Title: Magnetic
minerals in the Martian crust
Source: JOURNAL
OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS 110 (E12): 1-11 OCT 12 2005
Article No.: E12S04
Document Type: Article
Language: English
Abstract: [1]
Using rock magnetism and thermal modeling, we evaluate the candidate
minerals responsible for strong magnetic anomalies in the Terra Sirenum
and Terra Cimmeria regions of Mars' southern highlands. We assume an
early global dynamo field similar in strength to the present Earth's
field, enduring about 500 Myr after accretion and core formation, and a
basaltic crust containing no more than 4 - 7 weight% of magnetic
minerals. Thermal evolution models with a wide variety of initial
crustal thicknesses, distributions of radioactive elements, and thermal
expansion coefficients all yield similar thermal histories for the
crust: warming in the first similar to 1000 Myr ( due mainly to
radioactive heating) followed by monotonic cooling for the remainder of
Mars' history. Primary thermoremanent magnetization (TRM) acquired by
intrusive and extrusive bodies during the first 500 Myr was in part
thermally demagnetized by general crustal warming after the dynamo
field disappeared, from 500 to 1000 Myr. The Curie point isotherms
around 1000 Myr established the maximum depth of TRM-bearing crust.
Shock and heating due to impacts demagnetized the uppermost similar to
10 km of the crust around the same time, resulting in potential
magnetic layer thicknesses of 15 - 20 km for pyrrhotite, 40 - 50 km for
magnetite, and 50 - 60 km for hematite. Other magnetic phases, such as
iron and finely exsolved low-Ti titanohematite, are possible but less
likely in a basaltic crust under oxidizing conditions. The prime
candidates, in order of likelihood, are single-domain magnetite (0.2 -
0.4 volume% or 0.4 - 0.8 weight% required), single-domain pyrrhotite (1
- 2 volume% or 2 - 4 weight%), and either multidomain (> 15 mu m) or
5 - 15 mu m single-domain hematite or a mixture of both ( 1.5 - 3
volume% or 3 - 6 weight%). A composite source with different
combinations of these minerals at different depths is entirely
possible. Viscous decay of TRM is difficult to assess without detailed
knowledge of the distribution of minerals and blocking temperatures
with depth but would increase the amounts of magnetic material
required.
KeyWords Plus: DRILLING
PROGRAM HOLE-735B; MID-ATLANTIC-RIDGE; THERMOREMANENT MAGNETIZATION;
REMANENT MAGNETIZATION; THERMAL EVOLUTION; IMPACT DEMAGNETIZATION;
OCEANIC GABBROS; GUSEV CRATER; MARS; ANOMALIES
Addresses: Dunlop
DJ (reprint author), Univ Toronto, Dept Phys, 3359 Mississauga Rd,
Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6 Canada
Univ Toronto, Dept Phys, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6 Canada
McGill Univ, Dept Earth & Planetary Sci, Montreal, PQ H3A 2A7
Canada
Publisher: AMER
GEOPHYSICAL UNION, 2000 FLORIDA AVE NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20009 USA
Subject Category: GEOCHEMISTRY
& GEOPHYSICS
IDS Number: 975UL
ISSN: 0148-0227