Department of Earth Sciences
Newton Horace Winchell School of Earth Sciences

Joshua Feinberg

Office: 

Pillsbury 123

Phone: 
612-624-8429
Email: 
feinberg

Assistant Professor
PhD, 2005, University of California, Berkeley

Institute for Rock Magnetism

Personal Webpage

 

Research Interests

My research draws on the magnetic behavior and crystal orientation of minerals to understand questions about Earth processes operating on global, tectonic, outcrop, and nanometer scales. In order to connect observations made at small scales to processes occurring on larger scales, my research incorporates a strong multi-disciplinary approach including rock magnetism, mineral texture studies (EBSD), scanning force microscopy (AFM, MFM), paleomagnetism, electron microscopy (TEM, SEM, electron holography), fieldwork, and numerical modeling.


Some of the projects I am involved with are: the mineralogic origin of iron oxide inclusions in silicate minerals and their recordings of the Earth's magnetic field, measurements of geomagnetic paleointensity, the origin of exsolution structures in minerals, the effect of preferred mineral orientation on bulk rock properties (such as magnetic remanence, susceptibility, and seismic anisotropy), applications to archaeology and anthropology, and finally, climate records as chronicled by magnetic minerals in speleothems. The first of these projects is briefly described below.


The remanent magnetizations preserved within Precambrian rocks are the only available record of geodynamo behavior during early Earth history. Careful studies of the mineralogy that hold these recordings are required in order to address questions about the strength of the Precambrian Earth's magnetic field, the convective behavior of the liquid core, and potentially, the formation of the solid inner core. Silicate-hosted magnetic inclusions in minerals such as pyroxene, plagioclase, and hornblende are ideal for addressing such questions because they accurately record information about the Earth's magnetic field and are protected from subsequent alteration by their silicate hosts. My colleagues and I use magnetic imaging techniques such as magnetic force microscopy and electron holography to understand how nanometer scale mineral structures within these magnetic inclusions effect their remanence properties. In some inclusions, we have found that intraoxide exsolution produces a tessellated pattern of magnetite blocks in an ulvospinel matrix. This mineral unmixing, combined with the inclusions' elongated shape, produces directionally dependent (or anisotropic) magnetic properties within single silicate crystals. Much of my current research aims at understanding this anisotropy so that single silicate crystals can be used to reveal the magnetic field behavior of the early Earth.


I welcome prospective students and postdocs with interests and backgrounds in geology, mineralogy, petrology, archaeology, tectonics, sedimentology, material sciences, and physics to consider working with me and others at the Institute for Rock Magnetism.

 

Courses Taught

  • Mineralogy, GEO 2301
  • Natural Hazards and Disasters, GEO 1012
  • Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism, GEO 4204
  • Field Methods, GEO 3891
  • Introductory Field Geology, GEO 3911


