Case Study

MS2/MS3

Magnetic Susceptibility in Landscape Dynamics

When we want to decipher the physical landscape in terms of how it has evolved, and continues to change today, measurements of magnetic susceptibility are an essential part of an environmental tool-kit. Landscapes are underlain by rocks, sediments and soils that have different magnetic properties. Magnetic susceptibility measurements using the MS3 system can often give rapid information about the type of rock that sediments are derived from because so-called primary magnetite and titanomagnetite minerals (the dominant magnetic minerals) are formed mainly in igneous rocks. In this way, magnetic susceptibility has been used to infer the deposition of windblown dust from distant sources. On the Colorado Plateau, primary magnetite in deposits lying on the surface of the landscape produces moderately high values of magnetic susceptibility, but magnetite is absent in nearby bedrock. So, a component of the surface deposits and soils must be wind-blown to account for the abundance of magnetite, which formed originally in fardistant igneous rocks. As a result, dusts have changed the natural fertility of soils, for example by doubling the amount of natural occurring phosphorus (Reynolds et al 2001). The primary mineral component can also be used in estimating the contributions of sediment from different river sub-catchments to a downstream location. In Australia, Caitcheon (1998) measured the magnetic properties of river sediment in a tributary, the main river and downstream of the confluence. Plotting magnetic susceptibility against another magnetic measurement, isothermal remanence, showed that each set of samples fell on a different line, with the highest values associated with the igneous tributary catchment and the lowest with the sedimentary rocks of the main catchment (Figure 1). The line representing the mixed sediments below the confluence can be mathematically analysed to show that about 70% of the sediment originates from the tributary catchment.

Figure 1. Mineral magnetic data from sediment sampled from Killimicat Creek, New South Wales, and an unnamed tributary (Caitcheon 1998)..

But there are exceptions to using primary minerals, especially when dealing with magnetic minerals that have formed in soil. Le Borgne, in the 1950s and 1960s, coined the term magnetic enhancement to describe higher values of magnetic susceptibility in the upper horizons than the lower ones, even where the geology is only weakly magnetic, like shale. Since then we know that the reason for magnetic enhancement is the formation of secondary ultrafine iron oxides produced in the soil. The MS3 dual frequency sensor helps identify these secondary minerals by comparing their response to different frequencies. The frequency-dependent susceptibility values of UK soils (Blundell et al 2009) shows high values associated with the easily weathered and iron-rich shales of Devon, Cornwall, and west Wales, and the limestones of the Cotswold Hills and Salisbury Plain (Figure 2). Low values tend to be associated with clayey and waterlogged soils because the secondary minerals need free-draining conditions to form.

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Figure 2. Spatial patterns of frequency-dependence susceptibility percentage at 5 5 km resolution across England and Wales (Blundell et al 2009)..

The map shows the effects of weathering, drainage and climate on magnetic minerals rather than the magnetic properties of the underlying rocks.

At local scales, MS3 field probe measurements can give rapid estimations of magnetic variations across a landscape. One application gauges recent soil erosion on farmland. Royall (2001) combined magnetic susceptibility mapping with analyses of radioactive fallout approach to estimate the spatial severity of topsoil erosion and the total amounts of soil loss (Figure 3). Sometimes we can combine measurements of both primary and secondary minerals to shed light on how and why the sediment was transported historically through a landscape. In southwest China, MS3 measurements of lake sediments, representing the past centuries and millennia, track the start and development of large gully systems and soil erosion caused by overgrazing (Figure 4). The pressure on the hilly slopes increased as more forest was cleared at the start of the Nanzhao kingdom about AD 600. Soon after, the magnetic proxies for gullying and soil

Figure 3. Soil loss across the Gilbert Farm catchment based on mapping the surface values of frequency-dependent susceptibility (Royall 2001)..

Figure 4. Eroded landscapes in the Eryuan basin showing dry-farmed terraces on steep hill slopes dissected by gully systems (photo author)..

CS 004 11/08 erosion rise dramatically, reaching peak values about 400 years ago (Figure 5). Since then the impact on erosion and gullying appears to have declined (Dearing 2008).

References
Blundell, A., Dearing, J.A., Boyle, J.F., Hannam, J.A., 2009. Controlling factors for the spatial variability of soil magnetic susceptibility across England and Wales. Earth Science Reviews 95, 158-188. Caitcheon, G.C. 1998. The significance of various sediment magnetic mineral fractions for tracing sediment sources in Killimicat Creek. Catena 32, 131 142. Dearing, J.A. 2008. Landscape change and resilience theory: a palaeoenvironmental assessment from Yunnan, SW China. The Holocene 18, 117-127. Reynolds, R., Belnap, J., Reheis, M., Lamothe, P., and Luiszer, F. 2001. Aeolian dust in Colorado Plateau soils: Nutrient inputs and recent change in source. Proc Nat. Acad. Sci. 98, 71237127. Royall, D. 2001. Use of mineral magnetic measurements to investigate soil erosion and sediment delivery in a small agricultural catchment in limestone terrain. Catena 46, 15 34.

Figure 5. Environmental records for the Eryuan area over the past 3000 years for (a) summer monsoon (b) forest cover (c) disturbed land (d) gully erosion (MS3 magnetic susceptibility) (e) surface soil erosion (MS3 frequency dependent magnetic susceptibility) (f) flood intensity. Vertical shaded bars define five main periods of documented human impact on environment: Bronze Age culture; Han irrigation technology; Nanzhao Kingdom; Dali Kingdom; the late Ming/early Qing environmental crisis (Dearing 2008)..

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