diagenetic fate of biogenic soft and hard magnetite in chemically stratified sedimentary environments of mamangua ria brazil d r and l j acknowledge funding from fapesp grants 2012 212123 and 2011 22018 3 respectively f a acknowledges funding from faperj cnpq and capes a p r acknowledges funding from the australian research council grants dp140104544 and dp160100805

sedimentary pyrite formation an update sedimentary pyrite formation during early diagenesis is a major process for controlling the oxygen level of the atmosphere and the sulfate concentration in seawater over geologic time the amount of pyrite that may form in a sediment is limited by the rates of supply of decomposable organic matter dissolved sulfate and reactive detrital iron minerals organic matter appears to be the major control on pyrite formation in normal non euxinic terrigenous marine sediments where dissolved sulfate and iron minerals are abundant by contrast pyrite formation in non marine freshwater sediments is severely limited by low concentrations of sulfate and this characteristic can be used to distinguish ancient organic rich fresh water shales from marine shales under marine euxinic conditions sufficient h2s is produced that the dominant control on pyrite formation is the availability of reactive iron minerals calculations based on a sulfur isotope model indicate that over phanerozoic time the worldwide average organic carbon to pyrite sulfur ratio of sedimentary rocks has varied considerably high cs ratios during permo carboniferous time can be explained by a shift of major organic deposition from the oceans to the land which resulted in the formation of vast coal swamps at that time low cs ratios compared to today during the early paleozoic can be explained in terms of a greater abundance of euxinic basins combined with deposition of a more reactive type of organic matter in the remaining oxygenated portions of the ocean the latter could have been due to lower oceanic oxygen levels and or a lack of transportation of refractory terrestrial organic matter to the marine environment due to the absence of vascular land plants at that time

organic carbon flux controls the morphology of magnetofossils in marine sediments magnetotactic bacteria produce chains of magnetite crystals within a cell bacterial magnetites have characteristic morphologies and sizes that are strictly biologically controlled we examined morphologies of fossil bacterial magnetites magnetofossils preserved in pacific deep sea sediments and their relations to organic carbon fluxes isotropic crystals dominate magnetofossils in sediments in relatively oxidized conditions and anisotropic crystals predominate in more reduced conditions our finding has important implications for biomineralization processes and demonstrates the potential of magnetofossil morphology as a paleoenvironmental indicator

climatic control on magnetic mineralogy during the late mis 6 early mis 3 in lake chalco central mexico abstract sediments from lake chalco in central mexico spanning from ca 150 to 35 ka ago provide evidence of paleoclimatic variability in the north american tropics associated with the end of marine isotopic stage mis 6 the transition to the last interglacial mis 5 5 ca 130 115 ka ago and part of the last glacial mis 5 4 to early mis 3 115 to 35 ka ago we applied a multiproxy approach based on the analysis of mineral magnetism diatom assemblages and major elements geochemistry the reconstructed paleoenvironmental history identify the end of the globally cool mis 6 as wetter than present with high lake level and a subsequent change to drier climates at the onset of the last interglacial ca 130 ka large amplitude changes in most of the analyzed parameters from ca 130 to 74 ka are approximately coincident with mis 5 130 71 ka the amplitude of these changes decreases in mis 4 71 57 ka and the early part of mis 3 57 35 ka we proposed that the inferred climatic oscillations follow insolation variations during mis 6 and part of mis 5 150 88 ka low summer and spring insolation and lower seasonality inhibited evaporation and favored high lake levels conversely maxima in spring and summer insolation promoted dry conditions and low lake levels the major wet cold glacial and dry warm interglacial relationship found in lake titicaca bolivia and lake chalco records shows the sensitivity of high altitude tropical sites to climatic variability

environmental magnetic implications of magnetofossil occurrence during the middle eocene climatic optimum meco in pelagic sediments from the equatorial indian ocean abstract magnetic properties of pelagic marine sediments that record the middle eocene climatic optimum meco at 40 ma provide information about major environmental changes the main variations observed during this transient warming event reflect a bacterial magnetofossil signal but the cause of the linkage between bacterial production and climate remains unclear we present an environmental magnetic study of middle eocene deep sea sediments from the northern edge of madingley rise ocean drilling program hole 711a equatorial indian ocean to investigate the origin of the increased magnetic mineral concentration concomitant with subchron c18n 2n which corresponds to the meco interval in odp hole 711a this magnetic mineral peak also coincides with a change in lithofacies from calcareous nannofossils to radiolarian ooze and a slight increase in clay concentration magnetite is the main magnetic mineral in the meco sediments which occurs as magnetically non interacting single domain biogenic particles the increased magnetic mineral concentration across the meco event is likely to have been caused by increased eolian iron fertilization this is interpreted to have given rise to increased surface ocean productivity where increased delivery of iron and nutrients to the seafloor enhanced magnetotactic bacterial populations during the meco event

partly pedogenic origin of magnetic variations in chinese loess quaternary sequences of interbedded aeolian silts loess and buried soils palaeosols potentially provide one of the best terrestrial records of past climates1 5 magnetic susceptibility variations in loess and palaeosol sequences from china are strongly correlated with climate induced fluctuations of oxygen isotope ratios in deep sea sediments2 4 6 8 as an explanation of this correlation it has been suggested that the recorded variations in magnetic susceptibility depend primarily on the degree of dilution by non magnetic bulk loess constituents of a uniform magnetic assemblage derived from remote but unknown sources6 8 it has also been suggested that such a model involving changes in the accumulation rate of loess superimposed on a constant flux of magnetic particles provides a relative geological timescale through the control of loess deposition by astronomically modulated climate fluctuations7 here we report a preliminary test of this model using rock magnetic properties especially sensitive to variations in magnetic grain size our results show that palaeosols are characterized by much finer magnetic grain size assemblages than are the intervening loess units this suggests that a simple model based on constant magnetic influx and dilution by variable amounts of non magnetic loess is inadequate our magnetic measurements establish the close comparability of the fine grained magnetic minerals in the palaeosol samples to those in contemporary soils and thus point to a partially pedogenic origin for the magnetic mineral assemblages in the palaeosols

reductive diagenesis magnetite dissolution greigite growth and paleomagnetic smoothing in marine sediments a new view abstract in many anoxic sedimentary environments the onset of sulfate reduction and pyritization of detrital iron bearing minerals leads to a precipitous decline in magnetic mineral concentration during early diagenesis the usefulness of the surviving paleomagnetic record in such environments is usually argued to depend on how much of the primary detrital magnetic assemblage survives diagenetic dissolution detailed rock magnetic and electron microscope analyses of rapidly deposited 7 cm kyr latest pleistocene holocene sediments from the continental margins of oman 22 22 4 n 60 08 0 e and northern california 38 24 8 n 123 58 2 w demonstrate that pyritization during early diagenesis also leads to the progressive down core growth of the ferrimagnetic iron sulfide greigite greigite growth begins with nucleation of large concentrations of superparamagnetic sp nanoparticles at the inferred position of the sulfate methane transition which can explain the apparently paradoxical suggestion that diagenetically reduced sediments contain enhanced concentrations of sp particles looping of hysteresis parameters on a day plot records the dissolution of single domain sd titano magnetite and the formation of sp greigite which then slowly and progressively grows through its sd blocking volume and acquires a stable paleomagnetic signal this looping trend is also evident in data from several published records oregon margin korea strait japan sea niger fan argentine margin and the ontong java plateau indicating that these processes may be widespread in reducing environments our observations have profound implications for paleomagnetic records from sulfate reducing environments the paleomagnetic signal recorded by greigite is offset from the age of the surrounding sediments by 10 s of kyr and ongoing growth of greigite at depth results in smoothing of the recorded signal over intervals of 10 s to 100 s of kyr we therefore expect the presence of greigite to compromise paleomagnetic records in a wide range of settings that have undergone reductive diagenesis

