The East African Rift System diverges in the Lake Natron Basin of Northern Tanzania and is a major zone of continental extension and crustal thinning with resulting in active tectonics and volcanism. The discovery of Acheulean technology in Olduvai Gorge and Peninj as well as the presence of significant volcanic centers, has made in the region subject to studies in various disciplines. However, lack of precise radiometric age constraints due to the complex geology of the region is a major drawback. The basin is bordered on the western side by an escarpment that contains thick sequences of volcanic (nephelinites, basanites, hawaiites, alkali basalts), volcaniclastic and lacustrine strata that predates 1.2 Ma. This thesis is based on 41 rock samples that were collected from two geological sections, the Endukai Kete (EK) and Waterfall (WF) sections and aims to establish a preliminary geomagnetic polarity time scale (GPTS) for the Natron Escarpment, together with establishing possible flow directions of the volcanic lavas within these sections. Nephelinites of EK section have an inferred NW-SE direction of flow, based on study of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility. They record a normal polarity that most likely correspond to the Cobb Mountain Event (CMT; 1.187-1.208 Ma), although there is an 80-ka discrepancy between the CMT event and the dated lavas. The most probable source is the Mosonik that erupted nephelinitic lavas 1.28 Ma ago. The palagonitic tuff layer below the nephelinites displays reverse polarity and a NE-SW direction of flow. Due to the absence of approximately 200 m strata within the basanite series of the section, regional lithological correlation is used to constrain the GPTS pattern. Hajaro Beds of the Peninj Group to the north of the escarpment, postdates the Olduvai Event (1.71 to 1.86 Ma) and lacustrine strata of the escarpment for EK and WF sections are deposited over the same unconformity and share depositional similarities. Therefore, the lacustrine strata are correlative to Hajaro beds and the normal event observed within the basanite series of both sections is attributed to the Réunion Event (2.116 – 2.137 Ma). The establishment of a preliminary magnetostratigraphic sequence presented in this thesis demonstrate that the rift escarpment in northern Tanzania is suitable for paleomagnetic dating. Future studies should be conducted to establish a more detailed and constrained magnetostratigraphic section, which will be of great use in this part of the African Rift where radiometric dating has been challenging.

Mmadipudi Hill (CE 550–1200) is an Iron Age site in east-central Botswana approximately 3 km west of Bosutswe, a major Iron Age trade center at the eastern edge of the Kalahari Desert. A 5,000-m2 electromagnetic induction (EMI) survey conducted in 2011 revealed a cattle post arranged in the Central Cattle Pattern, including a central animal kraal with at least three clusters of houses flanking the eastern edge. A test trench confirmed the presence of a Taukome daga structure, possibly a house, 100–150 cm in depth. The EMI survey is one of, if not the first, archaeogeophysical surveys conducted in Botswana. It has proven invaluable as a means to understand the settlement organization and to pinpoint excavations to gain a more detailed understanding of the material culture. The perspective it offered on thorn brush fencing would not have been possible through excavation alone. Although small in scope, the test excavation yielded Taukome and Toutswe artifacts related to the larger sets of issues the Bosutswe region faced as Indian Ocean trade transformed the local political economy. The nature of the relationships between Bosutswe and its surrounding communities likely evolved due to the rise of a prestige goods economy, growing inequality, and environmental degradation around CE 1200. The occupation at Mmadipudi Hill would have immediately preceded these changes. By determining the spatial organization of Mmadipudi Hill, this article begins a crucial first step towards exploring what the local settlement pattern looked like prior to CE 1200 and understanding what the relationships among sites may have been.

Electromagnetic induction (EMI) has been used in archaeology for decades, but still lags in use and development when compared to magnetometry and ground-penetrating radar. While it has become more popular than electrical resistivity area survey, it is now less commonly used than electrical resistivity tomography. The EMI method is likely underutilized due to drift problems and a lack of multi-sensor, vehicle-towed systems capable of rapid, high-density data collection. In this article we demonstrate not only the effectiveness of EMI survey, but a case where entire villages would have remained undetected without it. At the Singer-Hieronymus Site in central Kentucky, USA, a vehicle-towed frequency domain EMI survey detected the location of plazas, residential areas, and trash disposal areas across multiple Fort Ancient villages that contained both intact and heavily disturbed deposits. Additionally, three new villages were revealed. Through this process, we discovered how Fort Ancient village dynamics may be studied through a geophysical investigation of village shape, size, and spatial organization.

