Rock magnetic studies on sediments from Erlongwan maar lake, Long Gang Volcanic Field, Jilin province, NE China

Detailed rock magnetic investigations were carried out on two 23-m-long sediment cores from Erlongwan maar lake, NE China. The completely laminated sediment sequence of the lake is interrupted by 410 graded layers with thicknesses between 0.1 and 150 cm. Magnetite of PSD-size was identified as the main magnetic carrier mineral by temperature-dependent measurements of the saturation magnetization and determination of hysteresis parameters. The minerogenic components in the laminated sediments and the graded layers are nearly identical, and their rock magnetic characteristics reflect the prevailing conditions, anoxic or oxic, during deposition. The most reliable criteria for estimating the availability of oxygen is whether an increase in minerogenic influx is linked to a shift in the magnetic grain size spectrum to coarser (oxic) or finer (anoxic) grains. Comparison of different rock magnetic parameters indicative for magnetic grain size and coercitivity revealed, that the S-ratio which is known to reflect the presence of high coercive minerals, is grain size indicative in sediments with a monomineralic magnetic composition.