review of recent developments in mineral magnetism of the chinese loess mineral magnetism of the chinese loess has been investigated for more than 20 years although there is a consensus that the neoformation of fine grained maghemite particles in the superparamagnetic sp and single domain sd grain size regions accounts for the magnetic enhancement in the chinese paleosols quantitative retrieval of paleoclimatic signals in terms of rock magnetic proxies is still a subject of debate the ambiguities arise from the inherent complexities of magnetic proxies as well as the multiple factors that control the pedogenic processes therefore a better description of the magnetic assemblage including its mineralogy grain size distribution and stoichiometry of two distinct origins pedogenic and eolian can help us better understand mechanisms behind variations in magnetic proxies at different timescales in order to link them to the paleoclimatic processes this review focuses on recent developments in loess magnetism and carefully evaluates merits and limitations of rock magnetic proxies furthermore several currently unsolved problems are addressed

rock magnetic criteria for the detection of biogenic magnetite abstract 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 fc zfc greater than 2 where the parameter 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 fc zfc ratio to around 1 similar to values observed for some inorganic magnetite maghemite greigite and gs 15 particles numerical simulations of fc zfc ratios for simple binary mixtures of magnetosome chains and inorganic magnetic fractions suggest that the fc 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

characterizing magnetofossils from first order reversal curve forc central ridge signatures the central ridge structure of a first order reversal curve forc distribution is indicative of uniaxial noninteracting single domain magnetic particles which provides the opportunity to identify and characterize biogenic magnetic mineral remains magnetofossils in sediments recent studies have shown that magnetofossils are widespread in the geological record and that they carry useful environmental information and contribute to paleomagnetic recording which makes it essential to quantify how these biogenic components contribute to the magnetic properties of sediments we present results from six sedimentary sequences whose magnetic mineral assemblages contain a significant magnetofossil contribution using principal component analysis we find that the central ridge properties exhibit both intra sequnce and inter sequence variability that may be ascribed to external environmental factors while samples from individual sediment sequences tend to cluster together there is a continuum of inter sequence behavior that appears to be related to a variety of magnetofossil properties we demonstrate the complexity of biogenic magnetic components in sedimentary environments but also the power and potential of forc central ridges for understanding magnetic mixtures and unraveling environmental information

rock magnetic properties of uncultured magnetotactic bacteria abstract understanding the magnetic properties of magnetite crystals fe3o4 produced by magnetotactic bacteria mtbs is of fundamental interest in fields of geosciences biomineralization fine particle magnetism and planetary sciences the database of bulk magnetic measurements on mtbs is however still too sparse to allow for generalizations due to difficulties in obtaining bacteria cells in sufficient quantities from natural environments and the fact that only a few cultivable strains are available here we report the first series of magnetic measurements on two air dried samples containing solely mtbs wild type cocci and magnetobacterium bavaricum which were directly isolated from carbonaceous lake sediments systematic rock magnetic studies show that 1 the magnetosomes in cells are dominated by single domain sd magnetite 2 the samples have delta ratios fc zfc higher than 2 3 the measured low temperature remanence cycling curves as well as the first order reversal curve forc diagrams are significantly different to those measured on synthetic sd magnetite samples and 4 the verwey transition temperature tv 100 k of mtb cells is distinctly lower than that from stoichiometric magnetite tv 120 125 k our results provide new insights on the magnetic properties of bacterial magnetite and advance the use of magnetic proxies for decoding the paleomagnetic signals of sediments containing bacterial magnetite

detection of noninteracting single domain particles using first order reversal curve diagrams we present a highly sensitive and accurate method for quantitative detection and characterization of noninteracting or weakly interacting uniaxial single domain particles unisd in rocks and sediments the method is based on high resolution measurements of first order reversal curves forcs unisd particles have a unique forc signature that can be used to isolate their contribution among other magnetic components this signature has a narrow ridge along the hc axis of the forc diagram called the central ridge which is proportional to the switching field distribution of the particles therefore the central ridge is directly comparable with other magnetic measurements such as remanent magnetization curves with the advantage of being fully selective to sd particles rather than other magnetic components this selectivity is unmatched by other magnetic unmixing methods and offers useful applications ranging from characterization of sd particles for paleointensity studies to detecting magnetofossils and ultrafine authigenically precipitated minerals in sediments

high resolution analysis of early diagenetic effects on magnetic minerals in post middle holocene continental shelf sediments from the korea strait 1 two studied sediment cores from the korea strait contain mud sequences 14 m and 32 62 m in thickness that were deposited during the last 6 000 years the sediments have uniform lithology and geochemical properties however marked down core changes in magnetic properties suggest that diagenesis has significantly impacted the magnetic properties an expanded view of early diagenetic reactions that affect magnetic mineral assemblages is evident in these rapidly deposited continental shelf sediments compared to deep sea sediments the studied sediments are divided into four descending intervals based on magnetic property variations interval 1 is least affected by diagenesis and has the highest concentrations of detrital magnetite and hematite and the lowest solid phase sulfur contents interval 2 is characterized by the presence of paramagnetic pyrite and sharply decreasing magnetite and hematite concentrations which suggest active reductive dissolution of detrital magnetic minerals interval 3 is marked by a progressive loss of hematite with depth and coincides with the minimum magnetite concentration interval 4 has an increasing down core enhancement of authigenic greigite which apparently formed at depths of 3 30 m below the sediment water interface due to arrested pyritization reactions these results indicate delays of thousands of years for acquisition of magnetizations carried by greigite which suggests that studies of geomagnetic field behavior from greigite bearing continental shelf sediments should be conducted with care also virtually complete destruction of detrital magnetic minerals at depth suggests that magnetic studies of rapidly deposited shelf sediments are unlikely to provide a meaningful signature associated with syn depositional environmental processes

eocene seasonality and seawater alkaline earth reconstruction using shallow dwelling large benthic foraminifera abstract intra test variability in mg ca and other trace elements within large benthic foraminifera lbf of the family nummulitidae have been investigated using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry la icpms these foraminifera have a longevity and size facilitating seasonal proxy retrieval and a depth distribution similar to surface dwelling planktic foraminifera coupled with their abundance in climatically important periods such as the paleogene this means that this family of foraminifera are an important but under utilised source of palaeoclimatic information we have calibrated the relationship between mg ca and temperature in modern operculina ammonoides and observe a 2 increase in mg ca c 1 o ammonoides is the nearest living relative of the abundant eocene genus nummulites enabling us to reconstruct mid eocene tropical sea surface temperature seasonality by applying our calibration to fossil nummulites djokdjokartae from java our results indicate a 5 6 c annual temperature range implying greater than modern seasonality in the mid eocene bartonian this is consistent with seasonal surface ocean cooling facilitated by enhanced eocene tropical cyclone induced upper ocean mixing as suggested by recent modelling results analyses of fossil n djokdjokartae and operculina sp from the same stratigraphic interval demonstrate that environmental controls on proxy distribution coefficients are the same for these two genera within error using previously published test seawater alkaline earth metal distribution coefficients derived from an lbf of the same family raitzsch et al 2010 and inorganic calcite with appropriate correction systematics for secular mg casw variation evans and muller 2012 we use our fossil data to produce a more accurate foraminifera based mg casw reconstruction and an estimate of seawater sr ca we demonstrate that mid eocene mg casw was 2 mol mol 1 which is in contrast to the model most commonly used to correct deep time mg ca data from foraminifera but in agreement with most other paleogene proxy and model data this indicates that mg casw has undergone a substantial 3 4 rise over the last 40 ma

