Determination of domain structure in igneous rocks by alternating field and other methods

AF (alternating field) demagnetization, ARM (anhysteretic remanent magnetization) and strong-field hysteresis properties of a large collection of mostly continental igneous rocks are reported here. The collection included rocks whose magnetic carriers were believed from previous work to be of one of three types: MD (multidomain); SD/PSD (single-domain/pseudo-single-domain); or a bimodal mixture of MD grains (e.g., discrete opaques) and SD/PSD material (e.g., silicate inclusions). Two series of subaerial basalts with a full range of deuteric oxidation classes included examples of all three classes of behaviour. SD/PSD rocks have relatively hard inflected AF decay curves (decay rate initially increasing, then decreasing), MD rocks have soft, exponential-like decay curves, and bimodal rocks have a combination of these characteristics. Relative hardnesses of normalized decay curves of remanences acquired in weak, intermediate and strong fields (the Lowrie-Fuller test) are also distinctively different for the three classes, and the results support the theory developed in an accompanying paper [1] that Lowrie-Fuller characteristics are an expression of the shapes of decay curves. The Lowrie-Fuller test, although its result can be expressed as a numerical parameter, is not capable of fine-scale classification of domain structure or grain size. The shape of the ARM induction curve does have a quasi-continuous variation with grain size, however. The parameter χ_ar/J_rs (initial anhysteretic susceptibility normalized to saturation remanence), which is easily measured with standard paleomagnetic instrumentation, is potentially useful for magnetic granulometry, although χ_ar itself was not diagnostic of grain size.     

The microstructure and domain structure of multiphase oxidized titanomagnetites

An estimation of the domain state of 15 natural and synthetic samples containing both homogeneous and multiphase oxidized titanomagnetites was made by means of J_rs/J_s and H_cr/H_c ratios, the Lowrie-Fuller criterion, the thermomagnetic criterion, F criterion and the Preisach diagram. The J_rs/J_s and H_cr/H_c ratios and the Lowrie-Fuller criterion are shown to be not sufficiently informative for a determination of the domain state. In the case where the lamellae thickness became thinner than 0.1 μm, titanomagnetite grains demonstrate multidomain behaviour independent of the size of the interlamellar regions (cells). If the lamellae become thicker than 0.1 μm the domain state depends on the size of the cells. Single-domain behaviour is obtained for a cell size less than 1 × 1 μm; in agreement with the results of others, larger cells have multidomain properties.     

Oxidation of titanomagnetites in mafic and felsic intrusive rocks

We report opaque mineralogical observations and magnetic properties of primary titanomagnetites in Tertiary submarine gabbros from DSDP, Legs 30 and 37 and in a late Archean, continental granitic pluton, the Shelley Lake granite. The titanomagnetites and silicates in all the submarine gabbros have been deuterically oxidized. There is no indication of subsequent low-temperature oxidation, although serpentization of olivines is pervasive in the deeper Leg 37 units. The Leg 30 samples, from a single thick sill, contain abundant coarse (≈100 μm) titanomagnetites with fully developed ilmenite exsolution lamellae. Curie temperatures are 515–550°C; there are no low Curie temperatures that would indicate surviving unoxidized titanomagnetite. The unserpentinized Leg 37 gabbros contain scarce opaques with pure magnetite Curie points that are barely resolvable microscopically; most occur as inclusions in pyroxene. In the Shelley Lake granite, on the other hand, many samples exhibit bimodal blocking-temperature spectra, with blocking temperature peaks at 250–300°C and 550–575°C. The low-blocking-temperature phase is unidentified. No pyrrhotite was seen in thin section. Optically homogeneous grains coexist with fully exsolved neighbours, but the electron microprobe indicates no titanium. The lamellae appear to be haematite, not ilmenite, and the primary composition of the opaques is pure magnetite. The oxidation state of the opaques is very inhomogeneous, even on a fine scale.     

