The effect of early diagenesis on magnetic mineralogy and quality of paleomagnetic recording in marine sediments: case study from the NE Mediterranean shelf

Magnetic properties of marine sediments are dictated not only by the detrital mineralogy, but also by diagenetic processes that can start instantaneously after deposition and may proceed for a long time as sediments are buried. Early diagenesis encompass a range of biochemical reactions associated with bacterial respirations. These may include oxidation at the water sediment interface, iron reduction, sulfate reduction, and anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) if methane is present. To investigate the link between diagenesis, sedimentary magnetic properties and quality of paleomagnetic recording, we collected eight 6m-long piston-cores from the Holocene Eastern Mediterranean continental shelf in four locations. Two locations are characterized by high concentration of methane and detectable sulfate-methane transition zone (SMTZ) at depth of 1-4 m. In the other two locations, organoclastic sulfate reduction is dominant throughout the entire cores. Sedimentation rates in this region range between 1 - 5 mm/year. In all cores, concentrations of sulfate, methane and ferrous iron were measured from the pore water. The geochemical data were compared to the mineral magnetic profile that include a range of parameters calculated from IRM, ARM, low- and high- field susceptibility, hysteresis, and FORCs. Paleomagnetic time-series of declination and inclination were obtained from demagnetization experiments carried out in 2 cm resolution. Age models were constructed from radiocarbon dating of carefully collected foraminifera. The results show a consistent link between the diagenetic zones and the magnetic mineralogy: Increase of magnetic properties in the shallow ferruginous zone, decay of magnetic parameters in the sulfate reduction zones,  rapid decrease at the SMTZ and stabilization at the methanogenic zone. XHR-SEM analysis show multiple generations of greigite and pyrite framboids at all depths and unaltered detrital titanomagnetites. We find that except a short time interval below the SMTZ of one core, the paleomagnetic directions in these sediments do not represent the expected directions of the geomagnetic field. We conclude that continuous organoclastic sulfate reduction in marine sediments might have a profound effect on the quality of paleomagnetic recording, but AOM at the SMTZ may help stabilize the magnetic phase.