early diagenesis of magnetic minerals in marine transitional environments geochemical signatures of hydrodynamic forcing abstract the low field magnetic susceptibility of surficial sediments from the ria de pontevedra nw spain shows a characteristic hydrodynamically driven textural control where diamagnetic sandy bioclastic carbonates occur toward the coastline leaving the finer muddy sediments to be deposited in the central and deeper areas of the ria three gravity cores were collected from the inner core 1 middle core 2 and outer core 3 zones of the clayey rich central axis of the ria from which the magnetic properties geochemical characteristics and hydrodynamic regime of the uppermost 90 cm of the sediment record were reconstructed profiles have a distinctive pattern that is controlled by depth isothermal remanent magnetization irm acquisition curves facilitated the identification of three well defined zones with depth depending on their degree of magnetic saturation and thus of their dominant magnetic behaviour magnetite like goethite like and greigite like this zonation is interpreted as the result of mineralogical changes during early diagenesis the relative depths of each zone are mostly dependent on distance to the open sea with the magnetite like zones being thicker in the outermost part of the ria toward the inner part of the ria the three zones become shallower and thinner in the innermost areas only greigite like coercivities are observed good correlation between magnetic and geochemical parameters such as vs 2fe s or h cr vs c s demonstrates that magnetic property variations with depth are diagenetically controlled and that these parameters can be used as magnetic proxies for early diagenesis similar significant positive correlations were found between of the clay fraction and modelled wave heights and between other magnetic and hydrodynamic parameters providing magnetic evidence of cryptic wave climate forcing of the diagenetic pathway the combined analysis of the magnetic geochemical and hydrodynamic data ultimately indicates that the sediment distribution and subsequent diagenetic pathway in this type of transitional environment mostly depend on the local distribution of wave energy and water depth rather than on estuarine like circulation processes

cooler winters as a possible cause of mass extinctions at the eocene oligocene boundary the eocene oligocene boundary at about 33 7 myr ago marks one of the largest extinctions of marine invertebrates in the cenozoic period1 for example turnover of mollusc species in the us gulf coastal plain was over 90 at this time2 3 a temperature change across this boundary from warm eocene climates to cooler conditions in the oligocene has been suggested as a cause of this extinction event4 but climate reconstructions have not provided support for this hypothesis here we report stable oxygen isotope measurements of aragonite in fish otoliths ear stones collected across the eocene oligocene boundary palaeotemperatures reconstructed from mean otolith oxygen isotope values show little change through this interval in agreement with previous studies5 6 from incremental microsampling of otoliths however we can resolve the seasonal variation in temperature recorded as the otoliths continue to accrete new material over the life of the fish these seasonal data suggest that winters became about 4 c colder across the eocene oligocene boundary we suggest that temperature variability rather than change in mean annual temperature helped to cause faunal turnover during this transition

improvements in long core measurement techniques applications in palaeomagnetism and palaeoceanography we report on new developments in the long core measurement techniques using u channels in connection with new small access cryogenic magnetometers with these new instruments u channel samples allow us to measure a wide range of magnetic parameters along entire core length with a spatial resolution and accuracy virtually equivalent to that obtained using discrete cubic samples an additional advantage is that the sediment disturbance when sampling is significantly less when using u channels we present comparisons of results from both continuous and discrete measurements and examine the effectiveness of minimal deconvolution using various techniques examples of continuous measurements of low field susceptibility nrm arm irm hrc from north atlantic deep sea cores show that it is possible to generate logs of combination of parameters related to rock magnetic characteristics of the sediments useful in palaeoceanography in particular the continuous method allows us to rapidly detect core regions with fast changing magnetic parameters useful for correlation between cores and also for understanding changes in palaeo environmental conditions the fast scan also allows us to detect regions of the core where the rock magnetic parameters are suitable or not suitable for palaeomagnetic studies related to changes in the geomagnetic field such as the relative changes in palaeointensity

deep time foraminifera mg ca paleothermometry nonlinear correction for secular change in seawater mg ca 1 the mg ca ratio of foraminifera tests is increasingly being utilized as a paleotemperature proxy deep time pre pleistocene mg ca paleothermometry is complicated by the fact that the mg ca ratio of seawater mg casw has undergone considerable secular variation over the cenozoic previous studies have corrected for this by assuming an invariant mg distribution coefficient dmg with mg casw more recent laboratory culturing has shown that this is not the case demonstrating that a power relationship best describes the variation in test mg ca mg catest with mg casw therefore previous corrections are likely to have led to inaccurate temperature reconstructions here we show how the systematics of such a correction should be applied and demonstrate why this provides good evidence that the mg ca ratio of paleogene seawater was lower than previously implied by foraminiferal constraints in agreement with the majority of the proxy mg casw evidence we also demonstrate how it is indirectly possible to constrain the value of h the power component of a mg catest mg casw calibration potentially enabling the appropriate correction of results derived from species where this relationship has not been calibrated however this technique should not be treated as a substitute for culturing the previous erroneous assumptions regarding both 1 the relationship between mg catest and mg caswand 2 the mg ca ratio of seawater at a given time in the past may counteract each other to differing extents as a result previous absolute pre pleistocene paleotemperature estimates derived from mg ca ratios in foraminifera should be treated with caution although relative temperature changes over short 1 ma timescales are likely to be reliable

magnetic mineral diagenesis abstract reduction oxidation redox reactions occur during burial because sediments contain reactive mixtures of oxidised and reduced components diagenetic chemical reactions represent the approach of all sedimentary components toward equilibrium and control the long term stability of sedimentary iron bearing minerals magnetic minerals are sensitive indicators of sedimentary redox conditions and of changes in these conditions through time with diagenetic effects ranging from subtle to pervasive despite the importance of magnetic mineral diagenesis in paleomagnetism rock magnetism and environmental magnetism and the usefulness of these subjects in the earth and environmental sciences there is no systematic single published treatment of magnetic mineral diagenesis this paper is an attempt to provide such a treatment for the full range of diagenetic environments magnetic mineral diagenesis during early burial is driven largely by chemical changes associated with organic matter degradation in a succession of environments that range from oxic to nitrogenous to manganiferous to ferruginous to sulphidic to methanic where the free energy yielded by different oxidants decreases progressively in each environment in oxic environments the most important diagenetic processes involve surface oxidation of detrital minerals and precipitation of fe3 bearing minerals from solution in ferruginous environments the most reactive detrital and authigenic iron oxides undergo dissolution often mediated by dissimilatory iron reducing bacteria which releases fe2 that becomes available for other reactions the fe2 in solution can diffuse upward where it is oxidised to form new authigenic iron oxyhydr oxide minerals or it can become bioavailable to enable magnetotactic bacteria to biomineralise magnetite generally at the base of the overlying nitrogenous zone alternatively dissimilatory iron reducing bacteria can produce extracellular magnetite within ferruginous environments in sulphidic environments iron bearing detrital mineral assemblages undergo more radical alteration hydrogen sulphide which is a byproduct of bacterial sulphate reduction or of anaerobic oxidation of methane reacts with the fe2 released from iron mineral dissolution or directly with solid iron oxyhydr oxide minerals to form iron sulphide minerals mackinawite greigite and pyrite authigenic growth of ferrimagnetic greigite has important implications for paleomagnetic recording secondary iron sulphide formation can also occur as a result of anaerobic oxidation of methane methane migration through sediments in association with biogenic or thermogenic methane production or in association with gas hydrate dissociation can disrupt the diagenetic steady state and give rise to greigite and monoclinic pyrrhotite formation that remagnetises sediments most of the above described diagenetic processes occur below 50 c with continuing burial above 50 c but at sub metamorphic temperatures magnetic minerals can undergo further thermally induced chemical changes that give rise to a wide range of mineralogical transformations that affect the magnetic record of the host sediment these changes include remagnetisations magnetic analysis can provide much valuable information concerning diagenesis in environmental processes the range of processes discussed in this paper should assist researchers in analysing sediment magnetic properties for which the assessment of diagenetic effects has become a necessary component