On the complex magnetic behaviour of titanomagnetites

The bulk magnetic properties, including Curie temperature, susceptibility and hysteresis at various temperatures, and the Mössbauer spectra of coarse synthetic members of the titanomagnetite series are compared as a function of titanium content, using some previously reported and some new results. It has been noted previously that the titanium-rich members fail to show the expected “true multidomain” behaviour observed in pure magnetite. One possible explanation is that the behaviour observed may be due to a tendency to inhibit domain wall formation in some titanomagnetites. In this paper we discuss some other possible mechanisms to account for the magnetic properties of such titanomagnetites observable even when domain-wall-related structures do form in them. These mechanisms suggest that magnetocrystalline anisotropy and its temperature dependence in titanomagnetites may be related to local magnetic inhomogeneities, and do not depend only on crystal structure as in the case of classical ferromagnetic materials.     

Correlation of magnetic properties with Δ(Sr) of igneous rocks from the northeast Pacific and Gulf of California

The magnetic properties of basalts and diabases recovered under Legs 63 and 64 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project are summarized. They are first correlated with the measured grain sizes of the opaque minerals and the overall alteration states of the rocks, the latter measured by conventional chemical parameters such as water content, total volatiles content, and Fe₂O₃/FeO ratio. It is shown, however, that the decrease in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr upon leaching (Δ(^87/86Sr)) is perhaps the best quantifier of the overall alteration state of the whole rocks as well as of the degree of low-temperature oxidation suffered by the titanomagnetites. It is well correlated with Curie-point variations caused by changes in the Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺ ratio.     

Low temperature magnetic properties of titanomagnetites

New measurements of high field magnetisation (I_s), remanence (I_s), and coercive force (H_c) are presented between 4 and 300 K for x = 0.4, 0.5, 0.6 and 0.8 (Fe_3−xTi_xO₄). For x = 0.4 a pronounced minimum is found at T100 K and for X = 0.5 and 0.6 broad minima occur around T200 K, apparently coinciding with the temperature for K₁0. The magnetic properties below T60 K ar complex and were found to be significantly changed by cooling in the presence of a high magnetic field. With no applied field during cooling, a distinct decrease in I_s is observed for T60 K, at which temperature there is a peak in the value of I_rs. The effe cooling is to eliminate the sharp decrease in I_s, reduce H_c and to increase I_rs below 60 K to a value the peak value, giving essentially a square hysteresis loop. The results are interpreted in terms of a form of crystallographic phase transition coupled to the magnetisation direction, possibly by the magnetostriction. Square hysteresis loops in ferrites have been explained by the presence of Jahn-Teller ions and, in the present case, the low temperature of the observed effect may be a consequence of the weak Fe²⁺ Jahn-Teller ion coupled to other effects such as spin-lattice coupling.

Details of this work can be found in Schmidbauer, E. and Readman, P.W., 1982. Low temperature magnetic properties of Ti-rich Fe---Ti spinels. J. Magn. Magn. Mat., 27: 114–118. A paper reporting further work on Fe_2.4Ti0.6O0.4 is in preparation.     

Magnetic domain observations of nucleation processes in natural pyrrhotite and titanomagnetite

Magnetic domain patterns have been observed on particles of natural pyrrhotite and titanomagnetite undergoing hysteresis. These observations indicate that hysteresis properties are governed by two distinct mechanisms: (1) wall-pinning and (2) nucleation of reverse domains. Particles which are dominated by wall-pinning spontaneously nucleate reverse domains in saturation remanence (J_rs). The coercivity of such grains is determined by the presence of potential wells encountered by the wall in its traverse across the grain. However, many pseudosingle-domain particles (PSD) between 5 and 30 μm in diameter do not nucleate reverse domains in J_rs, but remain as saturated single-domains. These particles require a reverse field H_n to nucleate domain walls. When H_n is sufficiently large, the nucleating field controls magnetization reversal by driving the wall across the particle in a single Barkhausen jump, and the muscopic coercivity is nucleation-dominated.

The proportion P (w=0) of particles of a given size d which fail to nucleate walls in J_rs is found to be given by A exp(−Bd^1/2), where A and B are experimentally determined constants. The nucleation field H_n in pyrrhotite is observed to increase with decreasing grain size, exceeding 500 Oe in 5 μm particles.

The difficulty with which reverse domains are nucleated subsequent to saturation may thus provide a mechanism for achieving the high values of J_rs/J_s and coercive force observed in fine, pseudosingle-domain particles.     

