Unraveling magnetic fabrics

The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility has been proven to be an excellent indicator for mineral fabrics and therefore deformation in a rock or sediment. Low-field anisotropy is relatively rapid to measure so that a sufficient number of samples can be measured to obtain a good statistical representation of the magnetic fabric. The physical properties of individual minerals that contribute to the observed magnetic fabric include bulk susceptibility and intrinsic anisotropy of the mineral phase, its volume concentration, and its degree of alignment. Several techniques have been developed to separate magnetic subfabrics arising from magnetization types, i.e., ferrimagnetism, antiferromagnetism, paramagnetism, and diamagnetism. Susceptibility anisotropy can be measured in low or high fields and at different temperatures in order to isolate a particular subfabric. Measuring the anisotropy of a remanent magnetization can also isolate ferrimagnetic fabrics. A series of case studies are presented that exemplify the value of isolating magnetic subfabrics in a geological context. It is particularly useful in rocks that carry a paramagnetic and diamagnetic subfabric of similar magnitude, such that they negate one another. Further examples are provided for purely paramagnetic subfabrics and cases where a ferrimagnetic subfabric is also identifie

Digital rock physics: numerical prediction of pressure-dependent ultrasonic velocities using micro-CT imaging

Digital rock physics combines modern microscopic imaging with advanced numerical simulations to analyse the physical properties of rocks. Elastic-wave propagation modelling based on the microstructure images is used to estimate the effective elastic properties of the rock. The goal of this paper is to describe and understand how laboratory experiments compare with digital rock physics results using Berea sandstone. We experimentally measure pressure-dependent ultrasonic velocities and the pore size distribution. The effective elastic properties resulting from numerical simulations are based on microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) images, which are systematically stiffer than the laboratory measures. Because the tomographic images do not resolve the small-scale pore and crack network of the sample, we hypothesize that the numerical overprediction is attributable to the smallest pores and grain-to-grain contacts that are missing in the images. To reconcile the difference between numerical and experimental data, we suggest to use a grain boundary reconstruction algorithm. This allows to implement and approximate so far unresolved features in the virtual rock model. As a result, we can predict pressure-dependent effective velocity using micro-CT image

Paleomagnetic secular field variation and rock magnetism of some early holocene (<9900BP) postglacial lacustrine sediments near Thunder Bay, Northwestern Ontario, Canada

Paleosecular magnetic changes through a 1.5m section of post-glacial lacustrine deposits are strongly influenced by mineralogy and differential compaction. The sediments chiefly comprise clay and, in the lower one third part of the section, rhythmites which vary from ~2mm to ~Scm in thickness. 125 paleomagnetic specimens were collected in total from the 1.5m section. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility and anisotropy of anhysteretic remanent magnetization identify a magnetic fabric with maximum susceptibility parallel to the bedding plane of the sediments and with a preferred northwest-southeast axis, probably indicating paleo-current alignment. Minimum susceptibility represents the pole to bedding, due to grain alignment. Incremental acquisition and demagnetization of isothermal and anhysteretic magnetizations and the orthogonal three-axis test indicate that the sediments contain two magnetic phases with different coercivities. Magnetic hysteresis measurements (clays n=226; silts n=37) show that clay is dominated by single domain magnetite and hematite (means of M5=58.47±9.22Am2 , Mrs=17.12±27.22Am2 , Hc=21.09±7.69mT, Hcr=62.04±4.09mT) whereas silt is dominated by pseudo-single domain and single domain magnetite (means of M5=681.0±395.9Am2 , Mrs=163.2±84.75Am2 , Hc=26.07±2.94mT, Hcr=56.08±3.17mT). The silt is dominated by magnetite, whereas the clay carries both hematite and magnetite

Syn-emplacement fracturing in the sandfell laccolith, eastern iceland—implications for rhyolite intrusion growth and volcanic hazards

