Alteration induced changes of magnetic fabric as exemplified by dykes of the Koolau volcanic range

We studied 93 samples from 8 basaltic dykes of the Koolau volcanic range on the island of Oahu,Hawaii,USA,to determine the influence of hydrothermal alteration on the magnetic fabric as determined by anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) measurements. Rock magnetic as well as microscopic investigations show that only ≈25% of the samples have retained their original magnetomineralogical composition of unaltered Ti-poor titanomagnetite. The remaining samples have undergone hydrothermal alteration which transformed the primary magnetic phase into a granular intergrowth of titanomagnetite, titanomaghemite and hematite. In both sample groups,this magnetic phase occurs in coarse (tens of microns),irregularly shaped particles as well as interstitial clusters of smaller (< 5 μm) grains. Our investigations show that hydrothermal alteration does change the bulk susceptibility and the degree of anisotropy but not the directions of principal axes of the AMS ellipsoid which are predominantly corresponding to normal magnetic fabric. The stability of AMS directions, regardless of the degree of alteration, points towards the model of distribution anisotropy as the controlling factor for the observed magnetic fabric.