The effects of 10 to >160 GPa shock on the magnetic properties of basalt and diabase

© 2016. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.Hypervelocity impacts within the solar system affect both the magnetic remanence and bulk magnetic properties of planetary materials. Spherical shock experiments are a novel way to simulate shock events that enable materials to reach high shock pressures with a variable pressure profile across a single sample (ranging between ∼10 and >160 GPa). Here we present spherical shock experiments on basaltic lava flow and diabase dike samples from the Osler Volcanic Group whose ferromagnetic mineralogy is dominated by pseudo-single-domain (titano)magnetite. Our experiments reveal shock-induced changes in rock magnetic properties including a significant increase in remanent coercivity. Electron and magnetic force microscopy support the interpretation that this coercivity increase is the result of grain fracturing and associated domain wall pinning in multidomain grains. We introduce a method to discriminate between mechanical and thermal effects of shock on magnetic properties. Our approach involves conducting vacuum-heating experiments on untreated specimens and comparing the hysteresis properties of heated and shocked specimens. First-order reversal curve (FORC) experiments on untreated, heated, and shocked specimens demonstrate that shock and heating effects are fundamentally different for these samples: shock has a magnetic hardening effect that does not alter the intrinsic shape of FORC distributions, while heating alters the magnetic mineralogy as evident from significant changes in the shape of FORC contours. These experiments contextualize paleomagnetic and rock magnetic data of naturally shocked materials from terrestrial and extraterrestrial impact craters

The mineralogy and petrology of I-type cosmic spherules: Implications for their sources, origins and identification in sedimentary rocks

I-type cosmic spherules are micrometeorites that formed by melting during atmospheric entry and consist mainly of iron oxides and FeNi metal. I-types are important because they can readily be recovered from sedimentary rocks allowing study of solar system events over geological time. We report the results of a study of the mineralogy and petrology of 88 I-type cosmic spherules recovered from Antarctica in order to evaluate how they formed and evolved during atmospheric entry, to constrain the nature of their precursors and to establish rigorous criteria by which they may be conclusively identified within sediments and sedimentary rocks. Two textural types of I-type cosmic spherule are recognised: (1) metal bead-bearing (MET) spherules dominated by Ni-poor (100 and suggest that metal from H-group ordinary, CM, CR and iron meteorites may form the majority of particles. Oxidation during entry heating increases in the series MET 80 wt% Ni comprising a particle mass fraction of <0.2. Non-equilibrium effects in the exchange of Ni between wüstite and metal, and magnetite and wüstite are suggested as proxies for the rate of oxidation and cooling rate respectively. Variations in magnetite and wüstite crystal sizes are also suggested to relate to cooling rate allowing relative entry angle of particles to be evaluated. The formation of secondary metal in the form of sub-micron Ni-rich or Pt-group nuggets and as symplectite with magnetite was also identified and suggested to occur largely due to the exsolution of metallic alloys during decomposition of non-stoichiometric wüstite. Weathering is restricted to replacement of metal by iron hydroxides. The following criteria are recommended for the conclusive identification of I-type spherules within sediments and sedimentary rocks: (i) spherical particle morphologies, (ii) dendritic crystal morphologies, (iii) the presence of wüstite and magnetite, (iv) Ni-bearing wüstite and magnetite, and (v) the presence of relict FeNi metal

MAGNETIC PROPERTIES AND PETROGRAPHY OF URENGOITES AND SOUTH-URAL GLASS.

80th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical-Society, Santa Fe, NM, JUL 23-28, 2017International audienc

Paleomagnetic study of impactites from the Karla impact structure suggests protracted postimpact hydrothermalism

International audienceWe present a paleomagnetic study of the ~10 km diameter Karla impact structure in Russia. We sampled the target carbonate rocks, and a yet undocumented fragmental melt-bearing lithic breccia layer. This impact breccia, which contains carbonate melt, is enriched in stoichiometric magnetite by a factor of ~15 compared to the target lithologies, and carries a stable natural remanent magnetization. The weak remanent magnetization and the presence of both normal and reverse polarities down to the centimeter scale indicate that the breccia does not carry a thermoremanent magnetization (TRM), but rather a chemical remanent magnetization (CRM). The presence of stoichiometric magnetite and the absence of TRM suggest that the magnetite was formed during relatively low-temperature postimpact hydrothermalism that affected the porous impact breccia layer. During this process, the breccia acquired a CRM. The paleomagnetic direction is compatible with a Cenozoic age for the impact event, but cannot bring more precise constraint on the age because of the stable position of the Eurasian plate over the last 60 Myr. However, the presence of both polarities indicates that mild hydrothermalism took place over a period of time long enough to span at least one reversal of the geomagnetic field, that is, over a time scale of the order of 100 kyr. This confirms that protracted hydrothermal systems associated with impact craters are long lived, even in relatively small craters such as Karla, and are key features of the geologic and environmental effects of impacts on Earth

