Subir Kumar Banerjee

Last updated

Subir Kumar Banerjee (19 February 1938, Jamshedpur) [1] is an Indian-American geophysicist, known for research on rock magnetism, palaeomagnetism, and environmental magnetism. [2]

Contents

Education and career

Banerjee studied at the University of Calcutta with a bachelor's degree in physics in 1956 and at the Indian Institute of Technology with a master's degree in 1959. He received in 1963 his Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Cambridge, where his supervisors were John C. Belshé and Edward Bullard. As a postdoc at the Mullard Research Laboratories in Redhill, Surrey, Banerjee did research on ferrite. At the University of Newcastle, he held an appointment as lecturer from 1966 to 1969 and worked under the supervision of Kurt Hoselitz (1916–2010) and Kenneth Midworth Creer (1925–2020). For the academic year 1967–1968 Banerjee was at the Ampex Corporation and at Stanford University. At Stanford he was mentored by Allan V. Cox. [2] For the academic year 1969–1970 Banerjee was a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania and worked in the laboratory of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. For the academic year 1970–1971 he was at the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory. At the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis he was an associate professor from 1971 to 1974 and thereafter a full professor of geophysics. [3] In 1974 he gained fame for the book The physical principles of rock magnetism, co-authored with Frank D. Stacey. [4] [5] In 1970s Banerjee investigated samples of lunar rocks. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] In 1976 he was appointed an adjunct professor in the University of Minnesota's Program of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. [11] In 1990 he founded the University of Minnesota's Institute for Rock Magnetism (IRM) and became its director. [12]

Banerjee's research deals with magnetism of rocks with applications to paleomagnetism and geomagnetism. His research pertains to the remanent magnetization of magnetic oxides in rocks. He and his colleagues have collected paleomagnetic data from sediments in lakes and soils and applied this data to archaeological, paleoclimatic and environmental studies. He was involved in the development of rapid methods for the paleomagnetic study of soils and their use in stratigraphy and climate reconstruction dating as far back as the midpoint of the Middle Paleolithic. [4]

In 1983 Subir Banerjee received a D.Sc. from the University of Cambridge. He was elected in 1984 a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and in 2006 a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS). [13] From 1986 to 1988 he served as president of the Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Section of the AGU. The AGU honored him in 2003 with the William Gilbert Award [14] and in 2006 with the John Adam Fleming Medal. [2] Banerjeee was awarded the Louis Néel Medal from the European Geosciences Union in 2004. [4]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

Allan Verne Cox was an American geophysicist. His work on dating geomagnetic reversals, with Richard Doell and Brent Dalrymple, made a major contribution to the theory of plate tectonics. Allan Cox won numerous awards, including the prestigious Vetlesen Prize, and was the president of the American Geophysical Union. He was the author of over a hundred scientific papers, and the author or editor of two books on plate tectonics. On January 27, 1987, Cox died in an apparent suicide.

A geomagnetic reversal is a change in a planet's dipole magnetic field such that the positions of magnetic north and magnetic south are interchanged. The Earth's magnetic field has alternated between periods of normal polarity, in which the predominant direction of the field was the same as the present direction, and reverse polarity, in which it was the opposite. These periods are called chrons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Back-arc basin</span> Submarine features associated with island arcs and subduction zones

A back-arc basin is a type of geologic basin, found at some convergent plate boundaries. Presently all back-arc basins are submarine features associated with island arcs and subduction zones, with many found in the western Pacific Ocean. Most of them result from tensional forces, caused by a process known as oceanic trench rollback, where a subduction zone moves towards the subducting plate. Back-arc basins were initially an unexpected phenomenon in plate tectonics, as convergent boundaries were expected to universally be zones of compression. However, in 1970, Dan Karig published a model of back-arc basins consistent with plate tectonics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lunar magma ocean</span> Theorized historical geological layer on the Moon