rock magnetic signatures in diagenetically altered sediments from the niger deep sea fan 1 diagenesis has extensively affected the magnetic mineral inventory of organic rich late quaternary sediments in the niger deep sea fan changes in concentration grain size and coercivity document modifications of the primary magnetic mineral assemblages at two horizons the first front the modern iron redox boundary is characterized by a drastic decline in magnetic mineral content coarsening of the grain size spectrum and reduction in coercivity beneath a second front the transition from the suboxic to the sulfidic anoxic domain a further but less pronounced decrease in concentration and bulk grain size occurs finer grains and higher coercive magnetic constituents substantially increase in the anoxic environment low and high temperature experiments were performed on bulk sediments and on extracts which have also been examined by x ray diffraction thermomagnetic analyses proved ferrimagnetic titanomagnetites of terrigenous provenance as the principal primary magnetic mineral components their broad range of titanium contents reflects the volcanogenic traits of the niger river drainage areas diagenetic alteration is not only a grain size selective process but also critically depends on titanomagnetite composition low titanium compounds are less resistant to diagenetic dissolution intermediate titanium content titanomagnetite thus persists as the predominant magnetic mineral fraction in the sulfidic anoxic sediments at the fe redox boundary precipitation of authigenic possibly bacterial magnetite is documented the presence of hydrogen sulfide in the pore water suggests a formation of secondary magnetic iron sulfides in the anoxic domain grain size specific data argue for a gradual development of a superparamagnetic and single domain iron sulfide phase in this milieu most likely greigite

early diagenesis in north atlantic abyssal plain sediments characterized by rock magnetic and geochemical indices processes of early diagenesis are investigated in a sequence of late quaternary turbiditic sediments from the madeira abyssal plain map west of the nw african continental margin in three sediment cores from this region solid phase geochemical indices of redox sensitive ion mobilization are compared with rock magnetic parameters as proxies for diagenesis characterization the mud dominated distal turbidites are emplaced mainly as a result of glacio eustatic changes in sea level and derive both from different sites on the nw african margin and from the flanks of the canary islands thus the turbidites are of variable composition especially in terms of carbonate detrital magnetic mineral and organic carbon content within organic rich 0 5 corg turbidite horizons remineralization of organic detritus proceeds in two stages the initial stage involves suboxic reductive diagenesis following depletion of pore water o2 while the later stage involves oxidative diagenesis associated with the slow descent of an oxidation front through the sediment due to diffusion of o2 from the overlying seawater rock magnetic parameters of these sediments when expressed on a carbonate free basis reveal that significant depletion of detrital ferrimagnetic iron fe2 fe3 oxide grains has occurred within the organic rich turbidites during suboxic diagenesis normalized quotients of magnetic parameters and remanence coercivity profiles of selected samples also show that reductive diagenesis is a ferrimagnetic grain size selective process but it has a minimal effect on the canted antiferromagnetic fe3 oxides in the sediment such components if present therefore become relatively enriched in magnetic assemblages as the ferrimagnetic grains are progressively dissolved in all three cores studied however there is clear evidence for the presence of ultrafine ferrimagnetic iron oxide grains at depth within the suboxic zones of organic rich turbidites beneath both active and fossil oxidation fronts these grains are probably associated with populations of live magnetotactic bacteria which inhabit such organic rich horizons and which form a link in the chain of bacterially mediated reactions normally associated with suboxic diagenesis these results comply with previous observations made in studies of suboxic diagenesis in hemipelagic sediments and demonstrate the value of rapid and non destructive rock magnetic measurements for illuminating redoxomorphic processes of diagenesis involving transformation of iron phases in deep sea sediments

environmental magnetism principles and applications 1 in environmental magnetism rock and mineral magnetic techniques are used to investigate the formation transportation deposition and postdepositional alterations of magnetic minerals under the influences of a wide range of environmental processes all materials respond in some way to an applied magnetic field and iron bearing minerals are sensitive to a range of environmental processes which makes magnetic measurements extremely useful for detecting signals associated with environmental processes environmental magnetism has grown considerably since the mid 1970s and now contributes to research in the geosciences and in branches of physics chemistry and biology and environmental science including research on climate change pollution iron biomineralization and depositional and diagenetic processes in sediments to name a few applications magnetic parameters are used to routinely scan sediments but interpretation is often difficult and requires understanding of the underlying physics and chemistry thorough examination of magnetic properties and of the environmental processes that give rise to the measured magnetic signal is needed to avoid ambiguities complexities and limitations to interpretations in this review we evaluate environmental magnetic parameters based on theory and empirical results we describe how ambiguities can be resolved by use of combined techniques and demonstrate the power of environmental magnetism in enabling quantitative environmental interpretations we also review recent developments that demonstrate the mutual benefit of environmental magnetism from close collaborations with biology chemistry and physics finally we discuss directions in which environmental magnetism is likely to develop in the future

temporal trends of magnetic dissolution in the pelagic realm gauging paleoproductivity abstract magnetic hysteresis data from the western equatorial pacific suggest that the preservation of magnetic remanence in pelagic carbonates is controlled by paleoproductivity hysteresis excursions 100 k y intervals are linked here to greater magnetic dissolution associated with increased glacial organic carbon supply changes in the redox boundary coupled to glacial terminations result in anomalous magnetic features which are preserved in the sedimentary record these high frequency variations are superimposed on a longer term signal of magnetic dissolution which may reflect decreased productivity since the miocene

enhanced primary productivity and magnetotactic bacterial production in response to middle eocene warming in the neo tethys ocean abstract earth s climate experienced a warming event known as the middle eocene climatic optimum meco at 40 ma which was an abrupt reversal of a long term eocene cooling trend this event is characterized in the deep southern atlantic pacific and indian oceans by a distinct negative 18 o excursion over 500 kyr we report results of high resolution paleontological geochemical and rock magnetic investigations of the neo tethyan monte cagnero mca section northeastern apennines italy which can be correlated on the basis of magneto and biostratigraphic results to the meco event recorded in deep sea sections in the mca section an interval with a relative increase in eutrophic nannofossil taxa and decreased abundances of oligotrophic taxa spans the culmination of the meco warming and its aftermath and coincides with a positive carbon isotope excursion and a peak in magnetite and hematite goethite concentration the magnetite peak reflects the appearance of putative magnetofossils while the hematite goethite apex is attributed to an enhanced detrital mineral contribution likely as aeolian dust transported from the continent adjacent to the neo tethys ocean during a drier more seasonal climate during the peak meco warming based on our new geochemical paleontological and magnetic records the meco warming peak and its immediate aftermath are interpreted as a period of high primary productivity sea surface iron fertilization is inferred to have stimulated high phytoplankton productivity increasing organic carbon export to the seafloor and promoting enhanced biomineralization of magnetotactic bacteria which are preserved as putative magnetofossils during the warmest periods of the meco event in the mca section together with previous studies our work reinforces the connection between hyperthermal climatic events and the occurrence or increased abundance of putative magnetofossils in the sedimentary record

diagenetic alteration of magnetic signals by anaerobic oxidation of methane related to a change in sedimentation rate geochemical and rock magnetic investigations of sediments from three sites on the continental margin off argentina and uruguay were carried out to study diagenetic alteration of iron minerals driven by anaerobic oxidation of methane aom the western argentine basin represents a suitable sedimentary environment to study nonsteady state processes because it is characterized by highly dynamic depositional conditions mineralogic and bulk solid phase data document that the sediment mainly consists of terrigenous material with high contents of iron minerals as a typical feature of these deposits distinct minima in magnetic susceptibility are observed pore water data reveal that these minima in susceptibility coincide with the current depth of the sulfate methane transition smt where hs is generated by the process of aom the released hs reacts with the abundant iron oxyhydr oxides resulting in the precipitation of iron sulfides accompanied by a nearly complete loss of magnetic susceptibility modeling of geochemical data suggest that the magnetic record in this area is highly influenced by a drastic change in mean sedimentation rate sr which occurred during the pleistocene holocene transition we assume that the strong decrease in mean sr encountered during this glacial interglacial transition induced a fixation of the smt at a specific depth the stagnation has obviously enhanced diagenetic dissolution of iron oxyhydr oxides within a distinct sediment interval this assumption was further substantiated by numerical modeling in which the mean sr was decreased from 100 cm kyr 1 during glacial times to 5 cm kyr 1 in the holocene and the methane flux from below was fixed to a constant value to obtain the observed geochemical and magnetic patterns the smt must remain at a fixed position for 9000 yrs this calculated value closely correlates to the timing of the pleistocene holocene transition the results of the model show additionally that a constant high mean sr would cause a concave up profile of pore water sulfate under steady state conditions copyright 2005 elsevier ltd

