CAPITA SELECTA

(KAPITA SELEKTA)
TOPIC:
Viscous and thermoviscous magnetization

Kelompok 4
● Desak Putu Mega Erlina Pratiwi Satriana (028)
● Julian Lo (022)
● Dafina Ajeng Kinanti (003)
● Kevin Rizqia Pratama (48)
● Muhammad Amroedhia Dzulfiqar Erran (041)
● Andrea Franciliano (043)
 10.1 Introduction
• Viscous magnetization, or magnetic viscosity, is the gradual change of
magnetization with time at constant temperature.
• In nature, rocks are exposed to a field of fairly constant direction and variable
intensity, but the polarity of the field reverses a few times every million years,
resetting the magnetic system. Kok and Tauxe (1996) have pointed out that
following a field reversal, a fraction of the pre-reversal remanence of opposite
polarity will decay viscously, giving rise to a 'sawtooth' or ramp-like pattern
infield intensity records.
• The NRM of virtually all rocks contains a low-temperature VRM acquired
during the present Brunhes normal epoch, the product of viscous
remagnetization by the geomagnetic field over the last 0.78 Ma and carried
by grain ensembles with r less than 1 Ma.
• Viscous decay of remanence under zero-field conditions, although frequently
investigated in the laboratory, is never found in nature. Brunhes-epoch VRM
obscures older NRM's. Its removal is usually the main objective of laboratory
cleaning methods like AF or thermal demagnetization.
2
 10.1 Introduction
• Such VRM is easily recognized because it roughly parallels the present
geomagneticfield.It is usually 'softer' or more easily cleaned than older NRM's
of TRM, DRM (depositional remanence) or CRM (crystallization or chemical
remanence) origin. However, we shall find that VRM in magnetically hard
minerals like hematite, pyrrhotite and iron is not easily AF demagnetized.
• Slowly cooled plutons and rocks reheated orogenically or by burial in
sedimentary or volcanic piles acquire viscous partial thermoremanent
magnetization (VpTRM). VpTRM blurs the distinction between purely thermal
and purely viscous magnetization or remagnetization. VpTRM is thus
potentially a bipolar remanence of reduced net intensity. Through careful
thermal demagnetization of very slowly cooled rocks, it may be possible to
recover, from different blocking-temperature fractions of VpTRM, a
geomagnetic polarity record, or even to detect apparent polar wander due to
plate motion.
• Unless acquired since the late Mesozoic, VpTRM does not approximately
parallel the present geomagnetic field, nor is it easily AF or thermally cleaned.
On the plus side, it constitutes a paleomagnetic signal rather than noise,
although dating the time of remagnetization is a difficult problem. 3
 10.2.1 Size effects in magnetic viscosity

• Room-temperature viscosity coefficients Sa for the growth of viscous

induced magnetization (VIM) and Sd for the zero-field decay of VRM in
magnetite are shown in fig.10.2. The data cover four decades of grain
diameter or 12 decades of grain volume.

4
 10.2.1 Size effects in magnetic viscosity

• Magnetic viscosity measurements can be extended to very

short times by measuring the dependence of initial
susceptibility x on the frequency of an applied alternating field.
• A comparison of susceptibilities at two fixed frequencies is
often used in studies of soils and sediments to detect
superparamagnetic (in reality, nearly superparamagnetic or
viscous) grains.
• For soils containing SD magnetite and maghemite, dx/dlog f =
const. (Mullins and Tite, 1973). No frequency dependence was
detectable for MD magnetite.

