FERROMAGNETIC, DIA-/PARAMAGNETIC AND SUPERPARAMAGNETIC COMPONENTS OF ARAL SEA SEDIMENTS: SIGNIFICANCE FOR PALEOENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION.

Abstract

This article presents a new method to discriminate and to quantify the contribution of dia- and paramagnetic, ferromagnetic and superparamagnetic components to the measured bulk magnetic low-field susceptibility in order to better understand and to interpret environmental changes. This new method is based on data obtained with a rotation coercivity spectrometer. Lacustrine sediments from the Aral Sea were taken to demonstrate the potential of this new method. It is shown that the terrigenous input is strongly related to changes in the paramagnetic susceptibility.