Magnetic properties and redox state of impact glasses: A review and new case studies from Siberia

© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. High velocity impacts produce melts that solidify as ejected or in-situ glasses. We provide a review of their peculiar magnetic properties, as well as a new detailed study of four glasses from Siberia: El’gygytgyn, Popigai, urengoites, and South-Ural glass (on a total of 24 different craters or strewn-fields). Two types of behavior appear: 1) purely paramagnetic with ferromagnetic impurities at most of the order of 10 ppm; this corresponds to the five tektite strewn-fields (including the new one from Belize), urengoites, and Darwin glass. Oxidation state, based in particular on X-ray spectroscopy, is mostly restricted to Fe2+; 2) variable and up to strong ferromagnetic component, up to the 1 wt % range, mostly due to substituted magnetite often in superparamagnetic state. Accordingly, bulk oxidation state is intermediate between Fe2+ and Fe3+, although metallic iron, hematite, and pyrrhotite are sometimes encountered. Various applications of these magnetic properties are reviewed in the field of paleomagnetism, magnetic anomalies, recognition of glass origin, and formation processes

Magnetic properties and redox state of impact glasses: A review and new case studies from Siberia

© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. High velocity impacts produce melts that solidify as ejected or in-situ glasses. We provide a review of their peculiar magnetic properties, as well as a new detailed study of four glasses from Siberia: El’gygytgyn, Popigai, urengoites, and South-Ural glass (on a total of 24 different craters or strewn-fields). Two types of behavior appear: 1) purely paramagnetic with ferromagnetic impurities at most of the order of 10 ppm; this corresponds to the five tektite strewn-fields (including the new one from Belize), urengoites, and Darwin glass. Oxidation state, based in particular on X-ray spectroscopy, is mostly restricted to Fe2+; 2) variable and up to strong ferromagnetic component, up to the 1 wt % range, mostly due to substituted magnetite often in superparamagnetic state. Accordingly, bulk oxidation state is intermediate between Fe2+ and Fe3+, although metallic iron, hematite, and pyrrhotite are sometimes encountered. Various applications of these magnetic properties are reviewed in the field of paleomagnetism, magnetic anomalies, recognition of glass origin, and formation processes

The effects of 10 to &gt;160 GPa shock on the magnetic properties of basalt and diabase

© 2016. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.Hypervelocity impacts within the solar system affect both the magnetic remanence and bulk magnetic properties of planetary materials. Spherical shock experiments are a novel way to simulate shock events that enable materials to reach high shock pressures with a variable pressure profile across a single sample (ranging between ∼10 and >160 GPa). Here we present spherical shock experiments on basaltic lava flow and diabase dike samples from the Osler Volcanic Group whose ferromagnetic mineralogy is dominated by pseudo-single-domain (titano)magnetite. Our experiments reveal shock-induced changes in rock magnetic properties including a significant increase in remanent coercivity. Electron and magnetic force microscopy support the interpretation that this coercivity increase is the result of grain fracturing and associated domain wall pinning in multidomain grains. We introduce a method to discriminate between mechanical and thermal effects of shock on magnetic properties. Our approach involves conducting vacuum-heating experiments on untreated specimens and comparing the hysteresis properties of heated and shocked specimens. First-order reversal curve (FORC) experiments on untreated, heated, and shocked specimens demonstrate that shock and heating effects are fundamentally different for these samples: shock has a magnetic hardening effect that does not alter the intrinsic shape of FORC distributions, while heating alters the magnetic mineralogy as evident from significant changes in the shape of FORC contours. These experiments contextualize paleomagnetic and rock magnetic data of naturally shocked materials from terrestrial and extraterrestrial impact craters