the detection of bacterial magnetite in recent sediments of lake chiemsee southern germany the sediments of lake chiemsee located in the alpine foreland in southern germany host a variety of magnetotactic bacteria mtb which contain intracellular crystals of magnetite arranged in linear chains to detect bacterial magnetite in the carbonate dominated surface sediments and further quantify its contribution to the magnetic signal of the sediments we conducted detailed rock magnetic measurements as well as complimentary non magnetic analyses electron microscopy powder x ray diffraction and sediment pore water analysis our results demonstrate that biogenic single domain magnetite characterized by bullet and truncated hexagonal prismatic shapes is the dominant ferrimagnetic component in the topmost few centimetres of the sediment the changes of magnetic properties with depth are due to the occurrence of live mtb and the downward increasing dissolution of biogenic magnetite moreover the ratios of remanence loss on warming through the verwey transition after field cooling and zero field cooling of saturation isothermal remanence dfc dzfc were determined as 1 47 and 1 25 for freeze dried and air dried sediment samples containing mtb respectively these low ratios suggest that the bacterial magnetite chains were disrupted to a large extent and or that the bacterial magnetosomes might have undergone partial

searching for single domain magnetite in the pseudo single domain sedimentary haystack implications of biogenic magnetite preservation for sediment magnetism and relative paleointensity determinations 1 magnetic hysteresis measurements of sediments have resulted in widespread reporting of pseudo single domain like magnetic properties in contrast the ideal single domain sd properties that would be expected to be responsible for high quality paleomagnetic records are rare determining whether sd particles are rare or common in sediments requires application of techniques that enable discrimination among different magnetic components in a sediment we apply a range of such techniques and find that sd particles are much more common than has been reported in the literature and that magnetite magnetofossils the inorganic remains of magnetotactic bacteria are widely preserved at depth in a range of sediment types including biogenic pelagic carbonates lacustrine and marine clays and possibly even in glaci marine sediments thus instead of being rarely preserved in the geological record we find that magnetofossils are widespread this observation has important implications for our understanding of how sediments become magnetized and highlights the need to develop a more robust basis for understanding how biogenic magnetite contributes to the magnetization of sediments magnetofossils also have grain sizes that are substantially smaller than the 1 15 m size range for which there is reasonable empirical support for relative paleointensity studies the different magnetic response of coexisting fine biogenic and coarser lithogenic particles is likely to complicate relative paleointensity studies this issue needs much closer attention despite the fact that sediments have been subjected to paleomagnetic investigation for over 60 years much remains to be understood about how they become magnetized

simple and efficient separation of magnetic minerals from speleothems and other carbonates abstract trace concentrations of iron oxide minerals in carbonate sediments can preserve fine details about earth processes from high resolution recordings of the earth s ancient magnetic field to microscopic remnants of extraterrestrial impacts this paper presents a novel flask extraction method which uses a neodymium magnet and an orbital shaker for simple and efficient separation of magnetic minerals from carbonate sediments a mineral assemblage of magnetic standards titanomagnetite magnetite goethite and hematite combined with other mineral standards kaolinite quartz and nanoscale tio2 was subjected to the extraction procedure and compared to a natural speleothem sample exposure of the magnetic standards to a mildly acidic acetate buffer ph 4 did not cause physical or chemical alteration the strongly magnetic minerals were reproducibly extracted with greater than 90 efficiency by mass from mixtures of the mineral standards xrd and low temperature magnetic characterization demonstrated phase purity of the extracts quantitative comparison with two commonly used literature methods showed that the flask extraction method was more reproducible and efficient the addition of surfactant na po3 6 did not significantly improve extraction efficiency sequential dissolution and flask extraction of a simulated speleothem containing magnetic particles resulted in consistent extraction efficiencies for samples containing large 1 m strongly magnetic grains but a reduction in efficiency was observed for smaller 1 m grain sizes no method successfully extracted the weakly magnetic goethite and hematite however unprecedented representative characterization of these minerals was possible through quantitative analysis of the remainder after the collection of the magnetic extract this approach may facilitate detailed characterization of a wide range of carbonates such as pelagic limestone dolostone unlithified carbonate ooze speleothems and freshwater and pedogenic carbonates such mineral extractions can lead to new insights into paleoenvironmental processes as well as an improved understanding of the recording of the earth s magnetic field

abundant bacterial magnetite occurrence in oxic red clay magnetotactic bacteria mtb produce chains of intracellular magnetite and or greigite crystals and respond to an ambient magnetic field mtb are considered to be microaerophilic to anaerobic organisms that live at and below the oxic anoxic transition zone of aquatic environments on the basis of rock magnetic analyses including first order reversal curve diagrams and isothermal remanent magnetization component analyses along with transmission electron microscopy we demonstrate that bacterial magnetites magnetofossils dominate magnetic mineral assemblages throughout a 76 m thickness of red clay at integrated ocean drilling program site u1365 in the south pacific gyre as well as in subsurface red clay of the north pacific gyre where the sediment column contains abundant dissolved oxygen and no oxic anoxic transition zone exists this implies that mtb inhabit red clay this conflicts with widespread interpretations of mtb ecology namely that they are microaerophilic requiring low levels of oxygen to grow and produce magnetite and that magnetotaxis is used to help them find optimal positions in a strong vertical chemical gradient most magnetofossils in the red clay have cubo octahedral morphology this supports the notion that magnetofossil morphology can be a paleoenvironmental indicator the proportion of elongated magnetofossils increases in less oxic environments our results also have implications for red clay paleomagnetism in that magnetofossils may cause much delayed remanence acquisition if mtb can live at decimeter depths within red clay

alteration of magnetic mineralogy at the sulfate methane transition analysis of sediments from the argentine continental slope on the argentine continental slope off the rio de la plata estuary the sulfate methane transition smt has been encountered at shallow depths of a few meters below the seafloor at around this horizon where sulfate diffusing downward from the bottom water is met and reduced by methane rising from deeper in the sediment column intense alteration affects the detrital magnetic mineral assemblage less than 10 of the dominant primary low coercivity ferrimagnetic titano magnetite remains after alteration in the upper part of the suboxic environment underlying the iron redox boundary which is located at a depth of 0 1 m approximately 60 of the finer grained detrital fraction is already dissolved while the high coercivity minerals are relatively unaffected in the suboxic environment large portions 40 are diagenetically dissolved in the sulfidic smt zone nevertheless the characteristics of the magnetic residue are entirely controlled by a high coercivity mineral assemblage unlike common observations that diagenetic alteration produces coarser magnetic grain sizes in suboxic milieus a distinct overall fining is found in the sulfidic zone different factors should contribute to this effect scanning electron microscope analysis combined with x ray microanalysis identified fine grained titano magnetite preserved as inclusions in silicates and between high ti titanohematite lamellae and possibly of prime importance a comprehensive fragmentation of larger grains in the course of maghemitization the only secondary iron sulfide mineral detected is pyrite which is present as clusters of euhedral crystals or directly replaces titano magnetite the thermomagnetic measurements did not provide evidence for the presence of ferrimagnetic sulfides such as greigite different from other studies reporting a marked magnetic enhancement at around the smt due to the precipitation and preservation of such metastable ferrimagnetic sulfides a complete pyritization process will cause a distinct magnetic depletion like in the present case 2005 elsevier b v all rights reserved

