Curie temperature of weakly shocked target basalts at the Lonar impact crater, India

The study investigates Curie temperature (TC), bulk magnetic susceptibility, hysteresis, and X-ray diffraction pattern of in situ target basalts of Lonar impact crater, India. The main magnetic phase in the target basalt is low-Ti titanomagnetite. This study reveals an increase in TC and decrease in magnetic susceptibility and in full width at half maxima of the 311 peaks of titanomagnetite with distance from the crater center. Changes in crystal lattice of titanomagnetite, such as straining of 311 peaks, decrease in apparent crystallite size, and grain fragmentation may be among the possible reasons for the observed trends in TC and magnetic susceptibility. However, they both do not show any correlation between each other, indicating that different shock-induced processes affect them.[graphic not available: see fulltext]