5
10.2.2 Temperature dependence of magnetic
viscosity and susceptibility

● Magnetic viscosity increases as the

temperature rises,
● Viscous magnetization rises to a
dramatic peak 50-100 °C below Tc.
The cause is rapid decreases in Ms
and //K or Hc, and for MD grains
also in VBark, which cause τ to
plummet
● Viscous changes level off above 500
°C (80 °C below Tc) in magnetite
and decrease at 100 and 130 °C (just
below Tc) in TM60.
● These decreases in viscosity indicate
that most values of r have dropped to
such an extent that they are shorter
than the times used in the laboratory
experiments
6
10.2.2 Temperature dependence of magnetic
viscosity and susceptibility

● The high-temperature enhancement of both 'non-viscous' and viscous

magnetizations is potentially important in explaining regional magnetic
anomalies with deep crustal sources near the Curie-point isotherm.
● MD grains generally have a much more muted Hopkinson peak than SD
grains because the internal demagnetizing field limits χ t o values ≤ 1/N
at all temperatures.
● At intermediate temperatures, viscous changes accelerate compared to a
log t relationship, so that acquisition and decay curves take on a convex-
down or convex-up aspect when plotted on a logarithmic time scale

7
10.2.2 Temperature dependence of magnetic
viscosity and susceptibility

The Hopkinson effect or high-temperature peak in measured initial

susceptibility of a single-domain magnetite.

● Experimental Hopkinson peaks in

magnetic susceptibility x occur just
above the peaks in magnetic viscosity
and in pTRM blocking-temperature
spectrum
● The Hopkinson peak can be large:
The SP susceptibility of SD grains
above their unblocking temperatures is
about two orders of magnitude higher
than the susceptibilities of the same
grains when thermally blocked.

8
 10.2.3 Magnetic viscosity of TM60 and
oceanic basalts

● There has been considerable debate about the source of strong VRM's in
oceanic basalts containing TM60 as their main magnetic constituent
● Both oxidized fine grains and unoxidized coarse grains have unusually
large viscosity.
● Viscous growth and decay coefficients increase with time on a time
scale of a few seconds to a few hours that increase even more with
heating to « 100 °C, which is just below the TM60 Curie point and is
similar to temperatures reached at shallow (a few km) depths in the
oceanic crust
● If the high viscosity coefficients persisted, virtually all primary TRM in
the upper oceanic crust would be viscously overprinted within ≈1 Ma
after any change in field, about the typical duration of one polarity
epoch.

9
 10.2.3 Magnetic viscosity of TM60 and
oceanic basalts
(a) Acquisition of room temperature VRM by
three fine-grained titanomaghemite samples.
(b) Viscous acquisition and decay coefficients,
Sa and S,i, as a function of oxidation parameter
z for titanomaghemites with x = 0.6.
● The figure beside shows that high
VRM is restricted to high oxidation
states
● When the oxidation parameter z
increased from 0.4 to 0.9, the VRM
growth coefficient increased tenfold,
while coercive force decreased by a
similar factor.
● The explanation seems to be an
increase in the superparamagnetic or
critical blocking volume KB and an
accompanying decrease in effective
coercivity Hc as Ms decreases with
oxidation.
● No grain cracking was detected.
10
 10.2.3 Magnetic viscosity of TM60 and
oceanic basalts

● On the other hand, viscosity coefficients increased as z increased

from 0 to 0.4 but declined with further oxidation.
● The difference in results between the two sets of experiments must
be linked to the different grain sizes of the starting material.
Coarser grains tend to crack during oxidation.
● The natural TM60 samples that used were moderately to highly
cracked. Mrs/Ms remained constant at SD values for all of Ozdemir
and Banerjee's samples but decreased with oxidation for
Moskowitz and Banerjee's samples, implying a decrease in grain
size or possibly multiphase oxidation.

11
10.2.4 Initial states and multidomain viscous
magnetization

(a) Continuous thermal demagnetization curves

of VRM's acquired by 1-2 um glass-ceramic
magnetites at 225 °C for 3hrintf0 =0.2mT
starting from three different initial states, AF
(crosses), TH (solid points) and TC (open
circles) (see text for explanation of the states).
VRM with an AF or TH initial state
demagnetizes with < 100 °C heating, but VRM
with a TC initial state demagnetizes very slowly
and has a tail of > 500 CC unblocking
temperatures.
(b) Stepwise AF demagnetization at room
temperature of VRM's similar to those of (a)
with AF (open triangles) and TC (solid
triangles) initial states.

