For the past two lab periods, Eliza and I have been working on gathering magnetic susceptibility readings from the Odell cores.  Magnetic susceptibility is a measure of the concentration of iron oxides in the sediment.  To do this, we used a magnetic susceptibility (MS) meter.  This meter is connected to a computer that is used to record the readings.  To take these readings, one member of our team would place the sensor region of the MS meter to the core, while the other member would press the “record data” button on the computer.  This process was repeated every two centimeters along the length of the core.  Once the readings were finished, the data set was calibrated, and a graph was made of the readings.  This graph represented the magnetic susceptibility, or presence of iron oxides, along the length of the core.  Magnetic susceptibility is used as a proxy record for a few different factors.  The most important of these is grain size.  By looking at the magnetic susceptibility records, we can see the difference between the grain sizes of sediment, which may indicate a transition between sediment types within the core.  This transition can be due to a number of factors, including climate change, change in precipitation, or a change in the vegetation of the region.