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LICENTIATE T H E SI S Per Eriksson Magnetic Properties of Neogene Regional Dikes from East Iceland with Special Reference to Magma FlowMagma to Reference Special with Iceland DikesfromEast Regional Neogene of Properties Magnetic PerEriksson
Department of Chemical Engineering and Geosciences Division of Applied Geophysics Magnetic Properties of Neogene Regional ISSN: 1402-1757 ISBN 978-91-7439-191-6 Dikes from East Iceland with Special Luleå University of Technology 2010 Reference to Magma Flow
Per Eriksson
SWEDISH STUDIES ON ICELANDIC GEOLOGY
Dissertation presented to the Faculty in Candidacy for the Degree of Licentiate of Technology at the Division of Applied Geophysics Department of Chemical Engineering and Geosciences at Luleå University of Techonology Sweden
Magnetic properties of Neogene regional dikes from east Iceland with special reference to magma flow
Examinans Per I. Eriksson
Thesis Supervisors Examinator Discutant Prof. Sten-Åke Elming Prof. Sten-Åke Elming Dr. Håkan Mattsson Dr. Morten S. Riishuus Dr. Freysteinn Sigmundsson
November 2010 Printed by Universitetstryckeriet, Luleå 2010
ISSN: 1402-1757 ISBN 978-91-7439-191-6 Luleå 2010 www.ltu.se THESIS SUMMARY
This thesis deals with rock magnetic measurements on Neogene dikes from the eastern fjords of Iceland. A vast amount of dikes generally striking north-north-east occur as swarms in the glacially eroded lava pile. They are considered as the underlying extensions of fissure swarms in active volcanic systems which like the dike swarms converge at central volcanoes. The dike swarms and associated central volcanoes are uncovered by ca. 1500 m of glacial erosion, leaving the upper parts of these igneous units bare. Two research papers have been prepared based on field studies and measurements of rock magnetism on carefully chosen occurrences of Icelandic dikes in order to test contradicting models of dike origin. The manuscripts are included in the thesis. The first is a detail study of a single composite dike, with a core of fine grained quartz-porphyry surrounded by dolerite margins. The core of the dike was sampled in three locations, separated by ∼12 km and measured for magnetic remanence and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility. Magma flow direction in this dike was interpreted using the mirror imbrication of the minor susceptibility axes from each margin of the quartz-porphyry core of the dike. The flow regime in all three locations showed a marked flow component from north to south, supported by field evidence in the form of parabolically aligned enclaves, and shear folds. Statistical procedures of bootstrapping was utilized to define the flow and handle imbrication in both the vertical and horizontal plane thus defining direction and inclination of flow. The main contribution of this paper was to prove that anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility used to infer flow direction may give consistent and reliable results, and to present new ways (to use old techniques) to define magma flow directions. The same technique used to infer flow in paper one has sub-sequentially been applied to a far larger set of mafic dikes, extending northeast from the exhumed Álftafjörður central volcano. The second paper documents that the flow regimes from the mafic dikes showed a predominantly horizontal flow from the central volcano, supporting tectonic models that suggest shallow magma chambers to be the source of the dikes. The thesis further discusses the results from these studies in comparison to other studies on Icelandic dikes where the magma flow is determined by the direction of the major susceptibility axis. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Preface 2
2 Introduction 3
3 General Geology of Iceland 5 3.1Tectonics...... 7 3.2Bedrock...... 7 3.3DikeFormation...... 9 3.4ErosionalDepth...... 10
4 The Aims of the Study 13 4.1 Methods ...... 13 4.2Samplecollection...... 14
5 Theory on Rock Magnetic Properties 16 5.1MagneticPropertiesofOxideMinerals...... 17 5.2 Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility ...... 19 5.3MagmaFlowFabrics...... 22 5.4SourcesofError:ADiscussion...... 27
6 Propagation of Flow in a Single Composite Dike 30
7 Emplacement of the Álftafjörður Dike Swarm 34
8 Comparison Between this Work and Other AMS Studies 37
9 Perspectives of Future Work 40
10 Sammanfattning av Avhandlingen på Svenska 44
11 Acknowledgements 46
Thesis Bibliography 47 Appendices
I Appendix – Paper 1 In review for Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research II Appendix – Paper 2 To be submitted to Journal of Structural Geology III Appendix – Tables Tables A–D containing data used in thesis PREFACE
HE work here presented commenced in June in the year 2007 and finished Tin November in the year of 2010. The work that underlies and merits this dissertation has been carried out at the Nordic Volcanological Center at the Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, where I have been employed as a research fellow for some time. Much of the ideas for the research presented here originate at this institute whereas the expertise on and laboratory facilities for the magnetic techniques used have been supplied from Luleå University of Technology in Sweden, where this study was originally initiated.
