High-temperature three-axis IRM Lowrie test

The three-axis isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM) test (the Lowrie test; Lowrie, 1990, Geophys. Res. Lett., 17, 159-162) is a useful tool to identify ferromagnetic minerals by their coercivity and unblocking temperature spectra. In this study, we explore a variant of the Lowrie test in which measurements are conducted directly at elevated temperatures, and compare its performance with the results of the conventional stepwise procedure. IRM acquisition fields applied along three orthogonal axes were 1 T, 200 mT and 40 mT, respectively. The field value for the soft component was chosen so as to include ca. 90% of its coercivity spectrum. For the hard component the maximum available field was used. The test is applied to characterize the magnetic mineralogy of archaeological baked clays and bricks from Bulgaria and Russia. Bulgarian samples are baked clays from various Neolithic (5700-5300 BCE) archaeological sites and several bricks of the Roman epoch (III-IV c. AD). Samples from Russia are bricks originating from several regions with ages from XIII to early XIX c. AD.

The low- and intermediate-coercivity components of IRM in the studied samples are typically demagnetized by 520-550°C, compatible with substituted or cation-deficient magnetite or, possibly, maghemite. This is supported by the absence of the Verwey transition in studied samples (Kosterov et al., 2021, Geophys. J. Int., 224(2), 1256-1271). The high-coercivity component appears to be carried by two mineral phases with very distinct unblocking temperatures, 120-200°C and 500 to 640°C. The first phase is similar to the high coercivity, low unblocking temperature (HCSLT) phase described by McIntosh et al., 2007 (Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L21302, doi: 10.1029/22007GL031168), and the second one appears to be hematite with variable degree of substitution.

Performance of the high-temperature variant of the Lowrie test compares favorably with the classical procedure, while the former is also significantly faster and yields a superior temperature resolution.

This study is supported by Russian Foundation of the Basic Research, grant 19-55-18006, and by Bulgarian National Science Fund, grant KP-06-Russia-10.