Lithofacies and terrestrial sedimentary environments in AMS measurements: case study from Neogene of Oravica River section, Čimhová, Slovakia.

Abstract

The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) of sedimentary rocks has been used for interpreting wide range of processes: early rock deformations, palaeotransport directions, as well as the evolution of mineral content. Various sedimentary factors which may determine magnetic susceptibility within lacustrine, river, floodplain and swamp deposits have been examined in the Oravica section of the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin. Multiple components of mineral content: illite, chlorite, smectite, kaolinite, quartz and unidentified high susceptibility phase make an AMS interpretation of this content ambiguous. However, this method may be useful for tracing early diagenetic geochemical/microbial processes where iron element is involved. Some sedimentary processes may be recognized from AMS when an assemblage of parameters is studied together: bulk susceptibility, the degree and the shape of anisotropy, principal directions, and the distribution of all these parameters within a set of specimens. Debris-flow processes, as well as lacustrine and floodplain sedimentation are especially well-defined in AMS results. Palaeotransport directions are ambiguous because studied rocks have undergone weak deformation what overprints this sedimentary feature. Most specimens represent an oblate shape of anisotropy and show a good correlation of principal directions and bedding orientation.