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Magnetic Domains

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Encyclopedia of Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism

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Introduction

The existence of a paleomagnetic record testifies to the ability of magnetic minerals in rocks to retain their natural remanent magnetizations (NRMs) over geologic time. In the early days of paleomagnetism, it was thought that the stable components of NRM mainly resided in extremely small magnetic mineral grains, which occupied the single‐domain (SD) state. However, it is now recognized that, due to their very small size and scarcity, SD particles may not be the major carriers of NRM in many rocks. Instead, it is more likely that much of the NRM is carried by grains which, by virtue of their larger sizes, are subdivided into two or more magnetic domains (Figure M13).

Figure M13
figure 1_175

Illustrations of (a) a multidomain cube containing four domains and (b) a single‐domain cube of uniform magnetization.

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Authors
  1. Susan L. Halgedahl
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leeds,  ,  

    David Gubbins

  2. University of Hawaii,  ,  

    Emilio Herrero-Bervera

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Halgedahl, S.L. (2007). Magnetic Domains. In: Gubbins, D., Herrero-Bervera, E. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4423-6_175

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