Characterization of magnetic particles and magnetostratigraphic dating of shallow-water carbonates in the Ryukyu Islands, northwestern Pacific

Abstract   Characterization of magnetic particles, and magnetostratigraphic dating, of Holocene and Pleistocene shallow-water carbonates (the Ryukyu Group) in the Ryukyu Islands was carried out to infer the age of reef formation. Magnetic particles from these strata are dominated by fine-grained, single-domain magnetite/maghemite (40–140 nm in length). The magnetite crystals exhibit the size and morphologies characteristic of the magnetite formed by magnetotactic bacteria. No large multidomain grains were seen in transmission electron microscopy observations. The widespread presence of single-domain magnetite in the Ryukyu Islands suggests that bacterial magnetites carry depositional remanent magnetization, which is stable enough for magnetostratigraphic dating and thereby for elucidating the evolution of shallow-water carbonates. The polarity-reversal sequence seen in a core taken from the Ryukyu Group correlates with the timescale of the Matuyama chron, including the Jaramillo subchron, Kamikatsura or Santa Rosa Excursions, through the Brunhes chron. These magnetostratigraphic results imply that the time of reef initiation in the Ryukyu Islands of the northwestern Pacific was earlier than in the Great Barrier Reef of the southwestern Pacific, where it started after the Brunhes–Matuyama boundary.     

Magnetofossils in the sediment of Lake Baikal, Siberia

A multidisciplinary approach involving rock-magnetics, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction was used to identify a biogenic magnetite component in the Lake Baikal, Siberia, sedimentary magnetic record. The distinctive biogenic component to the magnetic record occurs as chains of single-domain, elongate hexagonal and tear-drop cone-shaped magnetite particles. These magnetofossils are inferred to be magnetosomes produced by magnetotactic bacteria living in the surficial sediment throughout Lake Baikal. Postdepositional reduction diagenesis results in the loss of the fine-grained magnetofossils at depth. In addition, this study shows that the fine-grained magnetofossils are removed by the process of storage diagenesis during long periods (21 months) of core storage, which results in a change to a coarser grained, slightly higher coercivity bulk magnetic mineral assemblage. Although the Lake Baikal sedimentary magnetic record has several distinct and complex components, by determining their origin this study has shown that the sediments are well suited for environmental magnetic study.     

玉树地震的地磁预测研究

利用玉树地震前玉树周围500 km范围内的地磁观测数据,采用地磁垂直分量加卸载响应比、地磁垂直分量日变化幅度逐日比、地磁垂直分量日变化空间相关、低点位移等方法讨论了震源区地磁场变化与地震的相关性,并发现它们之间有较好的对应关系。     

Structure and morphology of magnetite anaerobically-produced by a marine magnetotactic bacterium and a dissimilatory iron-reducing bacterium

Intracellular crystals of magnetite synthesized by cells of the magnetotactic vibroid organism, MV-1, and extracellular crystals of magnetite produced by the non-magnetotactic dissimilatory iron-reducing bacterium strain GS-15, were examined using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction and⁵⁷Fe Mo¨ssbauer spectroscopy. The magnetotactic bacterium contained a single chain of approximately 10 crystals aligned along the long axis of the cell. The crystals were essentially pure stoichiometric magnetite. When viewed along the crystal long axis the particles had a hexagonal cross-section whereas side-on they appeared as rectangules or truncated rectangles of average dimension, 53 × 35 nm. These findings are explained in terms of a three-dimensional morphology comprising a hexagonal prism of 110 faces which are capped and truncated by 111 end faces. Electron diffraction and lattice imaging studies indicated that the particles were structurally well-defined single crystals. In contrast, magnetite particles produced by the strain, GS-15 were irregular in shape and had smaller mean dimensions (14 nm). Single crystals were imaged but these were not of high structural perfection. These results highlight the influence of intracellular control on the crystallochemical specificity of bacterial magnetites. The characterization of these crystals is important in aiding the identification of biogenic magnetic materials in paleomagnetism and in studies of sediment magnetization.     

An investigation into the source of magnetic minerals in some Finnish lake sediments

The source of magnetic minerals in the sediments of five Finnish lakes, which carry a palaeomagnetic record of the geomagnetic field, was found to be primary magnetite in the glacial drift of the catchments. The magnetite is concentrated in the central lake sediments. The ratio of haematite to magnetite was found to decrease in the progression drift-stream bedload-lake sediment. A consistent, temporal decrease of magnetic mineral concentration was found in all the lake sediments studied and is related to maturation of the soils and vegetation surrounding the lakes. This distinctive trend contrasts with that seen in Britain and is discussed in terms of man's influence on landscape development.     