The Lunar Magma Ocean (LMO) is the layer of molten rock that is theorized to have been present on the surface of the Moon. The Lunar Magma Ocean was likely present on the Moon from the time of the Moon's formation to tens or hundreds of millions of years after that time. It is a thermodynamic consequence of the Moon's relatively rapid formation in the aftermath of a giant impact between the proto-Earth and another planetary body. As the Moon accreted from the debris from the giant impact, gravitational potential energy was converted to thermal energy. Due to the rapid accretion of the Moon, thermal energy was trapped since it did not have sufficient time to thermally radiate away energy through the lunar surface. The subsequent thermochemical evolution of the Lunar Magma Ocean explains the Moon's largely anorthositic crust, europium anomaly, and KREEP material.

Pyrolite is a term used to characterize a model composition of the Earth's mantle. This model is based on that a pyrolite source can produce the Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalt by partial melting. It was first proposed by Ted Ringwood (1962) as being 1 part basalt and 4 parts harzburgite, but later was revised to being 1 part tholeiitic basalt and 3 parts dunite. The term is derived from the mineral names PYR-oxene and OL-ivine. However, whether pyrolite is representative of the Earth's mantle remains debated.

(Stanley) Keith Runcorn was a British physicist whose paleomagnetic reconstruction of the relative motions of Europe and America revived the theory of continental drift and was a major contribution to plate tectonics.

Plate reconstruction is the process of reconstructing the positions of tectonic plates relative to each other or to other reference frames, such as the Earth's magnetic field or groups of hotspots, in the geological past. This helps determine the shape and make-up of ancient supercontinents and provides a basis for paleogeographic reconstructions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slab (geology)</span> The portion of a tectonic plate that is being subducted

In geology, the slab is a significant constituent of subduction zones.

Catherine L. Johnson is a planetary scientist known for her research on the magnetic fields of planets including Mercury, Venus, Earth and its moon, and Mars. In 2023, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Robert Norman Clayton was a Canadian-American chemist and academic. He was the Enrico Fermi Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the University of Chicago. Clayton studied cosmochemistry and held a joint appointment in the university's geophysical sciences department. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and was named a fellow of several academic societies, including the Royal Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crustal magnetism</span>

Crustal magnetism is the magnetic field of the crust of a planetary body. The crustal magnetism of Earth has been studied; in particular, various magnetic crustal anomalies have been studied. Two examples of crustal magnetic anomalies on Earth that have been studied in the Americas are the Brunswick magnetic anomaly (BMA) and East Coast magnetic anomaly (ECMA). Also, there can be a correlation between physical geological features and certain readings from crustal magnetism on Earth. Below the surface of the Earth, the crustal magnetism is lost because the temperature rises above the curie temperature of the materials producing the field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin C. A. Burke</span> British geologist (1929–2018)

Kevin C. A. Burke was a geologist known for his contributions in the theory of plate tectonics. In the course of his life, Burke held multiple professorships, most recent of which (1983-2018) was the position of professor of geology and tectonics at the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science, University of Houston. His studies on plate tectonics, deep mantle processes, sedimentology, erosion, soil formation and other topics extended over several decades and influenced multiple generations of geologists and geophysicists around the world.

Catherine G. Constable is an Australian earth scientist who is a professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Her research considers palaeo- and geo-magnetism. Constable was awarded the American Geophysical Union William Gilbert Award in 2013 and elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2017.

Susan Halgedahl is a geologist known for her research into the physics that govern magnetic rocks and for her work on fossils from Utah's Wheeler Formation.

Sidney Hemming is an analytical geochemist known for her work documenting Earth's history through analysis of sediments and sedimentary rocks. She is a professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University.

Catherine Chauvel is a geochemist at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris known for her research on the impact of volcanic activity on the chemistry of the mantle, continental crust, and island arc geochemistry.

