Effect of hydrostatic pressure on viscous remanent magnetization in magnetite-bearing specimens

Abstract

Rocks at depth in the crust acquire a viscous (i.e., time-dependent) magnetization under the pressure-temperature conditions at which they reside. There have been numerous studies on the effect of temperature on viscous magnetization but little work has been performed on the effect of hydrostatic pressure. We have studied viscous remanent magnetization at 22°C in a 0.1 mT field at 0.1 and 100 MPa for natural and synthetic multidomain magnetite. The viscous remanent magnetization was found to increase nearly linearly with log(time) at both pressures. There was little change in the rate of viscous acquisition between 0.1 and 100 MPa over the multidomain grain size range studied. Thus for rocks buried at depth in the earth the enhancement of magnetic viscosity by thermal fluctuations will dominate over effects due to hydrostatic pressure.