Magma flow inferred from preferred orientations of plagioclase of the Rio Ceará-Mirim dyke swarm (NE Brazil) and its AMS significance

Abstract

AbstractLow-field magnetic and plagioclase fabrics were compared in Mesozoic mafic dykes of the Rio Ceará-Mirim swarm. Coarse titanomagnetites with pervasive ilmenite lamellae constitute the main carrier of the magnetic anisotropy. The hysteresis parameters of the mafic dykes fall in the pseudo-single domain field. The resulting AMS ellipsoid is usually oblate and has a very low anisotropy (<3%). Textures indicate that the oxi-exolution processes and size reduction of the ferrimagnetic domains occurred at subsolidus temperatures on cooling of the dykes. The magmatic fabric was determined by the shape preferred orientation of plagioclase laths. It rarely matches the magnetic fabric. Besides their contrasting shape ellipsoids, prolate and oblate respectively, their corresponding principal directions diverge from each other or exchange their positions depending on the symmetry of the ellipsoids. These discrepancies are attributed principally to small differences in the net shape of Ti-poor magnetite after exsolution of ilmenite and in the inherently oblique fabric of grains with different shapes. These results draw attention to the need to use independent methods to confirm the conclusions about flow fabrics of weakly anisotropic mafic dykes based only in AMS.