Rock magnetic criteria for the detection of biogenic magnetite

We report results on the magnetic properties of magnetites produced by magnetotactic and dissimilatory iron-reducing bacteria. Magnetotactic bacterial (MTB) strains MS1, MV1 and MV2 and dissimilatory iron-reducing bacterium strain GS-15, grown in pure cultures, were used in this study. Our results suggest that a combination of room temperature coercivity analysis and low temperature remanence measurements provides a characteristic magnetic signature for intact chains of single domain (SD) particles of magnetite from MTBs. The most useful magnetic property measurements include: (1) acquisition and demagnetization of isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM) using static, pulse and alternating fields; (2) acquisition of anhysteretic remanent magnetization (ARM); and (3) thermal dependence of low temperature (20 K) saturation IRM after cooling in zero field (ZFC) or in a 2.5 T field (FC) from 300 K. However, potentially the most diagnostic magnetic parameter for magnetosome chain identification in bulk sediment samples is related to the difference between low temperature zero-field and field cooled SIRMs on warming through the Verwey transition (T ≈ 100 K). Intact chains of unoxidized magnetite magnetosomes have ratios of δ_FC/δ_ZFC greater than 2, where the parameter δ is a measure of the amount of remanence lost by warming through the Verwey transition. Disruption of the chain structure or conversion of the magnetosomes to maghemite reduces the δ_FC/δ_ZFC ratio to around 1, similar to values observed for some inorganic magnetite, maghemite, greigite and GS-15 particles. Numerical simulations of δ_FC/δ_ZFC ratios for simple binary mixtures of magnetosome chains and inorganic magnetic fractions suggest that the δ_FC/δ_ZFC parameter can be a sensitive indicator of biogenic magnetite in the form of intact chains of magnetite magnetosomes and can be a useful magnetic technique for identifying them in whole-sediment samples. The strength of our approach lies in the comparative ease and rapidity with which magnetic measurements can be made, compared to techniques such as electron microscopy.     

A late diagenetic (syn-folding) magnetization carried by pyrrhotite: implications for paleomagnetic studies from magnetic iron sulphide-bearing sediments

Paleomagnetic, rock magnetic, and sedimentary micro-textural data from an early Miocene mudstone sequence exposed in Okhta River, Sakhalin, Russia, indicate the presence of pyrrhotite and magnetite at different stratigraphic levels. Sites that contain only magnetite have a reversed polarity characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) with a low-coercivity overprint, which coincides with the present-day geomagnetic field direction. Pyrrhotite-bearing sites have stable normal polarity ChRMs that are significantly different from the present-day field direction. After correction for bedding tilt, the ChRM data fail a reversals test. However, the normal polarity pyrrhotite ChRM directions become antipodal to the tilt-corrected magnetite ChRM directions and are consistent with the expected geocentric axial dipole field direction at the site latitude after 40% partial unfolding. These data suggest that the pyrrhotite magnetization was acquired during folding and after lock-in of the magnetite remanences. Electron microscope observations of polished sections indicate that fluid-associated halos surround iron sulphide nodules. Pyrrhotite is present in randomly oriented laths in and around the nodules, and the nodules do not appear to have been deformed by sediment compaction. This observation is consistent with a late diagenetic origin of pyrrhotite. Documentation of a late diagenetic magnetization in pyrrhotite-bearing sediments here, and in recent studies of greigite-bearing sediments, suggests that care should be taken to preclude a late origin of magnetic iron sulphides before using such sediments for geomagnetic studies where it is usually crucial to establish a syn-depositional magnetization.     

The statistical model for the secondary quick reversals during the geomagnetic pole transition

A statistical model for the quick reversals during a geomagnetic pole transition is put forward by combining the modern geomagnetic field and paleomagnetic field. The decrease of geomagnetic intensity determines the reversals, and the quick reversals are possibly caused by the interaction between g01 and the other geomagnetic components.     

Timing of diagenetic haematite growth in red pelagic limestones from Gubbio (Italy)

