Rock magnetic properties of Nihewan sediments at Xujiayao

Rock magnetic measurements of Nihewan sediments from Xujiayao section demonstrate that magnetite, hematite and maghemite are dominant remanent magnetization carriers. Monitoring the variations of magnetic susceptibility (MS) and saturating isothermal remanent magnetization (SIRM) at low temperature are the attractive ways of detecting the presence of magnetite, maghemitization and superparamagnetic grain sizes. Low-temperature MS investigations suggest that susceptibility enhancement for Xujiayao samples is mainly due to the remarkable presence of SD/MD magnetite to some degree though some magnetite grains have been partially oxidized at some depths. It is tentatively concluded that both SD/MD magnetite and hematite are of detrital origin and carry a characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM), whereas maghemite can be attributed to be chemical origin, overprinting a reversed polarity component of Matuyama age.