Basic properties of transition remanent magnetizations of magnetite in relation to the ambient field using granite samples

Abstract

We have investigated basic properties of transition remanent magnetization of natural magnetite in granite samples collected from the Minnesota River Valley, North America. Transition remanence was imparted during cooling and/or warming through the Verwey transition around 120 K. Depending on magnetic field conditions during cooling and warming, three types of transition remanences have been categorized: (1) TrRM, acquired during a cycle of field cooling and field warming; (2) TrWRM, acquired during zero-field cooling and field warming and (3) TrCRM, imparted during field cooling and zero-field warming. These remanences fulfil basic laws of remanent magnetization: (1) directions of the transition remanences are parallel to direction of the applied field (the law of parallelism), (2) intensities of the transition remanences are proportional to the applied field intensity (the law of proportionality) and (3) sum of the partial transition remanences is equal to the total transitional remanence, that is, TrRM = TrWRM + TrCRM. In addition, the ratio of TrRM to TRMLTD (the demagnetized component of thermoremanent magnetization by low-temperature demagnetization) shows a nearly constant value of ~0.34. This relationship might reflect differences in equilibrium magnetic domain state at low and high temperature.