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Vortex magnetic domain state behavior in the Day plot
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  • Wyn Williams,
  • Roberto Moreno,
  • Adrian Muxworthy,
  • Greig Paterson,
  • Lesleis Nagy,
  • Lisa Tauxe,
  • Ualisson Donardelli Bellon,
  • Idenildo Ferreira,
  • Alison Cowan
Wyn Williams
School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Roberto Moreno
CONICET, Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola (IFEG)
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Adrian Muxworthy
Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, Department of Earth Sciences, University College London
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Greig Paterson
Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool
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Lesleis Nagy
Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool
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Lisa Tauxe
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California
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Ualisson Donardelli Bellon
School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Department of Geophysics, Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences (IAG), University of São Paulo
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Idenildo Ferreira
School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh
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Alison Cowan
Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London

Abstract

The ability of rocks to hold a reliable record of the ancient geomagnetic field depends on the structure and stability of magnetic domain-states contained within the rock’s magnetic particles. In paleomagnetic studies, the Day plot is an easily constructed graph of magnetic hysteresis parameters that is frequently used (and mis-used) to estimate the likely magnetic recording stability of samples. Often samples plot in the region of the Day plot attributed to so-called pseudo-single-domain (PSD) particles with little under standing of the implications for domain-states or recording fidelity. Here we use micromagnetic models to explore the hysteresis parameters of magnetite particles with idealized prolate and oblate truncated-octahedral geometries containing single domain (SD), single-vortex (SV) and occasionally multi-vortex (MV) states. We show that these do main states exhibit a well-defined trend in the Day plot that extends from the SD region well into the multi-domain (MD) region, all of which are likely to be stable remanence carriers. We suggest that although the interpretation of the Day plot and its vari33 ants might be subject to ambiguities, if the magnetic mineralogy is known, it can still provide some useful insights about paleomagnetic specimens’ dominant domain state, average particle sizes and, consequently, their paleomagnetic stability.
16 Jan 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
16 Jan 2024Published in ESS Open Archive