12
10.2.4 Initial states and multidomain viscous
magnetization

Halgedahl (1993) discovered spectacular differences in the continuous thermal

demagnetization behaviour of 1-2 um magnetite grains, depending on the
initial state from which high-temperature VRM was acquired (Fig. 10.6a).
• VRM acquired from an AF demagnetized state demagnetized to the 5%
level < 50 °C above the acquisition temperature of 225 °C.
• VRM acquired after thermal demagnetization to Tc followed by zero-field
heating to 225 °C (thermally heated or TH state) was slightly more
resistant, requiring « 100 °C heating for a similar VRM demagnetization
level.
• But VRM acquired after zero-field heating to Tc and cooling to 225 °C
(thermally cooled or TC state) demagnetized very slowly, with a
demagnetization tail like that of MD pTRM (Fig. 9.7b) extending up to
and above 500 °C.

13
10.2.4 Initial states and multidomain viscous
magnetization

• AF demagnetization at room temperature (Fig. ro.6b) revealed no obvious

difference between the AF and TC states, however.
• Nor did viscous acquisition and decay curves at 225 °C after various zero-
field wait times. And as we shall see later in this chapter, stepwise thermal
demagnetization of high-temperature VRM, where measurements are
made after cooling to To, reveal no great difference among AF, TH and
TC initial states even in quite large (135 um) magnetites (Fig. 10.11 b)

14
 10.3.1 Exact theory of viscous
magnetization

• The formal equation for acquisition of viscous magnetic moment m by N

single domain grains from a demagnetized initial state is

A similar equation describes viscous decay. lff(V, HK0) is known (which is

seldom the case), m(t) can be found by numerical integration.
• Walton (1980) assumed that the range of grain shapes, and thus HK0, is much
less than the range of V. Approximating Meq (eqn. (8.2) or (8.11)) by
VM2H0/kT, since Ho is assumed to be small, (10.4) gives for the acquisition
coefficient Sa = dM / d ln t = t(dM/di)

• Either equation predicts a log t dependence for VRM intensity for times such
that log t <S -log r0 « 21 (§8.5), i.e., for a few decades of?, as observed.
• Deviations from log / dependence will become obvious even at short times for
very viscous samples and at longer times for all samples
15
 10.3.1 Exact theory of viscous
magnetization

• That equations also predict that VRM intensity is proportional to field

strength Ho in the weak-field range and that VRM acquisition (and decay)
coefficients increase non-linearly as T/Ms 2(T) to some power at high
temperatures.
• Proportionality between VRM and field is well established
experimentally.
• The inherent temperature dependence of viscosity coefficients tends to be
obscured by the variability of the grain distributions, very different parts
of which are sampled by the VRM 'window' at different temperatures.
• However, a good theoretical match to high-temperature data for SD
magnetite (Fig. 10.7) was obtained by Walton (1983) using the known/(K)
of the sample (Dunlop, 1973a) and numerically integrating eqn. (10.4).

16
 10.3.2 Blocking theory of VRM

• Able to predict how much VRM accumulates during the Brunhes epoch,
for example, based on the measured magnetic properties of a particular
rock.
• Clearly no laboratory zero-field storage test or VRM acquisition
experiment can reproduce conditions in nature over a 1 -Ma time scale.
• However, two factors work in this favour.
1. First, as mentioned earlier, eqns. (10.2) and (10.3) tell us that linear
changes in variables like V, //K0, T or Ho are equivalent to logarithmic
changes in T and thus, under blocking conditions, in t. More than one-half
the scale of log t from TO(W 10~9 s) to 1 Ma is accessible in the
laboratory.
2. Secondly, even the inaccessible part of the scale can be activated in
mild heatings, well below the Curie point, because r is such a strong
function of T (cf. Fig. 8.1 ob). Let us elaborate on the first point.