Magnetite, haematite, and to a minor extent maghaemite are recognised in the Cretaceous and Paleocene red pelagic limestones at Gubbio. The magnetite is detrital (or biological), whereas the haematite grew during diagenesis from a goethitic precursor. Thermal and AF demagnetization of samples collected from close to reversal boundaries indicate that the various magnetization components do not record the polarity reversal at exactly the same stratigraphic level. In the few tens of centimetersbelow a recorded geomagnetic reversal, defined by the magnetite magnetization, some of the haematite grains are magnetized in the post-reversal field. The blocking temperature spectra of this haematite fraction (with post-reversal magnetization) are found to shift toward higher temperatures as the reversal boundary is approached. The blocking temperature spectra reflect the grain size spectra of the haematite, which we interpret as arising by the continual nucleation of grains down to a certain burial depth where the conditions are no longer conducive to further haematite growth. The depth below reversal boundaries to which haematite with post-reversal magnetization can occur, is estimated to be about 60 cm (after compaction), and is equivalent to a time of about 10⁵ years for these particular sediments. A detailed study of the magnetization components at reversal boundaries indicates that the first diagenetic growth of haematite through the single-domain critical volume occurs prior to the mechanical fixation of the detrital (or biological) magnetite. Subsequently the diagenetic haematite grains do not rotate in response to the ambient geomagnetic field polarity as easily as the magnetite, because of their occurrence as pigmentary coatings on larger non-magnetic grains.     

A paleointensity study of Cretaceous volcanic rocks from the Western Cordillera,Colombia

The Cretaceous Normal Superchron is a period of great interest to investigate global scale variations of the geomagnetic field. Long periods of single polarity are still a matter of debate: up to now there are two contradicting theories, which try to relate geomagnetic field intensity and reversal rate. We aim to shed light on the geomagnetic field strength during the Cretaceous Normal Superchron because data are still scarce and of dissimilar quality. To obtain reliable, absolute paleointensity determinations we investigate volcanic rocks from the Western Cordillera of Colombia. Several age determinations allow relating the samples to an age of about 92.5 Ma. To characterize the samples, we investigate rock magnetic properties and determine the characteristic remanent magnetization behavior. To determine paleointensities, we use a multimethod approach: first, we apply the classic Thellier-Coe protocol, and then, the relatively new multispecimen method. Rock magnetic measurements indicate magnetite as the main ferrimagnetic mineral, a stable magnetization revealed by reversible and nearly reversible thermomagnetic curves, and grain sizes that are either in the pseudosingle domain range or a mixture of single and multidomain grains. Alternating field and thermal demagnetization are rather complex, although we observe a few vector diagrams with a single, essentially uni-vectorial component with a small viscous overprint. Paleointensity determination with the Thellier-Coe protocol was unsuccessful, while with the multispecimen protocol we obtained four successful determinations out of 20. The failure of the Thellier-Coe protocol can be attributed to multidomain grains, which were observed during demagnetization and in rock magnetic experiments, and to the inhomogeneity of the volcanic rocks. Our multispecimen paleointensity determinations support low field strength at around 90 Ma during the Cretaceous Normal Superchron.     

High-frequency polarity swings during the Gauss-Matuyama reversal from Baoji loess sediment

Paleomagnetic records of the Gauss-Matuyama reversal were obtained from two loess sections at Baoji on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Stepwise thermal demagnetization shows two obvious magnetization components. A low-temperature component isolated between 100 and 200–250°C is close to the present geomagnetic field direction, and a high-temperature component isolated above 200–250°C reveals clearly normal, reversed, and transitional polarities. Magnetostratigraphic results of both sections indicated that the Gauss-Matuyama reversal consists of a high-frequency polarity fluctuation zone, but the characteristic remanent magnetization directions during the reversal are clearly inconsistent. Rock magnetic experiments demonstrated that for all the specimens with normal, reversed, and transitional polarities magnetite and hematite are the main magnetic carriers. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility indicates that the studied loess sediments have a primary sedimentary fabric. Based on virtual geomagnetic pole latitudes, the Gauss-Matuyama reversal records in the two sections are accompanied by 14 short-lived geomagnetic episodes (15 rapid polarity swings) and 12 short-lived geomagnetic episodes (13 rapid polarity swings), respectively. Our new records, together with previous ones from lacustrine, marine, and aeolian deposits, suggest that high-frequency polarity swings coexist with the Gauss-Matuyama reversal, and that the Gauss-Matuyama reversal may have taken more than 11 kyr to complete. However, we need more detailed analyses of sections across polarity swings during reversals as well as more high-resolution reversal records to understand geomagnetic behavior and inconsistent characteristic remanent magnetization directions during polarity reversals.     

干旱区高山泥炭磁学特性研究

对干旱区高山-新疆阿尔泰山中段连续的泥炭沉积序列进行详细系统的磁学分析,获得泥炭沉积物中磁性矿物的类型、含量以及粒径大小等磁学特性,探讨了在富含大量有机质的氧化还原条件下磁性矿物的保存与变化机理.岩石磁学结果表明沉积物中亚铁磁性矿物的富集程度低,磁性较弱.主要含有磁铁矿、赤铁矿、顺磁性矿物以及大量的抗磁性矿物组分,并且证实泥炭沉积物中不可能含有生物成因的趋磁细菌.沉积物的磁性颗粒主要以细颗粒为主,但同时还存在粗颗粒成分.研究结果指示在泥炭表层酸性的亚氧环境中,亚铁磁性矿物在较短的时间内伴随着部分溶解和改造,导致沉积物磁性浓度的降低和粒径的减小,快速的沉积和埋藏之后,长期处于缺氧的碱性还原环境下,磁铁矿发生的变化很小或基本不会再次被改造.     

