Magnetite in Muong Nong-Type Australasian Tektites From South China

South China belongs to the northern geographic branch of the Australasian strewn field (AASF) of tektites and microtektites, and this area is assumed to be part of the uprange region of the putative impactor trajectory that formed the yet undiscovered source crater. Ferromagnetic minerals in impact glass may record the magnetization process and thermal history of impact melt, but the possible identity of ferromagnetic minerals in AASF tektites from South China is elusive. Here, we perform a rock magnetism and crystallography study of iron-sulfur spherules in Muong Nong-type tektites from South China, revealing abundant single-domain and pseudo single-domain nano-grains of magnetite within the spherules. This result is consistent with the detection of magnetic signals caused by single-domain and pseudo single-domain magnetite in these samples. Compared to the large value ranges of magnetic properties of tektites in the entire strewn field, individual specimens of both Muong Nong-type and single splash-form tektites have relatively homogeneous magnetic properties in terms of magnetic susceptibility, natural remanent magnetization (NRM), saturation isothermal remanent magnetization (SIRM) and NRM/SIRM ratio. The results indicate that the impact melt that formed each tektite specimen experienced similar thermal history, and most AASF tektites from South China were cooled in an ambient magnetic field that is the same order of magnitude as the Earth's magnetic field.

Automated summary

Iron-sulfur spherules in Muong Nong-type tektites from South China contain abundant magnetite nano-grains, indicating similar thermal history and cooling in an ambient magnetic field that is the same order of magnitude as the Earth's magnetic field.