Selected Publications

  • Frahm, E., and Feinberg, J.M., 2013. Empires and Resources: Central Anatolian Obsidian at Urkesh (Tell Mozan, Syria) during the Akkadian Period, Journal of Archaeological Science, 40, 1122-1135.
  • Lascu, I., and Feinberg, J.M., 2011. Speleothem Magnetism. Quaternary Science Reviews, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2011.08.004.
  • Waters, M.R., Forman, S.L., Jennings, T.A., Nordt, L.C., Driese, S., Feinberg, J.M., Keene, J.L., Halligan, J., Lindquist, A., James, P., Hallmark, C.T., Collins, M.B., Wiederhold, J.E., 2011. The Buttermilk Creek Complex and the Origins of Clovis at the Debra L. Friedkin Site, Texas, Science, 331(6204), 1599-1603, doi: 10.1126/science.1201855.
  • Lindquist, A., Feinberg, J.M., Waters, M.R., 2011. The Rock Magnetic Properties of a Soil Developed on an Alluvial Deposit at Buttermilk Creek, Texas, USA, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, doi:10.1029/2011GC003877.
  • Lappe., S.-C., Fanta, A., Bromily, G., Russel, S., Dunin-Borkowski, R., Feinberg, J.M., Harrison, R.J., 2011. Mineral Magnetism of dusty olivine, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, doi:10.1029/2011GC003811.
  • Swanson-Hysell, N.L., Feinberg, J.M., Berquo, T.S., and Maloof, A.C., 2011. Self-reversed magnetization held by martite in basalt flows from the 1.1-billion-year-old Keweenawan rift, Canada, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 305, 171-184. 
  • Kasama, T., Church, N., Feinberg, J.M., Dunin-Borkowski, R.E., and Harrison, R.J., 2010. The complexity of ferrimagnetic/ferroelastic domain interactions in magnetite below the Verwey transition, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.05.004.
  • McNeil, R.P.G., Schneble, R.J., Kataoka, M., Ford, C.J.B., Kasama, T., Dunin-Borkowski, R.E., Feinberg, J.M., Harrison, R.J., Barnes, C.H.W., Tse, D.H.Y., Trypiniotis, T., Bland, J.A., Anderson, D., Jones, G.A.C., and Pepper, M., 2010. Localised magnetic fields in arbirary directions using patterned nanomagnets, NanoLetters, 23, doi: 10.1021/nl902949v.
  • Shaar, R., Ron, H., Tauxe, L., Kessel, R., Agnon, A., Ben-Yosef, E., Feinberg, J.M., 2010. Testing the accuracy of absolute intensity estimates of the ancient geomagnetic field using copper slag material. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 290, 201-213. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.12.022.
  • Brownlee, S.J., Feinberg, J.M., Harrison, R.J., Kasama, T., Scott, G.R., and Renne, P.R., 2010. Effects of Temperature on Ilmenite-Hematite: Microstructure and Magnetic Properties in the Ecstall Pluton, British Columbia, American Mineralogist, 95, 153-160.
  • Brown, M.C., Singer, B.S., Knudsen, M.F., Jicha, B.R., Finnes, E., and Feinberg, J.M., 2009. No evidence for Brunhes age excursions, Santo Antão, Cape Verde, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 287, 100-115. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.07.039
  • Galindo-Gonzalez, C., Feinberg, J.M., Kasama, T., Gontard, L.C., Posfai, M., Kosa, I., Duran, J.D.G., Gil, J.E., Harrison, R.J., and Dunin-Borkowski, R.E., 2009. Magnetic and microscopic characterization of magnetite nanoparticles adhered to clay surfaces, American Mineralogist, 94, 1120-1129.
  • Harrison, R.J., and Feinberg, J.M., 2009. Mineral Magnetism: Providing New Insights into Geoscience Processes, Elements, 5, 209-215, doi: 10.2113/gselements.5.4.209.
  • Feinberg, J.M., Renne, P.R., Arroyo-Cabrales, J., Waters, M.R., Ochoa-Castillo, P., and Perez-Campa, M., 2009. Age Constraints on Alleged ‘Footprints’ Preserved in the Xalnene Tuff near Puebla, Mexico, Geology, 37 (3), 267-270.
  • Harrison, R.J., and Feinberg, J.M., 2008. FORCinel: An improved algorithm for calculating first-order reversal curve (FORC) distributions using locally-weighted regression smoothing: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, doi:10.1029/2008GC001987.
  • Feinberg, J.M., Harrison, R.J., Dunin-Borkowski, R.E., Kasama, T., Scott. G.R., and Renne, P.R., 2006, The influence of nanoscale microstructure on the remanence properties of clinopyroxene-hosted titanomagnetite inclusions: an electron holography study: Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth, 111, B12S15, doi:10.1029/2006JB004498.
  • Renne, P.R., Feinberg, J.M., Waters, M.R., Arroyo-Cabrales, J., Ochoa-Castillo, P., Perez-Campa, M., and Knight, K.B., 2005, Age of the Xalnene ash, Central Mexico, and archeological implications: Nature, 438, doi:10.1038/nature04425
  • Feinberg, J.M., Scott, G.R., Renne, P.R., and Wenk, H.-R., 2005, Exsolved Magnetite Inclusions in Silicates: Features Determining Their Remanence Behavior: Geology, 33 (6), p. 513-516.

 

Recent Research Support

  • 2010-2013, NSF - Tectonics, EAGER: Collaborative Research: Can Low-Angle Normal Faults Produce Earthquakes? Feinberg, Goodwin (UW-Madison).
  • 2010-2013, NSF - Geophysics, Collaborative Research: Morphology and Timing of the Reunion/Huckleberry Ridge Event(s), Feinberg, Singer (UW-Madison), Hoffman (Cal-Poly).
  • 2010-2011, NSF - IODP, RAPID: Collaborative Research: Paleomagnetic and Rock Magnetic Investigation of IODP Expedition 318 Site U1357 Sediments, Feinberg, Tauxe (Scripps, UCSD).
  • 2009-2011, NSF - Instrumentation & Facilities, Development of a Closed Cycle Cryostat for Full-Vector Magnetic Measurements of Geologic Materials, Feinberg, Solheid, Jackson, Bowles, Moskowitz.
  • 2009-2011, NSF - Geophysics, Linking Rock Magnetic Properties to the Performance of Paleointensity Techniques, Feinberg, Bowles, Brown (postdoc).
  • 2008-2011, NSF - Geophysics, Collaborative Research: The Effect of Dislocations on the Magnetic Properties of Small Titanomagnetite Minerals, Feinberg, Newell (NC State Univ.).
  • 2007-2010, NSF - Instrumentation & Facilities, Facility Support: Institution for Rock Magnetism, Moskowitz, Banerjee, Jackson, Feinberg, Solheid.
  • 2007-2010, NSF - Instrumentation & Facilities, Acquisition of a DC-SQUID Magnetometer, Banerjee, Moskowitz, Jackson, Feinberg, Solheid.

 

Recent Honors and Awards

  • 2008 Editor’s Citation for Excellence in Refereeing Manuscripts - Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.