Remagnetization and chemical alteration of sedimentary rocks

Chemical remagnetization is a very common phenomenon in sedimentary rocks and developing a greater understanding of the mechanisms has several benefits. Acquisition of a secondary magnetization is usually tangible evidence of a diagenetic event that can be dated by isolation of the chemical remanent magnetization and comparison of the pole position to the apparent polar wander path. This can be important because diagenetic investigations are frequently limited by the difficulty in constraining the time frames in which most past events have occurred. Remagnetization can commonly obscure a primary magnetization; developing a better understanding of remagnetization could improve our ability to uncover primary magnetizations. Many chemical remagnetization mechanisms have been proposed, including those associated with chemical alteration by a number of different fluids (orogenic, basinal and hydrocarbons), burial diagenetic processes (clay diagenesis and maturation of organic matter) or other processes. This paper summarizes our current knowledge of these chemical remagnetization mechanisms, with a focus on examples where there is a connection with chemical alteration.

Rock magnetism of remagnetized carbonate rocks: another look

Authigenic formation of fine-grained magnetite is responsible for widespread chemical remagnetization of many carbonate rocks. Authigenic magnetite grains, dominantly in the superparamagnetic and stable single-domain size range, also give rise to distinctive rock-magnetic properties, now commonly used as a ‘fingerprint’ of remagnetization. We re-examine the basis of this association in terms of magnetic mineralogy and particle-size distribution in remagnetized carbonates having these characteristic rock-magnetic properties, including ‘wasp-waisted’ hysteresis loops, high ratios of anhysteretic remanence to saturation remanence and frequency-dependent susceptibility. New measurements on samples from the Helderberg Group allow us to quantify the proportions of superparamagnetic, stable single-domain and larger grains, and to evaluate the mineralogical composition of the remanence carriers. The dominant magnetic phase is magnetite-like, with sufficient impurity to completely suppress the Verwey transition. Particle sizes are extremely fine: approximately 75% of the total magnetite content is superparamagnetic at room temperature and almost all of the rest is stable single-domain. Although it has been proposed that the single-domain magnetite in these remagnetized carbonates lacks shape anisotropy (and is therefore controlled by cubic magnetocrystalline anisotropy), we have found strong experimental evidence that cubic anisotropy is not an important underlying factor in the rock-magnetic signature of chemical remagnetization.

Elongated prismatic magnetite crystals in ALH84001 carbonate globules: potential Martian magnetofossils

Using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we have analyzed magnetite (Fe3O4) crystals acid-extracted from carbonate globules in Martian meteorite ALH84001. We studied 594 magnetites from ALH84001 and grouped them into three populations on the basis of morphology: 389 were irregularly shaped, 164 were elongated prisms, and 41 were whisker-like. As a possible terrestrial analog for the ALH84001 elongated prisms, we compared these magnetites with those produced by the terrestrial magnetotactic bacteria strain MV-1. By TEM again, we examined 206 magnetites recovered from strain MV-1 cells. Natural (Darwinian) selection in terrestrial magnetotactic bacteria appears to have resulted in the formation of intracellular magnetite crystals having the physical and chemical properties that optimize their magnetic moment. In this study, we describe six properties of magnetite produced by biologically controlled mechanisms (e.g., magnetotactic bacteria), properties that, collectively, are not observed in any known population of inorganic magnetites. These criteria can be used to distinguish one of the modes of origin for magnetites from samples with complex or unknown histories. Of the ALH84001 magnetites that we have examined, the elongated prismatic magnetite particles (similar to 27% of the total) are indistinguishable from the MV-1 magnetites in five of these six characteristics observed for biogenically controlled mineralization of magnetite crystals.