Field work was funded by Uddeholms travel stipend (Värmlands nation, Uppsala, Sweden), Otterborgs travel stipend and the Swedish Royal Academy of Science (KVA). The research was funded by the Swedish Research Council (VR) grant 2015-03931_VR. ER is funded by the Center of Natural Hazards and Disaster Science (CNDS).Felsic magma commonly pools within shallow mushroom-shaped magmatic intrusions, so-called laccoliths or cryptodomes, which can cause both explosive eruptions and collapse of the volcanic edifice. Deformation during laccolith emplacement is primarily considered to occur in the host rock. However, shallowly emplaced laccoliths (cryptodomes) show extensive internal deformation. While deformation of magma in volcanic conduits is an important process for regulating eruptive behavior, the effects of magma deformation on intrusion emplacement remain largely unexplored. In this study, we investigate the emplacement of the 0.57km3 rhyolitic Sandfell laccolith, Iceland, which formed at a depth of 500m in a single intrusive event. By combining field measurements, 3D modeling, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS), microstructural analysis, and FEM modeling we examine deformation in the magma to constrain its influence on intrusion emplacement. Concentric flow bands and S-C fabrics reveal contact-parallel magma flow during the initial stages of laccolith inflation. The magma flow fabric is overprinted by strain-localization bands (SLBs) and more than one third of the volume of the Sandfell laccolith displays concentric intensely fractured layers. A dominantly oblate magmatic fabric in the fractured areas and conjugate geometry of SLBs, and fractures in the fracture layers demonstrate that the magma was deformed by intrusive stresses. This implies that a large volume of magma became viscously stalled and was unable to flow during intrusion. Fine-grained groundmass and vesicle-poor rock adjacent to the fracture layers point to that the interaction between the SLBs and the flow bands at sub-solidus state caused the brittle-failure and triggered decompression degassing and crystallization, which led to rapid viscosity increase in the magma. The extent of syn-emplacement fracturing in the Sandfell laccolith further shows that strain-induced degassing limited the amount of eruptible magma by essentially solidifying the rim of the magma body. Our observations indicate that syn-emplacement changes in rheology, and the associated fracturing of intruding magma not only occur in volcanic conduits, but also play a major role in the emplacement of viscous magma intrusions in the upper kilometer of the crust.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Internal flow structures in columnar jointed basalt from Hrepphólar, Iceland: II. Magnetic anisotropy and rock magnetic properties

The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) and rock magnetic properties were measured on specimens from a basalt plate that was cut from a vertical section of a basalt column from Hrepphólar, Iceland. Macroscopic structures are clearly distinguishable in the plate, including banding inferred to represent viscous fingering parallel to the vertical axis of the column. Rock magnetic experiments indicate that the dominant ferromagnetic (sensu lato) mineral is titanomagnetite, Fe 3−x Ti x O4, with a Ti-composition of x = ~0.6. Magnetic properties are related to the position within the plate and reveal a dominant volume fraction of single domain titanomagnetite in the center of the basalt column, with multidomain titanomagnetite away from the center. The AMS determined by low-field measurements shows an inconclusive relationship with the visual structures, which arises from variation of the grain size (i.e., single domain versus multidomain) across the column. In contrast, the AMS measured with a high-field torsion magnetometer avoids the complication of magnetic domain state, as is demonstrated in this contribution, and additionally allows for the separation of ferrimagnetic from paramagnetic sub-fabrics. Both sub-fabrics display a clear relationship with the macroscopic structures and support the hypothesis that vertical flow of melt took place during development of the Hrepphólar columnar basalt. Maximum susceptibility axes of the ferrimagnetic sub-fabric are grouped near the vertical axis of the column. The paramagnetic sub-fabric varies systematically across the column in coincidence with internal structure. The shape of the magnetic susceptibility ellipsoid varies across the basalt column, showing an increasingly prolate fabric toward its cente

Decoupling of paramagnetic and ferrimagnetic AMS development during the experimental chemical compaction of illite shale powder

Inclination shallowing of detrital remanent magnetization in sedimentary strata has solely been constrained for the mechanical processes associated with mud deposition and shallow compaction of clay-rich sediment, even though a significant part of mud diagenesis involves chemical compaction. Here we report, for the first time, on the laboratory simulation of magnetic assemblage development in a chemically compacting illite shale powder of natural origin. The experimental procedure comprised three compaction stages that, when combined, simulate the diagenesis and low-grade metamorphism of illite mud. First, the full extent of load-sensitive mechanical compaction is simulated by room temperature dry axial compression. Subsequently, temperature controlled chemical compaction is initiated by exposing the sample in two stages to amphibolite or granulite facies conditions (temperature is 490 to 750°C and confining pressure is 170 or 300 MPa) both in the absence (confining pressure only) and presence of a deformation stress field (axial compression or confined torsion). Thermodynamic equilibrium in the last two compaction stages was not reached, but illite and mica dehydroxylation initiated, thus providing a wet environment. Magnetic properties were characterized by magnetic susceptibility and its anisotropy (AMS) in both high- and low-applied field. Acquisition of isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM), stepwise three-component thermal de-magnetization of IRM and first-order reversal curves were used to characterize the remanence-bearing minerals. During the chemical compaction experiments ferrimagnetic iron-sulphides formed after reduction of magnetite and detrital pyrite in a low sulphur fugacity environment. The degree of low-field AMS is unaffected by porosity reduction from 15 to ∼1 per cent, regardless of operating conditions and compaction history. High-field paramagnetic AMS increases with compaction for all employed stress regimes and conditions, and is attributed to illite transformation to iron-bearing mica. AMS of authigenic iron-sulphide minerals remained constant during compaction indicating an independence of ferrimagnetic fabric development to chemical compaction in illite shale powder. The decoupling of paramagnetic and ferrimagnetic AMS development during chemical compaction of pelite contrasts with findings from mechanical compaction studie

