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Ferrimagnetic Sulfide Formation in Recent Sediments of Loch Ba, Scotland and Implications for Magnetostratigraphic Interpretation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

T. Martin Williams
T. Martin Williams*
Affiliation:
University of Malawi, Department of Earth Sciences, Box 280, Zomba, Malawi
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Abstract

Magnetic and chemical analyses of 1-m piston cores from Loch Ba, Scotland illuminated the presence of a ferrimagnetic mineral which is sensitive to atmospheric oxidation and is soluble in H2O2. This phase, plausibly only an authigenic sulfide, is probably spinel Fe3S4 (greigite). Authigenesis of Fe3S4 requires reactive FeS and elemental S, the latter likely being derived from in situ oxidation of bisulfide near the sediment redoxycline. This is consistent with the observation of maximum “oxidation-sensitive” magnetic fractions around the oxic/anoxic sediment boundary at ca. 4–16 cm depth. Progressive pyritization of Fe3S4 during burial provides the most viable explanation for the loss of “oxidation-sensitive” phases at greater depth. The results extend the range of environments known to be subject to postdepositional magnetic enhancement to include oligotrophic lakes with relatively low productivity. This may have ramifications for magnetically based sediment-source linkage, core correlation, and pollution studies which fail to demonstrate that magnetostratigraphic profiles are solely reflectively of allogenic mineral presence.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , March 1991 , pp. 208 - 221
Copyright
University of Washington

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