Interpretation of Long Wavelength Magnetic Anomalies

Surface magnetizations (induced and remanent) have been measured from almost 600 oriented cores collected over an area of 50 000 km2 covering portions of the Kenora, English River, and Red Lake subprovinces of the western Archean shield, between latitudes 49 and 51 °and longitudes 93 and 96°. These surface magnetizations reflect major geological provinces in the area, and throw light on the vertical distribution of magnetization and on the associated long wavelength magnetic anomalies. A major belt of high surface magnetization lies over the granodiorite–granite suite in the southern part of the English River subprovince and a major belt of low magnetization over the metasedimentary gneiss belt in the northern part of the subprovince. Remanent magnetization is prevalent, but is very unstable, apparently due to viscous remanence, and subparallel to the present-day geomagnetic field. This fact is of importance because rocks of this type, if deeply buried and at ambient temperatures above surface values, may lead to rather large intensities of magnetization. The magnetization is almost entirely due to magnetite, and titanomagnetite is only rarely encountered. The prevalent opaque minerals are magnetite, ilmenite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, and hematite.

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Joint inversion of gravity and magnetic anomalies of eastern Canada

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1139/e98-035 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 35 (7) ◽

pp. 832-853 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Ying Zheng ◽

Jafar Arkani-Hamed

Keyword(s):

Surface Topography ◽

Joint Inversion ◽

Gravity Anomalies ◽

Magnetic Anomalies ◽

Eastern Canada ◽

Entire Area ◽

Long Wavelength ◽

Degree Correlation ◽

Crustal Model ◽

Density Perturbations

The power spectra and degree correlation of the surface topography and free-air gravity anomalies of eastern Canada show that the gravity anomalies are subdivided into three parts. The short-wavelength components (30-170 km, shorter than 30 km are not well resolved) largely arise from density perturbations in the crust and to a lesser extent from the surface topography and Moho undulation, whereas the contribution of intracrustal sources to the intermediate-wavelength components (170-385 km) is comparable with that of the topography. The long-wavelength components (385-1536 km) are overcompensated at the Moho. We present a crustal model for the intermediate- and long-wavelength components which takes into account the surface topography, density perturbations in the crust, and Moho undulation with a certain degree of isostatic compensation. The general characteristics of this model resemble the crustal structure revealed from seismic measurements. The reduced-to-pole magnetic anomalies of eastern Canada show no pronounced correlation with the topography and with the vertical gradient of the gravity anomalies, suggesting that the source bodies are within the crust and Poisson's relationship does not hold over the entire area. Assuming that the magnetic anomalies arise from induced magnetization, lateral variations of magnetic susceptibility of the crust are determined while taking into account the effects of the surface topography and the Moho undulation of our crustal model. The intermediate- and long-wavelength components of the susceptibility contrasts delineate major collision zones as low-susceptibility regions. We interpret this in terms of thermal demagnetization of the high-magnetic crustal roots beneath the collision zones.

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