Effect of multi-cycle heat treatment and pre-history dependence on partial thermoremanence (pTRM) and pTRM tails

We test two fundamental assumptions embedded in Thellier experiments, the initial state dependence and the effect of multi-cycle heat treatment. We observe that the magnitude of partial thermoremanent magnetizations (pTRMs) imparted on an initial state of thermal demagnetization is larger than those of pTRMs in the presence of a TRM when the field used to impart pTRM is equal in magnitude and parallel to that used to produce TRM. A multi-cycle Thellier analysis on coarse-grained magnetites progressively produces more intense pTRMs and progressively erases more of the pTRM tails. Both pre-history and multi-cycle dependence will likely enhance the non-linear features of the Arai plot for coarse-grained magnetites.