17
 10.3.2 Blocking theory of VRM

• Because we will be examining viscous changes over many decades of t or

r, the exact but rather cumbersome equations (10.4)-(10.7) are of no great
benefit, and we shall return to Neel's blocking approximation, used with
such success in Chapter 8.
• That is, we shall replace eqn. (10. i) by the step function

• Clearly this is not as good an approximation as it was in modelling

temperature changes in magnetization. Blocking (viscous acquisition) and
unblocking (viscous decay) are fuzzy, drawn-out processes for small
intervals of t, whereas they were quite sharp for small intervals of T (Fig.
8.iob).
• However blocking/unblocking over equivalent intervals of T and log t are
equally sharp, and this allows us to use Neel diagrams as an aid in
visualizing changes over many decades in time.

18
 10.3.2 Blocking theory of VRM
Figure 10.8. The effect of time t on single-
domain blocking curves on the Neel
diagram. VRM acquisition and viscous
remagnetization can be modelled by
sweeping a blocking curve across the
grain distribution, as indicated by the
arrow.
• An appropriate Neel diagram is given in
Fig. 10.8, with blocking contours
calculated from eqn. (10.2) by setting τ =
t.
• Butwhereas the spacing of contours
increased with increasing T, it decreases
with increasing t.
• In fact, equal areas swept out by the
blocking curve, as sketched,are produced
by equal increments of log t.
• The intensity of VRM is therefore indeed
proportional to log / if/(K, HK0) is
independent of V or HK0 or both over
the small area swept out by the blocking
curve in several decades of log t.
19
 10.3.2 Blocking theory of VRM
• This figure demonstrates that about one-
• also makes it clear that single-domain
Figure 10.8. The effect of time t on single-
domain blocking curves on the Neel
diagram. VRM acquisition and viscous
remagnetization can be modelled by
sweeping a blocking curve across the
grain distribution, as indicated by the
arrow.
half the range of log t up to 1 Ma time
scales is accessible in laboratory
experiments. Even the inaccessible part can
be activated by carrying out viscosity
experiments at only mildly elevated
temperatures.
VRM is carried by the same ensembles as,
and is indistinguishable from, a partial
TRM having the same upper blocking
curve as the VRM and produced by the
same field. The partial TRM in question
occupies a small area on the Neel diagram,
so that unless the grain distribution is
unusually biased towards small V and
HK0.
20
 10.3.3 Thermal Demagnetization of VRM

• VRM is also the softest fraction of the NRM (TRM). Room - temperature
VRM is thermally demagnetized by heating to:

where

• The analogy between T and log t is embodied in the relationship

if T is close enough to T0 that

• Single-domain VRM is 'soft' as far as thermal demagnetization, It means
that secondary NRM acquired viscously at or near To can be erased by a
very mild heating, leaving the primary NRM intact.

21
 10.3.4 AF Demagnetization of VRM

• In more quantitative terms, the upper blocking contour bounding a VRM

is specified by

• AF demagnetization effective coercivity

• The resistance of a VRM to AF cleaning is proportional to the factor

inside brackets being independent of mineral properties
• Hard VRM of this origin is prominent in hematite-bearing red sediments
and may occur also in some lunar rocks and soils.
• Although hard to AF demagnetize, VRM of this type is easily cleaned
thermally, because the VRM and thermal demagnetization contours do
match.

