Abstract
Magnetic hysteresis loops are an important tool in theoretical and
applied rock magnetism with applications to paleointensities,
paleoenvironmental analysis, and tectonic studies, among many others.
Hence, information derived from these data is amongst the most
ubiquitous rock magnetic data used by the Earth science community.
Despite their prevalence, there are no general guidelines to aid
scientists in obtaining the best possible data and no widely available
software to allow the efficient analysis of hysteresis loop data using
the most advanced and appropriate methods. Here we provide an outline of
detrimental factors and simple approaches to measuring better hysteresis
loops as well as introducing a new MATLAB software package called
Hysteresis Loop analysis box (HystLab) for processing and analyzing loop
data. This graphical user interface software is capable of reading the
wide range of data formats that are generated by the multiple types of
equipment typically used to measure hysteresis loops. HystLab provides
an easy-to-use interface allowing users to visualize their data and
perform advanced processing, including loop centering, drift correction,
linear and approach to saturation high-field slope corrections, as well
as loop fitting to improve the results from noisy specimens. A large
number of hysteresis loop properties and statistics are calculated by
HystLab and can be exported to text files for further analysis. All
plots generated by HystLab are customizable and user preferences can be
saved for future use. In addition, all plots can be exported to
encapsulated postscript (EPS) files that are publication ready with
little or no adjustment, greatly enhancing workflow productivity when
processing and analyzing large data sets. HystLab is freely available
for download at https://github.com/greigpaterson/HystLab and in
combination with our simple measurement guide should help the paleo- and
rock magnetic communities get the most from their hysteresis data.