黄铁矿热转变过程的岩石磁学研究

Pyrite is the most stable iron-sulfide in reduced environment, and plays an important role in geochemical iron-sulfur cycling of sediments. Thus, the presence of pyrite in sediments and rocks is an important indicator of sedimentary environments. Previous studies on the thermal products of pyrite showed that all of the products (e.g., pyrrhotite, magnetite, hematite) have strong capability of carrying remanence. To deepen our understanding of the environmental and paleomagnetic significances of pyrite, the mineral transformation processes of pyrite upon heating were systematically investigated in this study using intergrated rock magnetic experiments (in both argon and air atmospheres) and X-ray diffraction analysis. The room temperature susceptibility of the paramagnetic pyrite is about 2.68×10-5 SI. In argon atmosphere (reducing environment), pyrite was transformed into monoclinic stable single domain (SD) pyrrhotite above 440 C. The corresponding coercive force and remanence coercivity are about 20 mT and 30 mT, respectively. In contrast, in air atmosphere (oxidation environment), the intermediate thermal products of pyrite are magnetite and pyrrhotite, which were quickly further oxidated to SD hematite, which has coercivity of about 1400 mT. In addition, the hematite particles gradually grow from SD to PSD grain size region by multiple heating runs. The transformation processes of pyrite in oxidation atomosphere can be interpreted by three possible pathways: (1) pyrite→magnetite→hematite; (2) pyrite→pyrrhotite→magnetite→hematite; and (3) pyrite→pyrrhotite→hematite. Low-temperature magnetic experiments show no transitions for pyrite. Despite that low-temperature magnetic method is not suitable for identification of pyrite, it is clear in this study that the high-temperature thermomagnetic measurements (e.g.,  -T and J-T curves) are very sensitive to the presence of pyrite in sediments and rocks. Nevertheless, for the thermal treatment products, low-temperature magnetic measurements showed the 34 K transition of pyrrhotite and the 250 K Morine transition of hematite. Iron-sulfide has also been found on Martian meteorolites by other workers. Therefore, systematic study of rock magnetism of pyrite (and other iron-sulfides) and their products will have great significances for both paleomagnetism and planetary magnetism.