磁线圈对地磁场的物理模拟及对地磁导航研究的意义

利用磁线圈对地球基本磁场开展动态模拟,将地磁场随空间的变化转化为在实验室中随时间的变化,能够为地磁导航系统的匹配试验提供物理仿真的地磁场环境。本项研究依照虚拟仪器技术思路,对磁线圈、恒流电源、磁通门磁力仪(或Overhauser磁力仪)和工控机进行数字化连接,并采用LabVIEW编程进行驱动控制,通过自动调节线圈绕组中的电流大小来实现对磁场的物理模拟并进行实时监测,尝试组建了地磁场动态模拟系统,并分别开展了对地磁场总强度和三分量信号的动态模拟实验。模拟系统可以实现天然地磁场和人工编制两种动态信号的输出模拟,且拟合效果良好。地磁场动态模拟系统的初步建立为今后地磁匹配试验等研究提供了仿真磁场环境。     

极性转换期间地球磁场形态学研究

本文对采自中国黄土高原西峰（35.7°N,107.6°E）和段家坡（34.2°N,109.2°E）两个剖面中黄土层L8和古土壤层S8的1281块定向古地磁样品做了详细的岩石磁学和古地磁学研究.证实了Matuyama-Brunhes（M-B）极性转换带位于L8的中下部.提出了下列观点:1.M-B极性转换过程与地球磁场方向变化相联系的持续时间为3600-4500a,而与地球磁场强度变化相联系的持续时间则为8000-9000a,即强度变化存在“超前和滞后” 效应;2.M-B转换场的形态是由三次快速倒转和一次不成功的倒转构成,或者说,转换场具有快速变换极性的振荡特征;3.M-B转换过程中地球磁场并不是以轴对称的非偶极子场为主,而是偶极子场至少与非偶极子场相当;4.中国黄土-古土壤沉积物所含磁性矿物的主要成分是磁铁矿,它是研究极性转换期间地球磁场详细结构的良好物质.     

Magnetospheric effects of cosmic rays. 1. Long-term changes in the geomagnetic cutoff rigidities for the stations of the global network of neutron monitors

Vertical geomagnetic cutoff rigidities are obtained for the stations of the global network of neutron monitors via trajectory calculations for each year of the period from 1950 to 2020. Geomagnetic cutoff rigidities are found from the model of the Earth’s main field International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) for 1950–2015, and the forecast until 2020 is provided. In addition, the geomagnetic cutoff rigidities for the same period are obtained by Tsyganenko model T89 (Tsyganenko, 1989) with the average annual values of the Kp-index. In each case, the penumbra is taken into account in the approximation of the flat and power spectra of variations of cosmic rays. The calculation results show an overall decrease in geomagnetic cutoff rigidities, which is associated with the overall decrease and restructuring of the geomagnetic field during the reporting period, at almost all points.     

Remagnetization history of Middle Triassic Leikoupo Formation on Wangcang section in Sichuan Province,China

An intensive paleomagnetic investigation has been conducted on the Middle Triassic Leikoupo Formation on the Wangcang section (32.14°N, 103. 17°E). The results indicate the magnetic minerals are dominant by multidomain magnetite or maghemite, and the characteristic remnant magnetization revealed by stepwise thermal/alternating field demagnetization is close to the present-day geomagnetic direction of the sampling site. This suggests that dolomitization/thermal viscous magnetization is responsible for the remagnetization of this kind of rocks.     

对流电场、场向电流和极光区电集流变化的地磁响应

对流电场、场向电流和极光区电集流是磁层一电离层耦合的主要物理过程．它们的演化发展时间分别为几分钟至半小时的量级．本文用１００°Ｅ和３００°Ｅ的两个地磁经度链附近各１１个台站的１ｍｉｎ均值地磁Ｈ和Ｚ分量资料,分析了１９９４年４月１６-１７日磁暴期间磁层耦合过程对极光区和中低纬区电离层扰动的地磁特征．强磁暴开始时,台站所处的地方时位置不同,则观测到的电离层和地磁响应也完全不同．这是磁层对流和一、二区场向电流共同作用的结果．一般说,扰时极光区的西向电集流变化更为强烈．随着耦合的发展,极光区范围会向南北扩展,电集流中心带则向低纬侧移动．在中低纬区,二区场向电流的建立能屏蔽一区场向电流所产生的扰动,并引起反向的电流及地磁变化．由此,中低纬区夜间有可能出现短时间的东向电场,又可通过ＥＸＢ的垂直向上漂移作用抬升Ｆ层等离子体,并发生同一经度链附近的多站电离层ｈ＇Ｆ同时突增现象．另一方面,磁赤道附近的台站则更多地受内磁层赤道环电流和电离层赤道电集流的影响．     

The late Pleistocene geomagnetic field as recorded by sediments from Fargher Lake,Washington, U.S.A.