An examination of the magnetic properties of basalts from Argentina and Iceland and of dolerite from the Great Whin Sill

Summary The natural remanent magnetization (NRM) of basalts from Argentina and Iceland and dolerite from the Great Whin Sill exhibit reversed magnetization. In order to test whether this was due to a self-reversing property of the rocks, samples from these three suites have been examined byx-ray and thermomagnetic techniques. No correlation between the properties of rocks and the sense of the NRM was found. The thermal stability of the magnetic extracts from these rocks was related to their lattice parameters and Curie points.     

The geology of Raoul Island,Kermadec group,Southwest Pacific

Cauldron collapse and voluminous pumice eruptions, some 2000 years ago, indicate a mature stage in the summit cone of a volcano rising 8000 feet above the ocean floor. Volcanic rocks ranging from early submarine tholeiitic basalts to young subaerial dacite obsidians have been mapped in chronologic sequence through five formations; plutonic rocks, found as accidental blocks and as disrupted cumulates, are gabbros or diorites. Twenty-three new analyses are listed.     

Palaeomagnetic and rock magnetic studies on some Bulgarian Plio-Palaeocene basalts

Summary Normal and reversed remanent magnetization has been found in Plio-Pleistocene basalts from Bulgaria. Ore microscope observations show that the magnetic mineral is a homogeneous titanomagnetite: electron microprobe studies show that it contains a high proportion of Ti. Comparison of thermomagnetic measurements with the Curie points expected for stoichiometric titanomagnetites with the analysed chemical composition suggest that the titanomagnetites must be slightly oxidized, i.e. be slightly cation deficient.     

Trace element geochemistry of the peridotite-gabbro-basalt suite from DSDP Leg 37

REE abundances in gabbros and peridotites from Site 334 of DSDP Leg 37 show that these rocks are cumulates produced by fractional crystallization of a primitive oceanic tholeiite magma. They may be part of a layered oceanic complex. The REE distributions in the residual liquids left after such a fractionation are similar to those of incompatible element-depleted oceanic tholeiites. The REE data indicate that the basalts which overlie the gabbro-peridotite complex, are not genetically related to plutonic rocks.     

三维井地磁测联合约束反演

井中磁测在铁矿等磁性金属矿床勘查中具有举足轻重的作用.针对磁性金属矿床深部资源勘查中存在的有效信号弱、矿体形态复杂等技术难题,本文利用井中三分量磁测资料和地面磁测资料直接反演地下空间磁化率的分布情况,充分发挥纵、横向分辨率高的优势,通过磁化率的变化来确定矿（化）体的范围.分析了磁化率和磁场H_ax、H_ay、Z_a、ΔT各参量之间的关系,导出了磁化率反演方程;将钻孔编录、磁化率测井等结果作为约束条件构建了目标函数.以组合倾斜板状体模型为例,验证了方法的有效性,并在青海野马泉铁多金属矿区开展应用试验,试验结果与已有地质资料基本一致.该方法有效抑制了因反演数据源单一、缺乏约束条件而造成反演结果的多解性,实现了磁测资料的精细反演解释,为查明地下矿体空间位置、形态及规模,提高找矿效果,提供了一种新的解决方案.     

皖南新元古代双峰式岩墙群的年龄、地球化学特征及地质意义

皖南许村镇附近发育一套岩墙群,主要由辉长岩和花岗闪长斑岩组成,它们在时空上紧密伴生,成因上密切相关。岩石的SiO2含量集中分布在酸性和基性成分之间,缺乏中性及中酸性成分,构成一套双峰式侵入岩组合。对花岗闪长斑岩进行锆石LA-ICP-MS U-Pb年代学研究,表明双峰式岩墙侵入时间为822．1＆#177;6．6Ma。辉长岩具有正εHf （t）值（2．1～4．4）、大离子亲石元素和LREE富集,显示大陆拉斑质玄武岩地球化学和同位素组成特征;花岗闪长斑岩富含Zr、Hf和稀土元素,较高的Ga/A1比值,较低Ba、Sr、P、Ti含量,总体上地球化学特征类似A2-型花岗岩,εHf （t ）值范围（1．8～4．6）与辉长岩基本相同。许村双峰式岩墙群的基性端员辉长岩是拉张环境下华南弱亏损岩石圈地幔部分熔融产生玄武质岩浆的产物,而酸性端员花岗闪长斑岩是玄武质岩浆在上升途中受地壳混染,并发生底侵作用和由玄武岩浆提供的热源导致地壳重熔的结果。     

