Duane and Ben from USGS are here making 1-inch diameter cores for paleomagnetic studies (p-mag). The p-mag cores are taken from the whole core using a drill press with diamond coring bit. After coring almost through, the p-mag core (still attached) is oriented and marked before it is finally broken free. Before orienting, each core is dried with air and heat lamps. These p-mag cores will not only tell us whether the flows are normal or reverse polarization (magnetic time scale), but will give an indication of how long between flows, using "paleo-secular variation" -- i.e., the drift of magnetic North over time scales of decades to centuries.