Enviromagnetic study of Late Quaternary environmental evolution in Lower Volga loess sequences, Russia

The late Quaternary development of the Lower Volga region of Russia is characterized by an alternating influence of marine and continental environments resulting from fluctuations in Caspian Sea level during the last glaciation. However, sediments deposited under continental conditions have received very little research attention compared to the under- and overlying marine deposits, such that even their origin is still in debate. Detailed magnetic mineralogical analyses presented here show clear similarities to loess. The results suggest that climate during the time of loess deposition, the Atelian regression (27–80 ka, MIS 4–3), was dry and cool, similar to the modern-day Northern Caspian lowland. The magnetic properties recorded in the loess-paleosol sequences of the Lower Volga also point to short episodes of potentially more humid and warmer climate during the late Atelian. The new findings in regard to the local Caspian climate and environmental evolution support decreased river discharge from the Russian Plain and Siberian Plain as the dominant factor causing the low Caspian sea level stand during the Atelian, although local-regional climate changes might have had an additional influence.The Swedish Research Council is gratefully acknowledged for funding to Thomas Stevens for part of this project (2017-03888). The work of Redzhep Kurbanov was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (grant 19-77-10077). Sofya Yarovaya was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant 18-00-00470). Balázs Bradák acknowledges the financial support of project BU235P18 (Junta de Castilla y Leon, Spain) and the European Regional Development Fund

Core-log-seismic integration in metamorphic rocks and its implication for the regional geology: A case study for the ICDP drilling project COSC-1, Sweden

Continental collision causes deformation in the crust along shear zones. However, the physical and chemical conditions at which these zones operate and the deformation processes that enable up to hundreds of km of tectonic transport are still unclear because of the depth at which they occur and the challenges in imaging them. Ancient exhumed collision zones allow us to investigate these processes much better, for example at the COSC‐1 borehole in the central Scandinavian Caledonides. This study combines data from the COSC‐1 borehole with different seismic measurements to provide constraints on the spatial lithological and textural configuration of the Seve Nappe Complex. This is one of the few studies that shows that core‐log‐seismic integration in metamorphic rocks allows to identify the spatial distribution of major lithological units. Especially gamma ray logs in combination with density data are powerful tools to distinguish between mafic and felsic lithologies in log‐core correlation. Our results indicate that reflections along the borehole are primarily caused by compositional rather than textural changes. Reflections in the Seve Nappe Complex are not as distinct as in greater depths but continuous and several of them can be linked to magmatic intrusions, which have been metamorphically overprinted. Their setting indicates that the Seve Nappe Complex consists of the remnants of a volcanic continental margin. Our results suggest that ductile‐deformed middle crustal reflectivity is primarily a function of pre‐orogenic lithological variations which has to be considered when deciphering mountain building processes

Brittle basement deformation during the Caledonian Orogeny observed by K‐Ar geochronology of illite‐bearing fault gouge in west‐central Sweden

This study presents K-Ar ages of illite from fault gouges in crystalline basement in centralwestern Sweden. Samples were taken from two faults that localized brittle deformation marginal to and within mafic dikes that intruded Paleoproterozoic granitoids. K-Ar ages from ten separated grain fractions span from 823 to 392 Ma. Older ages obtained (823 to 477 Ma) were influenced by a mixture of illite and K-feldspar; the latter likely formed during a hydrothermal event prior to faulting. The remaining ages (442.1±9.7 to 391.7±6.1 Ma) were obtained from fractions from both faults hosting only authigenic illite, and show that illite crystallized during the Scandian Caledonian orogeny. These results indicate that previously presumed autochthonous Caledonian basement was involved in continental contraction and subsequent collapse of the Caledonian orogen, influencing both the mode and depth of penetration of deformation into Baltica