calibration of mg ca thermometry in planktonic foraminifera from a sediment trap time series 1 paired mg ca and 18o measurements on planktonic foraminiferal species g ruber white g ruber pink g sacculifer g conglobatus g aequilateralis o universa n dutertrei p obliquiloculata g inflata g truncatulinoides g hirsuta and g crassaformis from a 6 year sediment trap time series in the sargasso sea were used to define the sensitivity of foraminiferal mg ca to calcification temperature habitat depths and calcification temperatures were estimated from comparison of 18o of foraminifera with equilibrium calcite based on historical temperature and salinity data when considered together mg ca mmol mol of all species except two show a significant r 0 93 relationship with temperature t c of the form mg ca 0 38 0 02 exp 0 090 0 003 t equivalent to a 9 0 0 3 change in mg ca for a 1 c change in temperature small differences exist in calibrations between species and between different size fractions of the same species o universa and g aequilateralis have higher mg ca than other species and in general data can be best described with the same temperature sensitivity for all species and pre exponential constants in the sequence o universa g aequilateralis g bulloides g ruber g sacculifer other species this approach gives an accuracy of 1 2 c in the estimation of calcification temperature the 9 sensitivity to temperature is similar to published studies from culture and core top calibrations but differences exist from some literature values of pre exponential constants different cleaning methodologies and artefacts of core top dissolution are probably implicated and perhaps environmental factors yet understood planktonic foraminiferal mg ca temperature estimates can be used for reconstructing surface temperatures and mixed and thermocline temperatures using g ruber pink g ruber white g sacculifer n dutertrei p obliquiloculata etc the existence of a single mg thermometry equation is valuable for extinct species although use of species specific equations will where statistically significant provide more accurate evaluation of mg ca paleotemperature

paleoposition of the intertropical convergence zone in the eastern pacific inferred from glacial interglacial changes in terrigenous and biogenic magnetic mineral fractions magnetic properties are increasingly used for paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic studies utilizing recently developed proxies an environmental magnetic study was conducted on the uppermost 12 m sediments of integrated ocean drilling program site u1337 in the eastern equatorial pacific ocean this interval is above the fe redox boundary and covers the past 800 k y the site is located near the present southern boundary of the intertropical convergence zone itcz and is thus expected to be sensitive to variations of the itcz position the ratio of anhysteretic remanent magnetization susceptibility to saturation isothermal remanent magnetization k arm sirm first order reversal curve diagrams and irm acquisition curves indicate that the magnetic mineral assemblage consists of a dominant biogenic component and a minor terrigenous component two groups the biogenic soft bs and hard bh are identified for the biogenic component and probably correspond to different magnetofossil morphology the bh component probably carried by elongated magnetofossils increases in sediments of glacial periods which are probably in less oxic conditions due to increased ocean productivity this demonstrates that magnetofossil morphology which can be discriminated by the rock magnetic technique is a sensitive indicator of slight oxic suboxic environmental fluctuations in sediments temporal variations of the terrigenous component most likely transported as eolian dust were estimated from the k arm sirm ratio and s ratio ratio of a moderate field irm to sirm representing relative contribution of lower and higher coercivity magnetic minerals significant glacial interglacial variations occurred at marine isotope stage mis 10 and before but not after in addition coeval upcore increases in sedimentation rates and the bh component were observed suggesting increased productivity these observations may indicate that the position of the itcz was more southward than today ca 250 ka and before

pedogenesis and paleoclimate interpretation of the magnetic susceptibility record of chinese loess paleosol sequences in the chinese loess paleosol sequences from luochuan haanxi province china variations in the magnetic susceptibility have been accepted as an excellent proxy for paleoclimate and the standard interpretation is that climatic processes have enhanced the magnetic susceptibility of the paleosols beyond the base line level of the loess by using mineral magnetic properties and a soil chemistry extraction procedure we show that most of the magnetic susceptibility signal in both the paleosols and the loess is due to pedogenesis in effect loess deposition and pedogenesis are competing processes at all times and the presence of a paleosol simply indicates that the latter process was predominant these results imply that any interpretation of the paleoclimate record of loess paleosol sequences must recognize the pedogenic nature of the magnetic susceptibility signal and that the focus of future research must be on the critical role of climate in the development of the paleosols

environmental magnetism past present and future environmental magnetism involves the application of rock and mineral magnetic techniques to situations in which the transport deposition or transformation of magnetic grains is influenced by environmental processes in the atmosphere hydrosphere and lithosphere the first explicit description of environmental magnetism as a distinct field was in 1980 since that time environmental magnetism has become a broad field that is finding application in an ever increasing array of scientific disciplines in this review of the present state of environmental magnetic studies we divide the field into three broad but arbitrary categories the first involves the use of mineral magnetic assemblages in the geological record to study physical processes in depositional environments this category includes the correlation of sediment cores using magnetic susceptibility measurements studies of geomagnetic field behavior the analysis of depositional and postdepositional mechanical processes that affect sediments and the examination of magnetic parameters that might represent proxies for paleoclimatic variation the second category encompasses studies of the processes responsible for variations in the magnetic minerals brought into a sedimentary environment these provenance investigations include studies of changes in catchment derived sediment in lakes fluctuations in contributions from terrigenous aeolian and glaciogenic components in deep sea sediments and the origin of atmospheric particulates the final category addresses in situ changes and transformations of magnetic minerals in sedimentary environments including pedogenesis authigenetic diagenetic formation of ferrimagnetic phases dissolution of magnetic minerals due to reductive diagenesis and contributions of biomagnetism to sedimentary magnetism because environmental magnetism can address problems in so many disciplines and because many of these problems may be inaccessible to other techniques it is likely that the scope of environmental magnetism will continue to expand rapidly environmental magnetism is capable of providing important data for studies of global environmental change climatic processes and the impact of humans on the environment all of which are major research initiatives in the international scientific community these factors suggest that environmental magnetism has a bright and diverse future

mineral magnetic record of the chinese loess and paleosols variations in the magnetic susceptiblity of the chinese loess and its interbedded paleosols correlate strikingly well with the deep sea oxygen isotope record low susceptibility values are found for the loess layers and high values are found for the soil horizons two interpretative models have been advanced to account for these magnetic variations both of these models discount any significant in situ formation of magnetite during soil forming periods instead they infer relative concentration of detrital or atmospheric magnetite at these times we critically examine the assumptions made in these models and on the basis of some new mineral magnetic data and fromalized magnetic flux calculations offer an alternative explanation of the loess magnetic record our model identifies pedogenic formation of magnetite as the major contributor to the high magnetic susceptibility of the paleosols the formation and preservation of this pedogenic magnetite is dependent on soil froming conditions and hence reflects the regional climate

the identification and biogeochemical interpretation of fossil magnetotactic bacteria magnetotactic bacteria which most commonly live within the oxic anoxic transition zone oatz of aquatic environments produce intracellular crystals of magnetic minerals specifically magnetite or greigite the crystals cause the bacteria to orient themselves passively with respect to the geomagnetic field and thereby facilitate the bacteria s search for optimal conditions within the sharp chemical gradients of the oatz the bacteria may also gain energy from the redox cycling of their crystals because magnetotactic bacteria benefit from their magnetic moments natural selection has promoted the development of traits that increase the efficiency with which the intracellular crystals impart magnetic moments to cells these traits also allow crystals produced by magnetotactic bacteria called magnetofossils when preserved in sediments to be distinguished from abiogenic particles and particles produced as extracellular byproducts of bacterial metabolism magnetofossils are recognizable based on their narrow size and shape distributions distinctive morphologies with blunt crystal edges chain arrangement chemical purity and crystallographic perfection this article presents a scheme for rating magnetofossil robustness based on these traits the magnetofossil record extends robustly to the cretaceous and with lesser certainty to the late archean because magnetotactic bacteria predominantly live in the oatz the abundance and character of their fossils can reflect environmental changes that alter the chemical stratification of sediments and the water column the magnetofossil record therefore provides an underutilized archive of paleoenvironmental information several studies have demonstrated a relationship between magnetofossil abundance and glacial interglacial cycles likely mediated by changes in pore water oxygen levels more speculatively a better developed magnetofossil record might provide constraints on the long term evolution of marine redox stratification more work in modern and ancient settings is necessary to explicate the mechanisms linking the abundance and character of magnetofossils to ancient biogeochemistry