The process of understanding not only the complicated theory of rock magnetism, demagnetization techniques, the stability of the magnetic remanence and the subtle yet profound difference between study of remanence and of susceptibility with all the problematic non-simplicity of the latter field has been a time-consuming and sometimes frustrating work. Nevertheless, I am pleased to present this thesis and of the underlying work and I may contently say that my understanding of both the nature of rock magnetism and its uses within geology as well as the nature of scientific inquiry itself has broadened. During the study many questions has been raised, not only regarding methods used but also on epistemology.
I hope that this thesis will not only be valuable to geologists interested in dike propagation in volcanic systems but also to geology students using anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility for the historical oversight on the matter.
Per Eriksson, Hortlax November 2010
2 MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF NEOGENE REGIONAL DIKES FROM EAST ICELAND WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MAGMA FLOW
Figure 1 – View of the north side of Fáskrúðsfjörður in east Iceland close to the fjord inlet. This plate illustrates the fjord landscape of east Iceland, carved out by glacial erosion since the onset of glaciations since the Plio-Pleistocene (Geirsdóttir, 1990; Geirsdóttier and Eiríksson, 1994; Geirsdóttir et al., 2007; Eiríksson, 2008). The gentle dip of the lava pile toward the paleo-rift axis caused by burial, loading and subsequent transportation by the extensive rifting is evident (Pálmason, 1986). The dikes visible in the mountain sides represent the downward continuation of the fissure swarms stretching from central volcanoes and neatly converge to a density maximum in the middle of the figure, note also that the density of dikes diminish with altitude (Bodvarsson and Walker, 1964; Helgason and Zentilli, 1985).
INTRODUCTION
HE aims of this study has been to test models of and to quantify fossilized Tflow directions in dikes using anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) measurements, and to increase the knowledge on the mode of emplacement of dikes in the crust. The origin of dikes in the volcanic systems of Iceland is currently debated. Models explaining the origins of regional dike swarms as processes related to shallow magma chambers situated under central volcanoes have been proposed (Gudmundsson, 1983; Sigurdsson and Sparks, 1978; Sigurdsson, 1987; Buck et al.,
3 2006; Paquet et al., 2007). Models explaining the origin of regional dikes from deep magma reservoirs has also been proposed (Gudmundsson, 1990, 1995). A combination of the two models were laid out by Walker (1992). These models differ among other things in which mode the propagation of flow in the dikes take. One method applied to obtain magma flow directions in dikes, and thus possibly constrain these models, is anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility measurements from dike margins. AMS defines an average of the spatial distribution of magnetic minerals, given that absence of magnetic interactions (Tarling and Hrouda, 1993; Cañón-Tapia, 1996, 2001). Ideally, AMS measures the magnetic mineral fabric, in itself imposed by the chain silicate mineral fabric and thus reflecting the silicate fabric (Hargraves et al., 1991). When magma flows in a dike it acts like an laminar flow trough a pipe conduit (Blanchard et al., 1979; Coward, 1980; Philpotts and Philpotts, 2007). At the margins of the dike simple shear stress regimes form alignment of minerals and vesicles in a pattern (Gay, 1968; Ghosh and Ramberg, 1976; Shelley, 1985), enabling absolute flow direction to be discerned.
This thesis will treat the geology of Iceland, then shortly describe the underlying reasons for this study. The justification is followed by a theory section where the theoretical background and method of the sampling and analytical work is presented, some methodological remarks are also made. The major results from the two manuscripts are then presented followed by a discussion comparing this work with other modern works that apply AMS to study propagation of Neogene dikes in Iceland. Future prospects for research is also discussed. The discussion is focused on work that has been performed in Iceland, but the implications, especially when discussing methods to infer flow, is aimed at a wider audience.
