Anisotropy of Anhysteretic Remanenct Magnetization (AARM) and its Dependence on Experimental Parameters - Implications for Fabric Interpretation and Paleomagnetic Corrections

Magnetic fabrics often serve as proxies for mineral fabrics, and anisotropy of remanent magnetization in particular assesses the crystallographic and shape preferred orientation of ferromagnetic (sensu lato) minerals. Anisotropy of anhysteretic remanent magnetization (AARM) is most commonly measured by imparting a set of directional anhysteretic remanences over the entire coercivity range of the sample, or up to the maximum field the (de)magnetizer can reach. However, if several ferromagnetic minerals or grain sizes coexist in a rock, they may be affected by different stress fields or stages of deformation. For example, if magnetite is present both as exsolution lamellae within silicates as well as interstitial grains between silicates, then these two populations may possess significantly different fabrics. In this study, we investigate how AARM in a rock changes when the remanence is imparted over different coercivity windows. For this, remanences are imposed over 0-20, 0-50, 0-100, 0-180, and 20-50, 50-100 and 100-180 mT. We will also investigate how the strength of the DC bias field affects AARM tensors. Preliminary results on rocks from a series of lithologies indicate that principal directions, degree and shape of the ARM anisotropy can vary dramatically across different coercivity windows. The degree of anisotropy can either decrease or increase as higher-coercivity grains are included. In particular, it should be noted that the coercivity fraction carrying the largest portion of the remanence does not necessarily dominate the AARM. Principal directions can be similar for all coercivity windows, but a number of samples show distinct orientations of the 0-20 mT AARM tensors vs the 50-100 or 100-180 mT tensors, with the 0-50, 0-100 and 0-180 mT AARMs being a combination of these two fabrics. Changes in AARM tensors will influence the interpretation of inferred flow or deformation patterns, as well as anisotropy corrections of paleomagnetic data. Therefore, isolating the remanence anisotropy of the specific grain size or coercivity range of interest may allow for improved fabric interpretation, and more reliable anisotropy corrections for paleomagnetic directions and paleointensities.