rock magnetism of late neogene and pleistocene deep sea sediments relationship to sediment source diagenetic processes and sediment lithology we use bivariate scatter plots to illustrate variations in selected rock magnetic properties low field susceptibility anhysteretic and isothermal remanence of late neogene and pleistocene deep sea sediments from 16 sites in the arctic ocean north atlantic equatorial atlantic and north pacific ocean and the arabian sea our intention is to examine the ability of the rock magnetic properties to differentiate the sediments according to factors such as lithology geographical area and the dominant mode of terrigenous sedimentation which at these sites is via ice rafting via bottom currents or via eolian processes overall correlations between sediment magnetic properties and gross lithology is poor and factors such as the source and transport path of terrigenous sediment and detrital magnetic minerals together with the action of reductive diagenetic processes are the major controls on the magnetic properties on the bivariate scatter plots sites with major ice rafted contributions tend to have high sedimentary ferrimagnetic mineral concentrations relatively coarse ferrimagnetic grain sizes and scattered sample point distributions in contrast sites where we infer significant bottom current supply of terrigenous material have tightly grouped sample point distributions carbonate sediments in which the terrigenous component is supplied by eolian processes tend to have a broad range of magnetic mineral concentration caused by glacial interglacial fluctuations in carbonate accumulation and eolian activity sediments containing significant volcanogenic material have high concentrations of relatively coarse grained ferrimagnetic material reductive diagenesis is a significant determinant of sediment magnetic properties in high productivity areas and has the effect of preferentially removing the fine grained ferrimagnetic fraction causing a coarsening of the ferrimagnetic grain size distribution and a rise in the antiferromagnetic ferrimagnetic ratio

what do we know about the evolution of mg to ca ratios in seawater 1 although most reconstructions of the evolution of the mg to ca ratio in seawater conclude that it has increased during the course of the cenozoic they disagree widely regarding the magnitude of this change on the basis of fluid inclusion and caco3 mineralogy observations the increase was at least threefold on the basis of mg content of foraminifera shells it was only a factor of 1 7 a recently published reconstruction based on the mg content of calcite fillings of voids in ridge flank basalts lends support to the conclusion that the change was severalfold but as it is very difficult to come up with a plausible geologic scenario which could account for such a large change we lean toward the smaller estimate based on the magnesium content of foraminifera shells

superparamagnetism and reduction diagenesis in pelagic sediments enhancement or depletion superparamagnetic grains ultra fine d 0 05 m particles unable to retain a remanence at room temperature have come under increased scrutiny as indicators of the diagenetic and authigenic history of sedimentary rocks in marine sediments fine grained magnetite with large surface area to volume is thought to be preferentially removed during magnetic mineral reduction on the basis of new magnetic hysteresis low temperature and geochemical studies of pelagic sediments from the western equatorial pacific ocean it is proposed that reduction processes increase rather than deplete the ultra fine magnetic grain population at the modern fe redox boundary enhanced superparamagnetism coincides with a coarsening of remanence carrying grains superparamagnetism also tracks proposed temporal changes in magnetite reduction caused by climatically driven fluctuations in organic carbon corg supply together with hysteresis characteristics changes in superparamagnetism may help the identification of paleointensity artifacts resulting from non steady state magnetic mineral reduction

coercivity analysis of magnetic phases in sapropel s1 related to variations in redox conditions including an investigation of the s ratio 1 abstract the most recent sapropel s1 in the eastern mediterranean has been extensively investigated with geochemical and rock magnetic techniques different redox conditions prevailed in different zones of the sediment through time the oxidized sapropel zone is particularly interesting because earlier studies indicated that new magnetic material was formed including possible magnetosomes here we utilize component analyses of isothermal remanent magnetization irm acquisition curves and the analysis of first order reversal curves forc to further investigate the magnetic mineralogy in the entire box core abc26 the original input of eolian dust consisted of both magnetite and hematite in the oxidized sapropel and in the active oxidation zone an additional magnetite component is present this magnetite component has a higher coercivity than the eolian magnetite and a very small coercivity dispersion suggesting a narrow grain size distribution this is a strong indication that magnetosomes which are formed in the active oxidation zone are the magnetic carriers of this coercivity fraction forc diagrams support these findings the s ratio is forwardly modeled for mixed magnetic mineralogies with varying coercivity distributions to explain the down core s ratio behavior close to 1 in the top sediment and in the oxidized sapropel a drop in values in the active oxidation zone and again close to 1 in the syn sapropel the observed s ratio pattern in the oxidized sapropel and in the active oxidation zone can be explained by the recovered irm components whereas both oxidized sapropel and active oxidation zone contain the extra magnetite component their s ratios are different because of the differences in coercivity characteristics coercivity and dispersion of the two magnetites in these zones thus in these zones the s ratio does not reflect variations in the relative contributions of hematite to magnetite but variations in the characteristics of the individual magnetite assemblages also in the rest of the core the s ratio depends on the coercivity characteristics of the magnetite component rather than on the relative contributions of high versus low coercivity minerals the s ratio thus appears to be an unsuitable parameter to describe variations in the magnetic mineralogy especially when more than two components are present therefore the classical interpretation of the s ratio should be treated with caution

magnetotaxis and acquisition of detrital remanent magnetization by magnetotactic bacteria in natural sediment first experimental results and theory 1 the widespread occurrence of magnetotactic bacteria mtb in several types of marine and freshwater sediment and the role of fossil magnetosomes magnetofossils as main remanent magnetization carriers therein has important paleomagnetic and paleoenvironmental implications despite numerous studies on mtb biology and on magnetofossil preservation in geological records no detailed information is yet available on how magnetotaxis i e the ability to navigate along magnetic field lines is performed in sedimentary environments and on how magnetofossils possibly record the earth magnetic field we provide for the first time experimental evidence for these processes mtb living in sediment are poorly aligned with the geomagnetic field contrary to what is observed in water this can explain the seemingly excessive magnetic moment of most mtb the observed alignment is sufficient for supporting magnetotaxis across the typical thickness of chemical gradients experiments with magnetofossil rich sediment suggest that a natural remanent magnetization nrm is acquired by magnetofossils in the so called benthic mixed layer where natural mtb populations usually occur the acquired nrm is proportional to the applied field at least up to 160 t and its intensity is compatible with values observed in nature for same sediment types therefore if fossil magnetosome chains are not subjected to further alteration by early diagenetic processes they can provide useful relative paleointensities we propose a preliminary model to explain early stages of magnetofossil nrm acquisition as the result of a dynamic equilibrium between magnetic torques and randomizing forces due to sediment mixing

magnetic mineral diagenesis in suboxic sediments at bettis site w n ne pacific ocean the effects of iron diagenesis on paleomagnetism and rock magnetism were examined in suboxic sediments from bettis site w n in the ne pacific ocean as part of the oxidative decomposition of organic matter ultrafine grained authigenic magnetites are produced immediately above the iron reduction zone this zone is commonly observed in deep sea sediments as a prominent color change from brown to greenish grey the magnetite authigenesis is evidenced by systematic increases in natural magnetic intensities and stabilities and by comparable shifts in other rock magnetic properties the magnetites are composed of relatively pure fe3o4 and fall within a restricted size range of 0 06 0 12 m which is nominally single domain some of these finest grained magnetites are rapidly destroyed during burial upon entering the zone of iron reduction leaving a relatively coarser population magnetite dissolution appears to continue with depth according to a first order surface area reaction process when at steady state iron reduction is independent of sulfide formation in these sediments because solid sulfur profiles show no increase at depth and most of the sulfur occurs as barite despite a well constrained carbonate stratigraphy comparisons of paleomagnetic directions between nearby cores show little agreement suggesting that the directions are composed of a complex mixture of remanences acquired at different depths subsurface magnetic peaks may represent paleoredox markers preserved by non steady state redox conditions caused by climatically induced variations in organic matter flux and sedimentation rates