4 GENERAL GEOLOGY OF ICELAND
CELAND is situated at the junction between an elevated oceanic plateau Iand the Mid-Atlantic-Ridge. The oceanic plateau, sometimes referred to as the Greenland-Iceland-Faroe ridge stretch from the east coast of Greenland towards the Iceland plateau, and continues east of Iceland, underlies the Faroe islands and disappears under the oceanic sediments around Scotland (Saemundsson, 1986; Sigmundsson, 2006; Sandwell and Smith, 2009). This marine ridge and plateau framework is depicted in Figure 2. The Mid-Atlantic-Ridge is a slow spreading
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Figure 2 – Low resolution free air gravimetric map over the sea floor of the north Atlantic. 1. Greenland–Iceland ridge or ocean plateau east of Greenland. 2. Iceland plateau. 3. V-shaped ridges at the Reykjanes extensive ridge axis. 4. Iceland. 5. Iceland–Faroes ridge. 6. Faroe Islands. Figure created from data by Sandwell and Smith (2009). extensional margin between the Eurasian and the North-American tectonic plates. The ridge is constituted by the Reykjanes ridge segment south of Iceland which traverses on land from the tip of the Reykjanes peninsula across Iceland in a branched manner and emerges as the Kolbinsey ridge north of the Tjörnes fracture zone in the north (Figure 3, Sigmundsson, 2006). The various segments on land of the
5 Mid-Atlantic-Ridge provides an extensional stress regime causing faulting, block rotations and the formations of graben structures along the segments (Saemundsson, 1979, 1986; Sigmundsson et al., 2008). The cause of the excessive volcanism needed to generate the igneous rock formations in such a rate that the ridge spreading transport is overcome and the sea mount thus produced arise above sea level, is debated. It is generally accepted that the land mass is formed due to the additive interaction effect between the adiabatic decompressional melting along the Mid-Atlantic-Ridge and an increased melt generation with its locus under the northwest corner of Vatnajökull (Saemundsson, 1979). The presently favored explanation of the increased melt generation is a mantle plume (Bijwaard and Spakman, 1999; Bjarnason, 2008; Bjarnason and Schmeling, 2009), remelting of prior continental crust has also been suggested (Lundin and Doré, 2005; Foulger and Anderson, 2005; Du et al., 2006).
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Figure 3 – Map of the major geological sub-divisions in Iceland and delineated fissure swarms within the neovolcanic zone. The fissure swarms follow the different ridge segments dividing Iceland. The fissure swarms strike obliquely to the plate boundaries (no shown explicitly) and are arranged en echelon. The Reykjanes ridge goes on land at the tip of the Reykjanes peninsula and off land at the Tjörnes fracture zone. Abbreviations: RP, Reykjanes Peninsula, WVZ, Western Volcanic Zone, EVRZ, East Volcanic Rift Zone, SIFZ, South Iceland Flank Zone, NVZ, North Volcanic Zone. 6 TECTONICS
The stress regime that Iceland is subjected to is governed by the extensional nature of the Mid-Atlantic-Ridge. The ridge represent the separation between the North-American plate which lies west of the ridge and the Eurasian plate that lies east of it. The movement of the plates are fundamentally caused by plate pull of the subjected slabs in subduction zones, allowing mantle material to rise under the ridge axis (Spence, 1987; Conrad and Lithgow-Bertelloni, 2002; Collins, 2003). Presently the two plates move from each other with a velocity of ca. 10 mm per year (Geirsson et al., 2006). The deformation pattern is on land complicated by the branched manner the rift axis develops into (e.g. Keiding et al., 2009). The spatial extension of the fissure swarms delineate the major stress directions (Figure 3). The fissure swarms generally strike NNE, indicating a minor stress component in that direction, with the exception of the fissure swarms at the Reykjanes ridge (Geirsson et al., 2006).