Andréa Tommasi is a geoscientist from Brazil known for her research on geodynamics and terrestrial deformation. She is a recipient of the CNRS silver medal and an elected fellow of the American Geophysical Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Klemperer</span> Geophysicist

Simon L. Klemperer is a geophysicist and professor of Geophysics and Geological Sciences at Stanford University. He is best known for his contribution in lithospheric structure and tectonics studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnetic field of Mars</span> Past magnetic field of the planet Mars

The magnetic field of Mars is the magnetic field generated from Mars's interior. Today, Mars does not have a global magnetic field. However, Mars did power an early dynamo that produced a strong magnetic field 4 billion years ago, comparable to Earth's present surface field. After the early dynamo ceased, a weak late dynamo was reactivated ~3.8 billion years ago. The distribution of Martian crustal magnetism is similar to the Martian dichotomy. Whereas the Martian northern lowlands are largely unmagnetized, the southern hemisphere possesses strong remanent magnetization, showing alternating stripes. Scientific understanding of the evolution of the magnetic field of Mars is based on the combination of satellite measurements and Martian ground-based magnetic data.

James Gregory "Greg" Hirth is an American geophysicist, specializing in tectonophysics. He is known for his experiments in rock deformation and his applications of rheology in development of models for tectonophysics.

References

  1. ↑ biographical information from American Men and Women of Science, Thomson Gale 2004
  2. 1 2 3 "Subir K. Banerjee, 2006 John Adam Fleming Medal Winner". American Geophysical Union (AGU) Earth and Space Science.
  3. ↑ "Banerjee, Subir K.". Who's Who in Technology, Volume 4. Research Publications. 1986. p. 281. ISBN   9780892351107.
  4. 1 2 3 "Subir Banerjee". 2004 Louis Néel Medal, European Geosciences Union.
  5. ↑ Stacey, Frank D.; Banerjee, Subir K. (2 December 2012). The physical principles of rock magnetism. Elsevier. ISBN   978-0-444-41084-9; 2012 pbk reprint of 1974 1st edition;{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) book description from Elsevier
  6. ↑ Banerjee, S.K.; Mellema, J.P. (1974). "Lunar paleointensity from three Apollo 15 crystalline rocks using an A.R.M. Method". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 23 (2): 185–188. Bibcode:1974E&PSL..23..185B. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(74)90191-5.
  7. ↑ Hoffman, K.A.; Banerjee, S.K. (1975). "Magnetic "zig-zag" behavior in lunar rocks". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 25 (3): 331–337. Bibcode:1975E&PSL..25..331H. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(75)90250-2.
  8. ↑ Banerjee, S. K.; Swits, G. (1975). "Natural remanent magnetization studies of a layered Breccia Boulder from the lunar highland region". The Moon. 14 (3–4): 473–481. Bibcode:1975Moon...14..473B. doi:10.1007/BF00569677. S2CID   129303173.
  9. ↑ Banerjee, Subir K.; Mellema, James P. (1976). "Early lunar magnetism". Nature. 260 (5548): 230–231. Bibcode:1976Natur.260..230B. doi:10.1038/260230a0. S2CID   4203864.
  10. ↑ Hoffman, K.A.; Baker, J.R.; Banerjee, S.K. (1979). "Combining paleointensity methods: A dual-valued determination on lunar sample 10017,135". Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors. 20 (2–4): 317–323. Bibcode:1979PEPI...20..317H. doi:10.1016/0031-9201(79)90054-2.
  11. ↑ Banerjee, Subir K. (1976). "Islamic masterwork". Nature. 264 (5586): 594. Bibcode:1976Natur.264..594B. doi: 10.1038/264594a0 . S2CID   39299390.
  12. ↑ Banerjee, Subir K. (1991). "Institute for Rock Magnetism established". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 72 (9): 98. Bibcode:1991EOSTr..72...98B. doi:10.1029/90EO00075.
  13. ↑ "Subir K. Banerjee, University of Minnesota". research.com.
  14. ↑ "William Gilbert Award (Recipients)". American Geophysical Union.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.