Measurement of the remanent magnetization of a 6.88-m oriented core of soft sediments and tephras from Fargher Lake near Mount St. Helens in southwestern Washington State shows that no significant geomagnetic reversals were recorded in the sediments of the lake. Radiocarbon and palynological dating of the tephra layers from the lake bed indicates deposition during the interval 17, 000–34, 000 years B.P. although geochemical correlation of a prominent tephra layer in the core with tephra set C of Mount St. Helens could mean that the maximum age of the sediments may be at least 36, 000 years B.P. The core was divided into specimens 0.02 m long, each representing approximately 55 years of deposition assuming a constant rate of sedimentation. Pilot alternating field demagnetization studies of every tenth specimen indicated a strong, stable remanence with median destructive field of 15 mT, and the remaining specimens were subsequently demagnetized in fields of this strength. The mean inclination for all specimens exclusive of the unstably magnetized muck and peat from near the surface is 56.1° which is 8° shallower than the present axial dipole field at this site, perhaps because of inclination error in the detrital remanent magnetization of the sediments, although because of the variability in the data, this departure from the axial dipole field may not be significant. The ranges of inclination and declination are comparable to those of normal secular variation at northern latitudes. Although three isolated specimens have remanence with negative inclination, these anomalous directions are due to sampling and depositional effects. Measurement of a second core of 6.86 m length also revealed only normal magnetic polarity, but this result is of little stratigraphic value as this core failed to penetrate the distinctive tephra found near the base of the former core.Studies of a concentrate of the magnetic minerals in the sediments by optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction indicate that the primary magnetic constituent is an essentially pure magnetite of detrital origin. The magnetite occurs in a wide range of grain sizes with much of it of sub-multidomain size (< 15 μm).As a whole, this study provides substantial evidence against the existence of large-scale worldwide geomagnetic reversals during the time interval of Fargher Lake sedimentation, a segment of geological time for which many excursions and reversals have been reported elsewhere.     

Characteristics and genesis of maghemite in Chinese loess and paleosols: Mechanism for magnetic susceptibility enhancement in paleosols

Morphological characteristics and microstructures of magnetic minerals extracted from Chinese loess and paleosols were investigated using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Our results indicate that maghemite in loess–paleosol sequences was transformed from magnetite through oxidation of magnetite. Maghemite transformed from eolian magnetite during chemical weathering has low-angle grain boundaries among maghemite nano-crystals. Some nano-crystalline maghemites with nanoporous texture resulted from microbe-induced precipitation of magnetite or transformation of poorly crystalline ferric Fe (oxy)hydroxides in presence of Fe-reducing bacteria. Aggregates of euhedral maghemite nano-crystals were transformed from magnetite magnetosomes. Both microbe-induced nanoporous magnetite and microbe-produced magnetite magnetosomes are directly related to microbial activities and pedogenesis of the paleosols. It is proposed that the formation of nano-crystalline maghemite with superparamagnetic property in paleosol results in the enhancement of magnetic susceptibility, although the total amount (weight percent) of magnetic minerals in both paleosol and loess units is similar. Our results also show that nano-crystalline and nanoporous magnetite grains prefer to transform into maghemite in semi-arid soil environments instead of hematite, although hematite is a thermodynamically stable phase. This result also indicates that a decrease in crystal size will increase stability of maghemite. It is also inferred that surface energy of maghemite is lower than that of hematite.     

地磁逐日比异常电磁学成因的进一步分析

基于地磁逐日比异常期间地磁垂直分量日变化幅度变大或变小的统计结果,发现地磁逐日比高值异常是由异常日的地磁垂直分量日变化幅度变小和异常前一天的日变化幅度变大所致。其中,异常日的日变化幅度变小可能是地磁逐日比异常的主要因素,但异常前一天的日变化幅度变大也是异常成立的重要因素。此外,引用前人感应电流假说,结合统计结果进行了机理解释,研究结论进一步证实了前人对该方法的机理推测。