BEDROCK
The exposed bedrock formed by the excessive volcanism can be divided into four zones (Figure 4). The Neogene lava pile, the Plio-Pleistocene extrusive rocks, the upper Pleistocene hyaloclastites and the Holocene lava fields and sediments. The zones differ in emplacement time as well as in structure. The correspondence between these epochs and those issued by the international stratigraphy commission (ISC) is somewhat arbitrary (Jóhannesson and Sæmundsson, 1998). The upper Pleistocene coincide with the onset of the Bruhnes magnetic epoch, while the division between the Plio-Pleistocene and the Neogene bedrock is based on stratigraphical hiatuses from north and west Iceland (Sigmundsson, 2006). The Holocene lava fields are generally emplaced along the plate boundary, since melt generation is largest along the Mid-Atlantic-Ridge. Off-rift volcanic systems occur but account to a lesser extent for total extruded magma volumes (Sigmarsson et al., 2008). The continuous emplacement of new lavas bury the older units which sink down into the lithosphere (Pálmason, 1986). The spreading across the rift axis transports the volcanic units east and westwards where they are subjected to erosion and eventually post-glacial uplift
7 (Pálmason, 1986). Hence, the zonation is broadly parallel to the present rift axis albeit complicated by rift jumps (Garcia et al., 2003; Harðarson et al., 2008). The melt generated, is channeled and concentrated in discrete volcanic systems, which consist of a central volcano, with or without an underlying shallow magma chamber, a fissure swarm some 10 − 20 km in width and up to 150 km in length aligned oblique to the ridge axis and arranged en echelon (Saemundsson, 1986; Sigmundsson, 2006). The underlying cause of the surface fissures is considered to be swarms of dike intrusions, referred to as regional dikes. Around the central volcano igneous, intrusive bodies in varying size and composition often assemble in the crust including sills, laccoliths, plugs and domes (Cargill et al., 1928; Walker, 1958, 1960, 1963; Gibson and Walker, 1963; Walker, 1964; Bodvarsson and Walker, 1964; Carmichael, 1964; Gibson et al., 1966; Gibson, 1966). If a shallow magma chamber is present cone sheets often form around it as well as radial dikes (Gudmundsson, 1995, 2006).
The Neogene bedrock consists of monotonous, far stretched layers of tholeiitic to olivine tholeiitic lava, interspersed by thin horizons of paleosols, volcaniclastic and fluvial sediments and lignite layers (e.g. Walker, 1958; Saemundsson, 1979; Roaldset, 1983; McDougall et al., 1984), occasionally carrying plant fossils (Grímsson and Denk, 2005; Grímsson et al., 2007; Grímsson, 2007). The oldest rocks above sea level has an age of 15 − 16 Ma (Moorbath et al., 1968; Hardarson and Fitton, 1997). Exhumed central volcanoes are visible in the fjord landscape of east, north-west and north Iceland and occur as assemblages of felsic intrusives, extrusives and in minor extent gabbroic bodies, potentially overlying solidified magma chambers (Walker, 1963, 1966; Carmichael, 1967; Walker, 1974, 1975; Helgason and Zentilli, 1985; Duncan and Helgason, 1998; Klausen, 2004, 2006; Harðarson et al., 2008; Burchardt and Gudmundsson, 2009). The accompanying regional dikes, local cone sheets and volcaniclastic deposits are also present. The chemical and isotopic composition of the Neogene lava pile is much more uniform than the volcanics from the Plio-Pleistocene and the neo-volcanic zone (Hardarson and Fitton, 1997; Kitagawa et al., 2008). The Plio-Pleistocene zone is characterized by sub-glacial volcanic deposits including hyaloclastite ridges, tuyas
8 and tindars, i.e. table mountains. Breccia and glassy tuff deposits are also common (Walker, 1965; Jakobsson and Gudmundsson, 2008). The neo-volcanic zone contains the presently active volcanic systems with fissure swarms and surface expressions in the form of central shield or strato volcanoes, calderas or explosions craters and lava fields (Sigmundsson, 2006; Thordarson and Höskuldsson, 2008).
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Figure 4 – Outline of the geological sub-divisions of Iceland, bathymetry omitted. Explanation to legend: Glaciers, presently existing glaciers. Holocene sediments, sediment strata mainly generated trough jökulhlaups during the Holocene. Historical lavas, (<1000 years) extrusive mafic to intermediate post-glacial lavas. Prehistoric lavas, (>1000 years) maficto intermediate post-glacial lava fields. Hyaloclastite, basic and intermediate hyaloclastite ridges and mountains, pillow lavas, and associated sediments (< 0.8 m.y.) Extrusive volcanic rocks of mafic to intermediate composition with intercalated sediments of Plio- to Pleistocene age (0.8-3.3 m.y.). Neogene rocks (3.3–16 Ma), volcanic extrusives of mafictofelsic composition with intercalated sediments, major intrusions and tabular intrusives.
