology, before being oriented in the 1990s towards palaeoceanography, a rapidly expanding research field at this time, especially at LSCE.
The laboratory’s first equipments were developed in close collaboration with manufacturers (e.g. 2G Enterprises, Pyrox). Since then, the laboratory’s researchers, especially Carlo Laj and Catherine Kissel, have worked to continuously develop it.
Studies conducted in the CliMag team are now based on a rich state-of-the-art instrumental panel, including three cryogenic magnetometers, located in a shielded room and adapted to either standard specimens (high homogeneity measurements) or to continuous sedimentary series (u-channels, high-resolution measurements). These devices are accompanied by numerous furnaces and high-performance equipments for studies of magnetic mineralogy (VSM, VFTB) and sedimentary magnetic anisotropy.
At the same time, the CliMag group manages equipments for X-ray Fluorescence (XRF core Scanner and ED-XRF spectrometer) and grain-size measurements, shared with several other LSCE groups.
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