Rock texture and magnetic lineation in dykes: a simple analytical model

Abstract

We develop two simple models for simulating the combination of magnetic sub-fabrics related to magma flow in dykes. The basic assumptions are (i) the petrofabric is representative of the flow fabric, and (ii) the petrofabric is composed of S/C-type structures related to flow. The first model consists of summing the magnetic tensors of two identical sub-fabrics, differing solely by their relative rotation. This model accounts for the possible change of the macroscopic magnetic lineation from a flow-related fabric to a lineation situated at the geometric intersection between the two sub-fabrics. Such a result is obtained in the case of oblate to highly oblate sub-fabric ellipsoids. The second model integrates the effect of very oblate grains of variable orientations into calculating the shape controlled magnetic tensor of each sub-fabric, and emphasizes the possible under-estimation of fabric superposition due to microscopic disordering. The magma fluxes along the East Greenland volcanic margin are illustrated by the flow pattern within the major dyke swarm. The magmatic flow vectors inferred from the imbrication of magnetic foliation at the dyke margins are primarily horizontal. The classic use of magnetic lineation can lead to contradictory results, giving flow vectors perpendicular to the flow directions. The magnetic lineation is situated close to the zone axis of magnetic foliation planes over a wide range of scales throughout the dyke swarm, suggesting that the contradiction may arise from the association of several textural domains at the sample scale. Forward modelling of macroscopic magnetic fabrics using the first model yields good agreement with the measured magnetic fabric of the East Greenland dykes. Our results, which are applicable to strained sedimentary rocks, highlight the possible misuse of the magnetic lineation due to combination of magnetic textures. The exchange between a microscopic lineation, i.e. mineralogical lineation, and a macroscopic lineation, i.e. intersection lineation, is particularly expected for dykes that generally bear oblate magnetic textures.