Photoelectron emission microscopy is combined with soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) absorption spectroscopy to obtain local element-resolved quantitative magnetic properties with microscopic resolution. This is applied to study 0-14 ML Fe wedges with a slope of 0.055 ML/mu m on 6 ML Co/Cu(001). Local XMCD spectra at the Fe L-2,L-3 edge confirm the presence of three magnetically different thickness regions of Fe with effective spin moments of 2.5 mu(B) (0-4.5 ML), 0.7 mu(B) (4.5-11 ML), and 1.8 mu(B) (> 11 ML). The value of 0.7 mu(B) in the second phase is consistent with an fcc Fe phase containing nonferromagnetic layers underneath a ferromagnetic surface