Magnetite microexsolutions in silicate and magmatic flow fabric of the Goyozan granitoid (NE Japan): Significance of partial remanence anisotropy

摘要

Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) has been widely used to infer magmatic flow patterns of granitoids where an appropriate AMS axis is parallel to an alignment of mafic minerals or magnetite. The magmatic flow fabric in Cretaceous granitic plutons from northeastern Japan was verified using an analysis of anisotropy of partial anhysteretic remanent magnetization (ApARM) which further isolates the magnetite subfabrics according to magnetite grain size. The preferred orientation of polysynthetic twins in plagioclase laths and clinopyroxene is discordant with the bulk AMS fabric along outer marginal zones of the granitoid, as shown by image analysis of microphotographs from thin sections cut in orthogonal planes. This suggests that the uncorroborated use of bulk AMS to detect flow fabric in granitoids has risks.