The magnetic properties of minerals are used as proxies for environmental change in applications such as paleoclimate, paleoceanography, studies of the provenance of sediments, pollution and archeology.
[2][3] Since then it has grown rapidly, finding application in and making major contributions to a range of diverse fields, especially paleoclimate, sedimentology, paleoceanography, and studies of particulate pollution.
In north-central China, blankets of loess that were deposited during glacial periods alternate with paleosols (fossil soils) that formed during warmer and wetter interglacials.
The magnetic susceptibility profiles of these sediments have been dated using magnetostratigraphy, which identifies geomagnetic reversals, and correlated with climate indicators such as oxygen isotope stages.
[5] Magnetic measurements of lacustrine sediments can also be used to reconstruct the upland surface processes that were associated with past climate.