Magnetic properties of basalts and geodynamics of the rift zone in the southern Red Sea

Magnetic properties of young rift basalts in the southern Red Sea are studied in detail. It is found that basalt samples dredged in the rift zone are characterized by a large spread in magnetic parameters. The magnetic properties of the basalts are shown to indicate a complex evolution of the Red Sea rift zone. Titanomagnetite grains of the basalts are mostly affected by single-phase oxidation processes and have preserved paleomagnetic information. However, basalts discovered near the rift axis yield evidence of multiphase oxidation of titanomagnetite grains, which is untypical of young oceanic basalts. These basalts have high Curie points and large values of the natural remanent magnetization and Koenigsberger parameter. The corresponding samples were taken in nontransform zones where rocks have experienced the action of significant tectonic forces and, moreover, anomalous geomagnetic field patterns correlate with the position of these zones. Using the magnetic properties of the basalts, the northern segment of the rift axis is relocated.     

Magnetic petrology of eastern North America diabases, I. Olivine-normative dikes from western South Carolina

The oxide mineralogy and magnetic properties were examined in a suite of fifteen olivine-normative diabase dike samples from western South Carolina in an attempt to elucidate their magnetic petrology. Titanomagnetite (1–2 vol.%) is the dominant Fe-Ti oxide mineral. Ilmenite and secondary magnetite are generally present in very minor amounts. Chromite constitutes up to 0.5 vol.%; its abundance and composition correlate with bulk rock Cr. Various types of fine-scale microstructure are evident in titanomagnetite crystals. The most important are patterned anisotropism and the development of trellis-type ilmenite lamellae. Microprobe analyses indicate: (1) titanomagnetite compositions, x, are mostly between 0.4 and 0.55, and (2) low analytical totals are characteristic of most titanomagnetites. Curie temperatures of the diabases are 500–540°C, which are several hundred degrees higher than predicted from the observed titanomagnetite x's (150–300°C). We attribute these higher Curie temperatures to oxidation of the titanomagnetites, which has produced “titanomaghemites” having visible microstructure and yielding low analyses (because they are cation deficient). Natural remanence magnetization and REM (ratio of natural remanence to saturation remanence) vary between 4 and 100 × 10⁻⁴ A m² kg⁻¹ and 0.0019 and 0.032, respectively. These properties inversely correlate with Cr content and demonstrably contrast Cr-rich and Cr-poor samples. Initial susceptibility, saturation magnetization and coercivity values show a two- to three-fold range. Variations in initial susceptibility and coercivities appear to be largely related to the type and extent of oxidation-induced microstructure in the titanomagnetites.     

Changes of the magnetic susceptibility and its anisotropy of basalts by oxidation of titanomagnetites

Summary The changes of the anisotropy of the magnetic susceptibility of alkaline Tertiary basalts under titanomagnetite oxidation are investigated. The oxidation of the titanomagnetites was achieved by the following thermal processing of rock samples: 60 mins at a temperature of 400°C, 300 mins at T=400°C and 60 mins at T=500°C. It is shown that considerable changes of the values of the magnetic susceptibility, as well as of the degree of the preferred orientation of the titanomagnetites and of the ellipsoid of anisotropy in the sample occur as a result of the oxidation of titanomagnetites, contained in the samples, due to the said thermal processing. Moreover, the micro-structure of the grains, created by the oxidation of the titanomagnetites, causes the mostly linearly parallel configuration to change to a planar-parallel configuration.     

Low-temperature oxidation of synthetic Al- and Mg-doped titanomagnetites

Al- and Mg-doped titanomagnetites were synthesized at 1300°C using the gas-mixing technique. A composition, representative of average natural titanomagnetites in ocean floor basalts, was sought.

The samples were ball-milled in acetone to average grain sizes of 0.5 μm and 5 μm and the material was then oxidised, in air, at temperatures below 300°C. This procedure formed titanomaghemite, a cation-deficient titanomagnetite.

Low-temperature oxidation is described as the diffusion of Fe-ions out of the spinel lattice and the process is observed to be distinctly dependent upon grain size.     

