Natural Remanent Magnetization of the Fusion Crust of Meteorites

• Main Author: Takesi Nagata
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: National Institute of Polar Research 1979
• Subjects: Yamato; Memoirs of National Institute of Polar Research; Polar Research
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=1060; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00001060/; https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=1060&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

Natural remanent magnetization (NRM) of 5 Yamato achondrites and 2 Yamato ordinary chondrites is examined as a function of depth from their surface through the fusion crust into the apparently undisturbed interior. In 5 achondrites, the dark colored fusion crust is much more strongly magnetized in comparison with the uniform NRM of the interior. The intensity of fusion crust NRM generally decreases inward from the surface down to 0.3-0.8mm in depth. The intense fusion crust NRM can be interpreted as the thermoremanent magnetization acquired in the geomagnetic field on and after entry into the earth's atmosphere. The fusion crust NRM of two ordinary chondrites cannot be clearly distinguished from their interior NRM, probably because the latter is competitively strong as the former.