Secondary magnetizations from the Clinton-type iron ores of the Silurian Red Mountain Formation, Alabama

Abstract

From 27 (out of a total of 29) sites a characteristic pre-folding magnetization has been obtained with D = 150°, I = +20°, α 95 = 3.5° , and paleopole at 38°N, 132°E. However, we conclude from a bedding-error test and a conglomerate test, as well as from descriptions of the hematite as a replacement mineral, that the magnetization is a (late) post-depositional chemical remanent magnetization. The age constraints on the magnetization, between Middle Silurian and Early Permian, can be refined by a comparison with the apparent polar wander path for cratonic North America; this comparison suggests a Late Carboniferous age for the magnetization and the hematite, which constitutes the principal component of the iron ores. Similar Late Paleozoic remagnetizations have been noted in other Appalachian and mid-continent formations and suggest a widespread, but as yet ill-defined mechanism for the remagnetization. It is tempting to correlate this event with the early phases of the Alleghenian orogeny in Carboniferous times and with possible fluid migrations resulting from the tectonism.