DIKE FORMATION
In east Iceland the occurrences of regional dikes and remnants of exhumed central volcanoes are prominent (Figure 5). There is a clear trend and density distribution of the exposed dikes, converging around exhumed central volcanoes and striking NNE (Walker, 1974). The formation mode of regional dikes is debated and has been
9 discussed since the beginning of the last century (Guppy and Hawkes, 1925). Models obtained from studying active volcanic systems, i.e. diking events, propose sub-horizontal diking directions from shallow magma chambers under central volcanoes as seismic or deformation data seems to support this (Einarsson and Brandsdottir, 1978; Brandsdóttir and Einarsson, 1979; Hamling et al., 2009). Lateral diking has likewise been supported by structural studies on dikes (Gudmundsson, 1983; Helgason and Zentilli, 1985; Paquet et al., 2007). In one historic diking event a laterally intruding dike which pierced a magma chamber has been discerned by geochemical evidences (Sigurdsson and Sparks, 1978; Sigurdsson, 1987). These evidences, albeit anecdotal has been used to create models which explain the regional dikes as a consequence of lateral diking from a magma chamber (e.g. Buck et al., 2006). Models which favor vertical dike intrusion from deep magma reservoirs has been inferred from the regional structure of the active fissure swarms (Gudmundsson, 1983, 1990, 1995; Tentler, 2005; Tentler and Temperley, 2007). Their finding seems to be supported by some magma flow studies on regional dikes (Craddock et al., 2008; Kissel et al., 2010). A third diking model incorporating both reservoirs and shallow magma chambers was proposed by Walker (1992). The difference in time between the emplacement of the dikes and the lavas has proven small Kissel et al. (e.g. 2010). If the volcanic systems that creates the dikes is formed in a on rift system this should be expected. The possibility also exists that volcanic systems may form off rift, i.e. offset from the rift axis lavas into far older bedrock, which would make the volcanic products substantially younger than the bedrock.
EROSIONAL DEPTH
The level of erosion, that has exposed the felsic intrusions within the central volcano area and the accompanying regional dike swarms, has been constrained from horizontal zonations of zeolites (Walker, 1960, 1964, 1974; Neuhoff et al., 1999) and decreasing dike dilatation with altitude (Walker, 1958; Bodvarsson and Walker, 1964; Helgason and Zentilli, 1985). The zeolite zonation suggests that the bedrock at sea level has been subjected to ca. 1500 m of burial (Walker, 1974; Neuhoff et al., 1999).
10 Figure 5 – Structural map over the occurrence of dikes in east Iceland and their relative occurrence per km longitude. The names in roman capitals and brackets denote exhumed central volcanoes. The map is redrawn and modified from a map presented to Þorbjörn Sigurgeirsson by G. P. L. Walker ca. 1960. 11 This is at the upper part of the crust, which extends down to at least 25 km (Bjarnason and Schmeling, 2009). The shallow magma chambers in the active central volcanoes of Iceland are generally located at a depth between 2.5 − 6.5 km (Sigmundsson, 2006). This would place a potential origin of the dikes in the form of a shallow magma chamber at least 1 km below available sampling locations, if the same depth is assumed for Neogene volcanic systems as for recent. However, the fossil magma chambers of some exhumed central volcanoes in the Neogene zone, such as the well exposed Austurhorn and Vesturhorn intrusions, must have been emplaced much further up in the crust if they only suffered 1500 m of erosion to be exposed (Roobol, 1974; Thorarinsson and Tegner, 2009).
12 THE AIMS OF THE STUDY
HE potential of discerning magma flow from the anisotropy of magnetic Tsusceptibility allow us to inquire how regional dikes in fossil volcanic systems have intruded at the present level of exposure. This would increase the knowledge on diking modes thus testing the two models of dike intrusion. Moreover, the spatial distribution of flow directions along the dike swarm extending from an exhumed central volcano can be examined. Only a few cases of diking have been observed, for example the Krafla rifting episode (1974 − 1985) and the turmoil in Afar 2006 − 2007 (Einarsson and Brandsdottir, 1978; Brandsdóttir and Einarsson, 1979; Hamling et al., 2009). By necessity these observations are inferred from seismic or various geodetic techniques and therefore the trajectory of the vertical flow component remains elusive. Since AMS studies require a high degree of precision in both the measurements and the orientation of the samples the relative values of the vertical and horizontal flow components can be discerned. The fjords of east Iceland offers the potential to constrain both the relative occurrence of vertical to horizontal flows in dikes and the spatial distribution of these flows along a fissure swarm.