22
 10.4 Theory of Multidomain VRM

• Multidomain VRM can be analysed using equation

• VRM is even more strongly prohibited in larger grains, because the

increase in VBark more than offsets any decrease in Hc
• MD grains should be entirely non viscous. The flaw in the argument must
be in the assumption that the wall is rigid and is activated as a unit.
• It is possible to view VRM as resulting from the action of a 'viscosity
field' added to the applied field Ho
• Superchron VRM's are more difficult to erase than simple Neel (1949)
theory predicts
• At ordinary temperatures, much in excess of the (25-6Q)kT barriers that
can be crossed with the aid of thermal energy on time scales varying from
days to the age of the earth

23
 10.5 Viscous Noise Problems

• Viscous remagnetization of primary NRM through exposure to the present

earth's field during the Brunhes epoch is a persistent contaminant of
paleomagnetic information in rocks.
• More insidious is VRM acquired in the laboratory during the course of
measurements. It has been known for a long time that the viscosity
coefficient S is dependent on initial state of a rock
• VRM acquisition is greatly enhanced when the NRM has been thermally
demagnetized to low levels.
• The cure for transitory VRM's is to make all measurements in a null-field
environment.
• Superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometers
have sufficiently fast and continuous response that the relaxation can be
monitored.

24
 10.6.1 Thermal demagnetization of
thermoviscous overprints

The relationship between the time and temperature responses of magnetization

is of considerable interest to paleomagnetists.

Neel SD theory provides a straightforward answer to the remagnetization

question. The last grains to acquire remanence are also the last to be
demagnetized.

TL, tL and TA, tA being laboratory and ancient temperature and time,
respectively. Dodson and McClelland Brown (1980) found an equivalent
result for the demagnetization of a VpTRM acquired during slow cooling.
Walton (1980), has proposed the relation for equal intensities of VRM to be
produced under conditions TL, tL and TA, tA.

25
 10.6.1 Thermal demagnetization of
thermoviscous overprints

a VRM added at right angles to a prior remanence of equal intensity. In the

Walton picture, the total remanence is a vector sum that exceeds the original
remanence. If, however, the original remanence is gradually replaced by a new
magnetization - not necessarily of the same magnitude - in a perpendicular
direction, the final erasure temperature Th of the original remanence is
automatically detected by the vector analytical methods commonly used in
paleomagnetism.

26
 10.6.1 Thermal demagnetization of
thermoviscous overprints

VRM's acquired by well-dispersed SD magnetite grains in a glass matrix in tA — 10 hr at TA =

95 °C and 233 °C were reduced to «10%, 1% and 0.1% of their initial intensities in heatings for
tL = 103 s at exactly the temperatures TL.

To sum up, exact numerical calculations of single-domain VRM result in time-temperature

relations that are scarcely distinguishable from the simple Pullaiah et al. (1975) relations and are
furthermore borne out by well-controlled laboratory experiments. The paleomagnetic
'experiments' over geological time scales are also relatively well-controlled in that (rA, TA) are
known within fairly narrow limits, but in this case TL disagrees significantly.

27
 10.6.1 Thermal demagnetization of
thermoviscous overprints

contrasts experimental data on the stepwise thermal demagnetization of high-temperature

VRM's acquired by SD and MD magnetites. The acquisition time tA was 3.5 hr and the time tL
the sample was held at each demagnetization temperature was « 100 s. VRM's in the SD
magnetite sample demagnetized very sharply, mostly within ±15°C of TA (Fig a).

Results on a 135 umMD magnetite sample were completely different (Fig b). Whether the initial
state was AF, TH or TC, demagnetization continued over a broad temperature interval extending
up to Tc. The thermal demagnetization tail was well described by the theory of demagnetization
of MD partial TRM and doubtless has the same cause: continuous re-equilibration of domain
walls during heating due to self-demagnetization.