Theoretical analysis of thermomagnetic properties, low-temperature hysteresis and domain structure of titanomagnetites

Magnetic hysteresis of coarse-grained titanomagnetites at room temperature is characterised by low coercive force, low relative remanence, and a high ratio of coercivity of remanence to coercive force. These properties are generally interpreted in terms of multidomain structure. At low temperatures, however, ulvöspinel-rich compositions exhibit hysteresis properties similar to those of single-domain assemblages, and on this basis Radhakrishnamurty and Deutsch have proposed an alternative interpretation of the domain structure of titanomagnetites having x 0.3 in terms of a mixture of single-domain and superparamagnetic particles. Low apparent Curie temperatures are attributed to the effects of thermal agitation above the blocking temperature.

We have examined theoretically the effects of thermal agitation on the low- and high-field thermomagnetic curves and find that observed Curie temperatures in general represent an intrinsic property of the magnetic mineral present, rather than reflecting thermal agitation. The high coercive force and relative remanence at low temperatures for titanomagnetites having x > 0.5 can be explained on the basis of the interaction of domain walls with crystal defects when the large increases in magnetocrystalline anisotropy and magnetostriction with decreasing temperature are taken into account. We discuss the evidence for the existence of domain walls in coarse-grained ulvöspinel-rich titanomagnetites and conclude that multidomain structure is well established.

It is also shown that fine titanomagnetite grains may have more than one blocking temperature. In any temperature interval for which superparamagnetic grains are present they will disproportionately influence susceptibility and low-field hysteresis.     

Ancient magnetic field determinations on selected chondritic meteorites

Paleofield intensity determinations involving a comparison of the stable natural remanence (NRM) component with a laboratory thermoremanence (TRM) were carried out on nine chondrites selected in Brecher and Fuhrman (1979a, this issue, hereafter called Paper I), as well as on two manifestly unsuitable controls. To judge their reliability: (1) heat-alteration was monitored by comparing saturation coercivity spectra before and after heating; and (2) the NRM and TRM intensity and stability were compared to those of residual magnetization following zero-field cooling (TRM₀) from above the Curie point of kamacite (Ni---Fe). The latter criterion separates the role of an external magnetic field (of 0.43 Oe) at cooling from intrinsic contributions to magnetic grain alignments, due to accretionary, metamorphic or shock-oriented petrofabrics.

In some chondrites (e.g., Brownfield, H3B; Holyoke, H4C; Farley, H5A), a surprisingly large (10% NRM) and stable TRM₀ proved so similar to NRM and TRM, that sizeable spurious “paleofields” — comparable to paleointensities obtained — were derived by the standard method for zero-field cooling. In other chondrites, with negligible TRM₀ (1% of NRM) and irregular AF demagnetization curves, more reliable paleofield strengths in the range 0.01–0.09 Oe were obtained (e.g., Cavour, H6C). These seem representative of magnetic fields at the end of metamorphism intervals (10⁷ years after accretion) and/or at post-shock cooling. Thus, field strengths obtained from ordinary chondrites are typically weaker (by factors of 10–100) than those reliably determined from carbonaceous chondrites and ureilites, suggesting temporal decay of nebular magnetic fields, from the end of accretion until the end of metamorphism and early catastrophic-collisional stages.     

Ferrospinels and petromagnetism of Siberian traps: A case study of traps drilled by the Norilsk borehole

Magnetic characteristics and compositions of ferromagnetic species of trap samples from the Norilsk borehole are studied; the borehole penetrated the complete section of a trappean rock sequence (nearly 3 km) represented by eight magmatic formations. The lowest (Ivakinskian) formation consists of rocks of the subalkalic type, and the remaining formations generally belong to the tholeiitic series. Primary ferromagnetic phases are represented by titanomagnetites with various ulvospinel concentrations in a solid solution. Three modes characterized by TiO₂ concentrations of 14.6, 18, and 23.9 wt % are revealed. The Ivakinskian rocks are most magnetized, and magnetization is low in core samples from depths of 1700–2500 m. Various magnetic characteristics have polymodal distributions of their values. Plateau basalt samples of the Ivakinskian Formation from other regions of Siberia, the Lory Plateau (Armenia), and Kamchatka are additionally studied. On the whole, titanomagnetites of plateau basalts were crystallized under the quartz-fayalite-magnetite (QFM) buffer conditions.