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Evidence for abundant isolated magnetic nanoparticles at the Paleocene–Eocene boundary

Wang, Huapei; Kent, Dennis V.; Jackson, Michael J.

New rock magnetic results (thermal fluctuation tomography, high-resolution first-order reversal curves and low temperature measurements) for samples from the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum and carbon isotope excursion in cored sections at Ancora and Wilson Lake on the Atlantic Coastal Plain of New Jersey indicate the presence of predominantly isolated, near-equidimensional single-domain magnetic particles rather than the chain patterns observed in a cultured magnetotactic bacteria sample or magnetofossils in extracts. The various published results can be reconciled with the recognition that chain magnetosomes tend to be preferentially extracted in the magnetic separation process but, as we show, may represent only a small fraction of the overall magnetic assemblage that accounts for the greatly enhanced magnetization of the carbon isotope excursion sediment but whose origin is thus unclear.

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Title
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1205308110

More About This Work

Academic Units
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Biology and Paleo Environment
Published Here
March 11, 2013