Standard magnetic properties in three mountain lakes of northern Iberia, ¿what is the influence of the major environmental processes?

Paleoenvironmental reconstructions from three mountaineous lakes located in northern Iberia are compared and completed with classical magnetic analyses in order to detect the influence of different processes on the record and preservation of magnetic properties. The lakes are located in the Cantabrian Mountains, Enol Lake, and in the Pyrenees, the Marboré Lake and Basa de la Mora Lake and share a similar composition of their catchment areas, dominated by limestones. They present other different characteristics, such as in the organic matter content, being Enol the one with the highest organic carbon values. Redox indicator (Mn/Fe) is higher and more variable in Basa de la Mora Lake, whereas in Enol and Marboré Lakes steadily increases towards the top of the sequences. New and revisited results from sedimentary cores unravel the significance of the magnetic changes respect to the geochemical and sedimentological variations found in the geological record.

The magnetic mineralogy present after analyses done in discrete samples (less than 500 mg) is magnetite in all samples, due to a sharp decrease at 120 K (Verwey crystallographic transition) and 580ºC (Curie temperature of magnetite) in the thermomagnetic curves performed in the MPMS and the Curie balance respectively. No indication of neither pyrrhotite (phase transition at 35 K) nor siderite is observed. The high temperature thermomagnetic analyses show the presence and creation of magnetite during heating, see an increasing of induced magnetization forming a broad peak above 450ºC in the heating curve. In addition, a subtle change in the induced magnetization is observed at around 300ºC. All analyses related with coercivity indicate the predominance of low coercitive minerals (“soft”) as magnetite is.

The combination of geochemical, sedimentological and magnetic proxies suggest that in Enol Lake the magnetic signal may be dominated by the formation of new minerals in relation to redox processes favored by the higher presence of organic matter (6%organic content), whereas in Marboré Lake, the increase of the magnetic signal toward the top of the sequence seems related to the oxic environment and the preservation of magnetite, since this lake is ultra-oligotrophic. In Basa de la Mora Lake, the source rock seems to play a role in the magnetic signal of the sequence.

These results indicate that diagenesis and changes in the redox conditions alter the concentration of magnetic minerals during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene and underlines their value as environmental and paleoclimate archives.

Acknowledgements

Funding for this research was provided by the Spanish Inter-Ministry Commission of Science and Technology through MEDLANT (CGL2016-76215-R) and DINAMO 3 (Ref CGL2015-69160-R) projects and by the European Commission (EFA056/15 REPLIM). The Institute for Rock Magnetism (IRM), the Instrumentation and Facilities program of the National Science Foundation of the Earth Science Division and the University of Minnesota are acknowledged for supporting visits and the free use of the facilities at the IRM, together with the both easy-going and expert guidance from the IRM staff.