A partial susceptibility approach to analysing the magnetic properties of environmental materials: a case study

An approach to expressing the magnetic properties of environmental materials in terms of the contributions of the magnetic susceptibilities of specific magnetic components is reported. The approach links the partial susceptibilities of discrete particles, domains or mineral fractions with the concentration-dependent parameters by means of multiple linear regression methods. The case study, using the Liverpool street dust data set, demonstrates that the technique is able to model the contributions of the main magnetic components satisfactorily. Several factors may have a significant impact on the regression results. These include the validity of the linear proportional relationships between partial susceptibilities and the relevant concentration-dependent parameters, the adequacy of the variable selection procedure and the regression model, and the suitability of certain magnetic parameters.