The largest wildfire ever observed in Greenland raged through its tundra during august 2017, and it is unknown if there have been similar wildfires in the area before satellite monitoring began in 1999. Arctic wildfires affect permafrost degradation, carbon storage of soils and the surface albedo of the Greenland Ice sheet – despite this, local fires have previously been ignored by researchers. Here, aeolian dust deposits are independently dated by radiocarbon and luminescence techniques and paleoenvironmental proxies and macrocharcoal contents reflecting local fires are analyzed. The dating results indicate that the onset of aeolian deposition coincides with the deglaciation of the area, suggesting that paleoenvironmental proxy records from aeolian dust deposits may extend the entire ice-free period of the area until approximately 8 ka BP. Luminescence signals are generally partially bleached, resulting in age over-estimation of several samples. This effect is quantified using the pIRIR/IR ratio and different integration limit intervals. No evidence for previous wildfires were found during the charcoal analysis, suggesting that the area around the assessed profile has never been burnt since its deglaciation. These first results show promise for the method, and in order to expand this to a regional estimate of the wildfire activity through the Holocene, analysis of more material is needed.

Electromagnetic induction (EMI) has been used in archaeology for decades, but still lags in use and development when compared to magnetometry and ground-penetrating radar. While it has become more popular than electrical resistivity area survey, it is now less commonly used than electrical resistivity tomography. The EMI method is likely underutilized due to drift problems and a lack of multi-sensor, vehicle-towed systems capable of rapid, high-density data collection. In this article we demonstrate not only the effectiveness of EMI survey, but a case where entire villages would have remained undetected without it. At the Singer-Hieronymus Site in central Kentucky, USA, a vehicle-towed frequency domain EMI survey detected the location of plazas, residential areas, and trash disposal areas across multiple Fort Ancient villages that contained both intact and heavily disturbed deposits. Additionally, three new villages were revealed. Through this process, we discovered how Fort Ancient village dynamics may be studied through a geophysical investigation of village shape, size, and spatial organization.

X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, electron probe microanalysis(EPMA), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) powder spectra (9 and 34 GHz) and the magnetic susceptibility of BaTiO3 + 0.04 BaO + 0.01 V2O5 ceramics were studied to investigate the valence states of V ions and their solubility in the BaTiO3 lattice. In samples sintered at 1400 °C in air, only about 0.1 mol% V is incorporated in the BaTiO3 lattice being in V4+ and V5+ valence state, respectively. 95% of the nominal V dopant content occurs in the secondary phase Ba3(V/Ti)2O8. All BaTiO3 samples investigated are in tetragonal phase at room temperature. In the as-sintered samples V4+ is detected at temperatures T < 20 K by its hyperfine structure (HFS) octet due to the nuclear spin 7/2 of 51V. Samples post annealed in H2/Ar atmosphere at 1200 °C exhibit a further HFS octet occurring at T > 25 K and vanishing at T > 250 K, which is caused by V2+ ions. This spectrum is characterized by a simultaneous HFS and fine structure splitting constituted by allowed and forbidden transitions. Both V4+ and V2+ ions are incorporated at Ti4+ sites of the BaTiO3 lattice

The measurement of meteorite physical properties (i.e. density, porosity, magnetic susceptibility) supplements detailed chemical and isotopic analyses for small samples (thin sections or ~300 mg portions) by providing whole-rock data for samples massing in the tens of grams. With the advent of fast, non-destructive and non-contaminating measurement techniques including helium ideal-gas pycnometry for grain density, the Archimedean ―glass bead‖ method for bulk density and (with grain density) porosity, and the use of low-field magnetometry for magnetic susceptibility, all of which rely on compact and portable equipment, this has enabled a comprehensive survey of these physical properties for a wide variety of meteorites. This dissertation reports on the results of that survey, which spanned seven major museum and university meteorite collections as well as the Vatican collection. Bulk and grain densities, porosities and magnetic susceptibilities are reported for 1228 stones from 664 separate meteorites, including several rare meteorite types that are underrepresented in previous studies. Summarized here are data for chondrites (carbonaceous, ordinary and enstatite) and stony achondrites. Several new findings have resulted from this study. From the use of a ―weathering modulus‖ based on grain density and magnetic susceptibility to quantify weathering in finds, it is observed that the degree of weathering of ordinary chondrites is dependent on their initial porosity, which becomes reduced to less than ~8% for all finds, but for enstatite chondrites iii weathering actually increases porosity. Grain density and magnetic susceptibility, which have been shown to distinguish H, L and LL ordinary chondrites, also may distinguish shergottites, nakhlites and chassignites from each other, but the two groups of enstatite chondrites (EH and EL) remain indistinguishable in these properties. H chondrite finds exhibit a slight negative trend in porosity with increasing petrographic type, and all chondrite falls together exhibit a pronounced negative trend in porosity spanning all petrographic types. The overall trend corresponds roughly to a positive trend in porosities with respect to both degree of oxidation and percentage of matrix. It also corresponds to the macroporosities of analogous asteroids. These traits constrain models of conditions in the solar nebula and the formation of chondrite parentbody precursors.

<p> The magnetic susceptibility of samarium orthophosphate (SmPO4) has been measured over the temperature range from 0.4 to 270°K. A theoretical expression for the susceptibility has been developed assuming a crystal field of cubic symmetry and fitted to the experimental data. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

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