Thermomagnetic properties of some Late Mesozoic diabase dikes of South Spitsbergen

Abstract

Laboratory investigations of thermomagnetic properties of specimens from seven diabase dikes of South Spitsbergen have been performed. Studies of temperature variation of isothermal saturation remanence combined with Hopkinson effect measurements and investigations of low temperature remanence give information on the mineral composition of the magnetic phases present in the magnetic fraction of the diabases. The experiments show that the ‘clean’ natural remanence of these dikes has been acquired at the time of their, consolidation in the Late Mesozoic, though three of them may have been partially remagnetized at the time of Tertiary orogeny. Since the dikes reveal several normal and reversed directions of ‘clean’ natural remanence, it is concluded that they were formed at different times in the Late Mesozoic, even though some of them may have been subjected to secondary influences at a later date.