Geochemical control of magnetite dissolution in subarctic lake sediments and the implications for environmental magnetism

Abstract Geochemical and mineral magnetic studies of lake sediments from the Kårsa valley in north Sweden demonstrate that down‐core variations in magnetic properties have been determined by post‐depositional magnetite dissolution rather than by sediment source changes. A low sediment accumulation r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Quaternary Science
Main Author: Snowball, Ian F.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 1993
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3390080405
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjqs.3390080405
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.3390080405
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Summary:Abstract Geochemical and mineral magnetic studies of lake sediments from the Kårsa valley in north Sweden demonstrate that down‐core variations in magnetic properties have been determined by post‐depositional magnetite dissolution rather than by sediment source changes. A low sediment accumulation rate during times of climatic amelioration combined with a higher organic carbon content produced intense reducing conditions with almost complete magnetite loss. An increase in the sedimentation rate and a reduction in the organic carbon content, primarily due to glacier reformation, allowed magnetite preservation. Thus the mineral magnetic profiles record lake sediment palaeoredox conditions brought about by climate change. This new interpretation of mineral magnetic transformations in freshwater sediments may have far reaching implications for other mineral magnetic studies concerned with the alternation between glacial (stadial) and interglacial (interstadial) episodes during the Quaternary period.