Single-domain and superparamagnetic titanomagnetite with variable Ti content in young ocean-floor basalts: No evidence for rapid alteration

High resolution electron microscope studies have been carried out on ‘zero-age’ (New Flow) basalts from the Juan de Fuca Ridge and on young (< 20 ka) basalts from the axis of the East Pacific Rise at 12°N. Such data lead to characterization of the magnetic minerals, especially those of smaller grain size, which have been hypothesized by Kent and Gee to have undergone grain size-dependent alteration. In addition to larger titanomagnetite grains, abundant submicrometer titanomagnetite has been observed in globules within a glassy matrix. These grains, likely to be single-domain (SD) or superparamagnetic, are associated with apatite, uncommon pyrrhotite and residual glass. The submicrometer titanomagnetite grains have a wide compositional range (0 < x < 0.8), where x is the fraction of ulvöspinel component, whereas the larger, multi-domain (MD)-sized titanomagnetite grains have a narrow composition range of approximately x = 0.6. This variability in Ti content provides a ready explanation for the thermal rock magnetic properties observed by Kent and Gee and eliminates the need to invoke extremely rapid (< 20 ka) alteration of these young basalts.