28
 10.6.1 Thermal demagnetization of
thermoviscous overprints
• A restudy of the Milton monzonite, whose burial overprint first led Middleton
and Schmidt (1982) to propose alternative t-T contours, has confirmed that the
'anomalously' high demagnetization temperatures originally reported are the
result of mixed SD and MD carriers (Dunlop et ah, 1995a)
• Samples from two sites contained exclusively coarse MD magnetite; their TL
values were extremely high, much above the predictions of either set of
contours. All other sites contained mixtures of SD and MD magnetite and
approximately reproduced Middleton and Schmidt's TL values. and Schmidt's
TL values.
• We conclude that eqn. (10.13) gives the correct t-T relationship for SD grains.
Thermoviscous overprints can be removed cleanly from SD samples at a
prescribed maximum heating temperature TL, leaving the surviving primary
NRM untouched. However, in the case of MD grains, VRM's and VpTRM's, like
multidomain pTRM's (§9.5), have a thermal demagnetization tail that continues
to obscure the primary NRM virtually up to the Curie point.
29
 10.6.2 AF and low-temperature
demagnetization of thermoviscous overprints

• AF demagnetization efficiently removes low-temperature thermoviscous

overprints in SD magnetite but becomes less and less effective as TA
increases (Fig. 10.12). VRM produced in 2.5 hr at 100 °C was completely
erased by a peak AF of 20 mT (200 Oe) but VRM's produced at 500 °C
and above were almost as resistant to AF cleaning as the total TRM.
• This is hardly astonishing, since higher-temperature VRM's magnetize
areas of the Neel diagram corresponding to higher-temperature pTRM's
• The only way to erase overprints in SD material without at the same time
affecting the surviving primary TRM is by thermal demagnetization.

30
 10.6.2 AF and low-temperature
demagnetization of thermoviscous overprints

● Stepwise thermal demagnetization

of VRM's produced during 3.5 hr
at 357 °C in a 20 um magnetite
sample, when the VRM's were
pre-treated by low-temperature
demagnetization (LTD) to 77 K or
AF demagnetization (AFD) to 10
mT before thermal cleaning, and
without pre-treatment

31
10.7 Cooling rate dependence of TRM

• Dodson and McClelland Brown (1980) and Halgedahl etal. (1980)

independently predicted that the intensity of TRM in SD grains should
increase for longer times, possibly by as much as 40% between laboratory
and geological settings.
• Fox and Aitken (1980) verified that there was about a 7% decrease in the
intensity of TRM acquired by SD magnetite in a baked clay sample when
the cooling time changed from 2.5 hr to 3 min, in excellent agreement
with predictions
(Fig. 10.14).

32
 10.8 VRM as a dating method
• Heller and Markert (1973) sampled dolerite blocks that had been reoriented
in Roman times in building Hadrian's Wall in northern England.
• The VRM formed since that time was resolved from the surviving primary
NRM by AF demagnetization, and the maximum coercivity Hc of the VRM
was used to deduce ln(//r0), using an equation analogous to (10.12). Two of
three blocks tested gave reasonable estimates of elapsed time: /a = 1.6-1.8
ka.
• The resolution of this method is determined by dM/dt = {\/t) (dM/dlog t)=
Sa/ta. There are two problems. First, Sa must be constant for time periods of
geological length, contrary to usual laboratory observations (e.g., Fig. 10.3).
• The rock used must contain only a single magnetic phase, i.e., one mineral
with constant domain structure, and the grain distribution f(V, HK0) must be
unusually uniform.
• The second problem is inherent in the method: the resolution is inversely
proportional to the length of time to be measured. Thus, only geologically
recent events are datable.
33
 10.9 Granulometry using magnetic
viscosity
• Viscous magnetization is a sensitive probe of narrow (V, H^o) bands of
the grain distribution. If HK0 has a narrow spread compared with V,
inversion of eqn. (10.4) or its analog for viscous decay yields/(r), i.e,/(K).

• A cruder estimate, which is adequate in most applications, is to use a

blocking approximation in eqn. (10.5) to obtain/(KB). Small VB can be
accessed by using the frequency dependence of susceptibility.

• Large VB can be activated in viscous acquisition or decay experiments

conducted above room temperature.

34
Thankyou!

35