water mass stability reconstructions from greenhouse eocene to icehouse oligocene for the northern gulf coast continental shelf usa 1 shallow water mass characteristics such as temperature and density profile play a critical role in the climate system we have developed a new method by which to reconstruct the ancient shallow water mass stability on the continental shelf using oxygen isotope variation within mollusc shells and fish otoliths and applied the method to an important interval in earth history the most recent transition from greenhouse eocene to icehouse oligocene climate modes we define the slope of summer temperature density versus the seasonal range in temperature density as an indicator of water mass stability in addition extrapolation of the regression to zero seasonality is a proxy for temperature at the bottom of the seasonal thermocline tbst during the greenhouse world the early eocene and middle eocene the water mass plot shows an unstable water mass agreeing with previous planktonic foraminiferal studies showing that temperature gradients at this time were much smaller than at present during the middle to late eocene transition a substantial increase in water mass stability occurred significant cooling 5 c of the tbst at this transition indicates that the greater cooling of deeper water relative to surface water caused the increase in water mass stability the changes in water column structure at this transition were the most likely cause of a major extinction of planktonic foraminifera from warm to cold water taxa the late eocene t dt profile is very similar to modern profiles suggesting that shallow water mass structure became similar to that of the modern gulf coastal shelf by the late eocene at the eocene oligocene e o boundary no major change in water mass structure is identified this agrees with the observation that no major extinction of planktonic foraminifera is found at the e o boundary index terms 3344 meteorology and atmospheric dynamics paleoclimatology 1040 geochemistry isotopic composition chemistry 4294 oceanography general instruments and techniques keywords eocene paleoclimate greenhouse

low temperature magnetic properties of pelagic carbonates oxidation of biogenic magnetite and identification of magnetosome chains 1 pelagic marine carbonates provide important records of past environmental change we carried out detailed low temperature magnetic measurements on biogenic magnetite bearing sediments from the southern ocean ocean drilling program odp holes 738b 738c 689d and 690c and on samples containing whole magnetotactic bacteria cells we document a range of low temperature magnetic properties including reversible humped low temperature cycling ltc curves different degrees of magnetite oxidation are considered to be responsible for the observed variable shapes of ltc curves a dipole spring mechanism in magnetosome chains is introduced to explain reversible ltc curves this dipole spring mechanism is proposed to result from the uniaxial anisotropy that originates from the chain arrangement of biogenic magnetite similar to published results for uniaxial stable single domain sd particles the dipole spring mechanism reversibly restores the remanence during warming in ltc measurements this supports a previous idea that remanence of magnetosome chains is completely reversible during ltc experiments we suggest that this magnetic fingerprint is a diagnostic indicator for intact magnetosome chains although the presence of isolated uniaxial stable sd particles and magnetically interacting particles can complicate this test magnetic measurements through the eocene section of odp hole 738b reveal an interval with distinct magnetic properties that we interpret to originate from less oxidized biogenic magnetite and enrichment of a biogenic hard component co occurrence of these two magnetic fingerprints during the late eocene in the southern ocean indicates less oxic conditions probably due to increased oceanic primary productivity and organic carbon burial

magnetotactic bacterial abundance in pelagic marine environments is limited by organic carbon flux and availability of dissolved iron article i nfo article history magnetotactic bacteria intracellularly biomineralize magnetite of an ideal grain size for recording palaeomagnetic signals however bacterial magnetite has only been reported in a few pre quaternary records because progressive burial into anoxic diagenetic environments causes its dissolution deep sea carbonate sequences provide optimal environments for preserving bacterial magnetite due to low rates of organic carbon burial and expanded pore water redox zonations such sequences often do not become anoxic for tens to hundreds of metres below the seafloor nevertheless the biogeochemical factors that control magnetotactic bacterial populations in such settings are not well known we document the preservation of bacterial magnetite which dominates the palaeomagnetic signal throughout eocene pelagic carbonates from the southern kerguelen plateau southern ocean we provide evidence that iron fertilization associated with increased aeolian dust flux resulted in surface water eutrophication in the late eocene that controlled bacterial magnetite abundance via export of organic carbon to the seafloor increased flux of aeolian iron bearing phases also delivered iron to the seafloor some of which became bioavailable through iron reduction our results suggest that magnetotactic bacterial populations in pelagic settings depend crucially on particulate iron and organic carbon delivery to the seafloor

magnetic unmixing of first order reversal curve diagrams using principal component analysis we describe a quantitative magnetic unmixing method based on principal component analysis pca of first order reversal curve forc diagrams for pca we resample forc distributions on grids that capture diagnostic signatures of single domain sd pseudo single domain psd and multi domain md magnetite as well as of minerals such as hematite individual forc diagrams are recast as linear combinations of end member em forc diagrams located at user defined positions in pca space the em selection is guided by constraints derived from physical modeling and imposed by data scatter we investigate temporal variations of two ems in bulk north atlantic sediment cores collected from the rockall trough and the iberian continental margin sediments from each site contain a mixture of magnetosomes and granulometrically distinct detrital magnetite we also quantify the spatial variation of three em components a coarse silt sized md component a fine silt sized psd component and a mixed clay sized component containing both sd magnetite and hematite in surficial sediments along the flow path of the north atlantic deep water nadw these samples were separated into granulometric fractions which helped constrain em definition pca based unmixing reveals systematic variations in em relative abundance as a function of distance along nadw flow finally we apply pca to the combined dataset of rockall trough and nadw sediments which can be recast as a four em mixture providing enhanced discrimination between components our method forms the foundation of a general solution to the problem of unmixing multi component magnetic mixtures a fundamental task of rock magnetic studies this article is protected by copyright all rights reserved

paleoearthquakes on the anninghe and zemuhe fault along the southeastern margin of the tibetan plateau and implications for fault rupture behavior at fault bends on strike slip faults abstract fault bends can serve as fault segment boundaries and are used in seismic hazard assessment recent studies addressing whether rupture propagation would be arrested at such structural complexities have commonly focused on computational modeling however multi cycle paleoseismic rupture observations through fault bends have seldom been reported in this study we used trenching and radiocarbon dating to reveal paleoseismic rupture histories on the southern segment of the anninghe fault anhf along the southeastern margin of the tibetan plateau to explore multi cycle surface rupture behavior at an extensional fault bend with an angle of about 30 at xichang between the anhf and zemuhe fault zmhf specifically nine trenches were opened in a fault depression at maoheshan site and five paleoseismic events were identified these have been named e1 through e5 respectively corresponding to events at 1400 935 bce 420 875 ce 830 1360 ce 1295 1715 ce and 1790 ce present after comparison with the historical records of earthquakes around xichang and previous paleoseismic results we suggest that the five seismic events are constrained at 1365 bce 935 bce 814 ce 950 ce 1145 ce 1536 ce and 1850 ce respectively the average recurrence interval of earthquakes along the southern segment of the anhf is about 700 800 yr furthermore the evidence indicates that surface faulting events along the southern segment of the anhf appear to be unevenly spaced in time moreover based on comparisons of seismic events along the anhf and zmhf we find that two fault segments simultaneous ruptured during the 814 ce and 1850 ce earthquakes event e3 and the 1536 ce earthquake ruptured the anhf but not rupture the zmhf we suggest that the xichang fault bend is not a persistent fault boundary indicating that extensional fault bends with an angle of about 30 may not effectively terminate seismic ruptures on strike slip faults

mineral magnetic properties of artificial samples systematically mixed from haematite and magnetite summary detailed rock magnetic investigations were carried out on a set of samples with defined ratios of haematite and magnetite the measured parameters provide a reference for interpreting common rock magnetic parameters in investigations of sediments the contribution of haematite to the magnetic fraction must exceed 95 wt of the magnetic fraction when mixed with magnetite in order to visibly influence grain size and coercitivity indicative magnetic parameters coercivity of remanence bcr and coercive force bc do not change in the same way with increasing haematite content which results in a peak bcr bc value at around 99 5 wt haematite variations in haematite content can be ignored when interpreting most rock magnetic parameters especially grain size indicative parameters for samples where haematite contents range from 0 to 98 wt the s ratio is still the most sensitive parameter for estimating the relative amount of haematite in magnetite haematite mixtures a combination of s ratio the saturation isothermal remanent magnetization divided by the low field magnetic susceptibility sirm lf and bcr is the most effective way to identify haematite in natural samples our results agree with literature data and fill the gap between results obtained either from pure magnetite or haematite with comparable grain sizes