METHODS
Fossilised magma flow directions can be identified from several different features in the rock. Classic methodology uses field observations like slickensides, vesicle lineation and deformation, folds, drag folds, crystal tiling, branching, grooves, sigma or delta shaped crystal growth, wall rock foliation, enclaves or xenolith tiling, Riedel fractures, gashes, fractures and plumose fractures (Coward, 1980; Varga et al., 1998; Nicolas, 1992; Correa-Gomes et al., 2001; Philpotts and Philpotts, 2007). Modern methods use thin sections from oriented samples to provide statistical fabric evaluations based on image analyses (Allard and Benn, 1989). Evaluation of the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility as a proxy for bulk mineral fabric has also been applied (Bascou et al., 2005; Aubourg et al., 2008; Craddock et al., 2008; Kissel et al., 2010). Such studies are often combined with thin section analysis (Philpotts and Asher, 1994; Elming and Mattsson, 2001; Aubourg et al., 2002;
13 Geoffroy et al., 2002; Poland et al., 2004; Plenier et al., 2005; Sen and Mamtani, 2006; Geshi, 2008). Techniques expanded from anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility measurements include measurements of anisotropy of anhysteretic remanent magnetization and anisotropy of isothermal remanence (Raposo et al., 2007; Raposo and Berquó, 2008; Chadima et al., 2009; Borradaile and Jackson, In press).
In this thesis anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility has been used to infer mineral fabrics from which flow directions is deduced. The AMS method has the advantage of being able to infer flow even if visible features like vesicle lineation or other flow related features are lacking. The mafic dikes generally lack these kind of features and even if such features would be available, the dikes are in general only exposed in one plane whereas magnetic studies offers three dimensional visualization. One requirement that limits the use of magnetic susceptibility studies as well as with thin section analysis is that samples have to be collected close to the dike margin, something which is not always possible, even in the well exposed geology of Iceland. In comparison to thin sections analysis the sampling and analytical measurements required to obtains the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility is fast, hence a large number of dikes may be examined. The acquisition of orientated cores for AMS studies also enables paleomagnetic studies to be conducted contemporaneously. Moreover while one thin section sample only show preferred grain orientations in one plane, one AMS sample gives a three-dimensional image. Polished cubes to use with reflected light microscopy may be an alternative to thin sections, giving a three dimensional image. The accuracy of the AMS measurement is remarkable and differences down to 10−8 SI can be detected with the Kappabridge instrument. The accuracy of determining fabric properties in thin sections, especially if a fabrics is to be constrained in three dimensions would not achieve anything near such accuracy.
SAMPLE COLLECTION
Samples for magnetic studies were collected using a portable 1” core drilling machine. The cores were orientated using sun and magnetic compasses. From west Iceland 127 samples were collected from 7 mafic dikes. From east Iceland 793
14 samples were collected from 49 mafic dikes. These samples have been collected from the margins of the dikes, in average 8 samples per margin, with the exception of 23 samples in east Iceland and 7 samples from west Iceland that were collected as sections across dikes. Additionally, 103 samples have been collected from the Streitishvarf composite dike in three of its seven outcrops where both the margins were exposed. 42 samples were collected from the margins and 61 samples were collected in section. Data from these collections is available in appendix III.
15 THEORY ON ROCK MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
AGNETIC properties are in the strict sense intrinsic in all physical bodies. MSubstances that acquire remanent magnetizations in ambient terrestrial temperatures and fields are however restricted to ferrous, ferric and anti-ferrous compounds (Dunlop and Özdemir, 1997). The ferro-magnetic compounds generally consist of elemental metals, while ferri-magnetic compounds generally are oxides containing iron and/or other metals. In anti-ferro-magnetic compounds the net magnetization caused, by magnetic ordering of its metal ions is cancelled out, and therefore no remanent magnetization is detectable in these compounds (Dunlop and Özdemir, 1997). The occurrence of these compounds in a rock is determined by the oxygen fugacity prevalent in the rock during its magmatic phase. Since iron is the fourth most abundant element in the Earths crust the occurrence of magnetic compounds are generally attributed to this element. Iron forms compounds in three buffer systems depending on oxygen fugacity (Lindsley, 1991). At low oxygen fugacity iron occurs in its native state (Fe 0). Whence the fugacity is increased in silicate systems such as most igneous rocks, iron will be incorporated into silicates as a divalent (ferrous) ion. The reaction takes place in the Quartz-Iron-Fayalite buffer.