Inverse magnetic fabric in unconsolidated sandy event deposits in Kiritappu Marsh, Hokkaido, Japan

Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) and anisotropy of anhysteretic remanence magnetization (AARM) were evaluated for samples collected from units of two unconsolidated sandy event layers, presumed to be paleo-tsunami deposits, from Kiritappu Marsh, northeastern Japan. The AARM technique isolates the fabric of fine-grained (titano)magnetite from AMS fabric of all minerals in deposits. Bulk susceptibilities of the older event layer were weaker than those of the younger event layer. Our AMS results show that the principal minimum AMS axes (Kmin) were distributed along the horizontal bedding plane, suggesting the presence of an AMS “inverse fabric” where magnetic axes are interchanged. Our AARM results indicated the principal maximum AARM axes (kmax) are parallel to the AMS Kmin, whereas the AARM intermediate and minimum axes (kint and kmin) are related to the AMS Kmax and Kint. Moreover, the shape of anisotropy parameters revealed that the AMS is oblate (Kmax ≈ Kint), whereas the AARM is prolate (kint ≈ kmin). We found the presence of single-domain sized titanomagnetites in the mud matrix based on electron microscopy observations. AARM is regarded as a complementary tool to estimate paleocurrent directions using grain fabrics of unconsolidated sediments. However, these lines of evidence confirm that our AMS fabrics showed “inverse fabric”, providing no information about flow directions at this locality. Although this effect is uncommon in soft sediments, it requires caution to estimate paleocurrent directions using AMS.