Sonia Tikoo, Assistant Professor of Geophysics, Stanford University, will present "Paleomagnetic Insights into Impact Processes: Chicxulub Crater."

Sonia Tikoo is an Assistant Professor of Geophysics at Stanford University.  Her research focuses on the application of paleomagnetism and rock magnetism to problems in the planetary sciences, including core dynamo generation and impact cratering processes.  Tikoo received a B.S. in Geology and History (Minor) from the California Institute of Technology in 2008 and a Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2014.

Impact cratering is a ubiquitous geological process that modifies the surfaces of planetary bodies across our solar system.  Impacts expose rocks to powerful shock waves and heat.  After an impact, cooling of melt sheets within large craters may drive hydrothermal systems that can persist for hundreds of thousands of years.  Because heat, shock, and chemical reactions that accompany hydrothermalism are all capable of resetting rock magnetization, the field of paleomagnetism may be used as a powerful tool to investigate the physical conditions associated with impact events.  Here, we discuss how paleomagnetism and rock magnetism, in conjunction with petrographic analyses and geochronology, are being used to inform impact processes such as crater formation and the duration of post-impact hydrothermal activity at the Chicxulub crater, Mexico.