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Microbialites–layered, organosedimentary deposits–exist in the geologic record and extend back in deep time, including all estimated times of inner core nucleation. Microbialites may preserve magnetic field variations at high-resolution based on their estimated growth rates. Previous studies have shown that microbialites can have a stable magnetization. However, the timing and origin of microbialite magnetization were not well determined, and no study has attempted to evaluate whether actively growing microbialites record the geomagnetic field. Here, we present centimeter-scale magnetization and magnetic property variations within the structure of modern microbialites from Great Salt Lake (GSL), United States, and Laguna Bacalar, Mexico, Pleistocene microbialites from GSL, and a Cambrian microbialite from Mongolia. All samples record field directions close to the expected value. The dominant magnetic carrier has a coercivity of 35–50 mT and unblocking temperatures are consistent with magnetite. A small proportion of additional high coercivity minerals such as hematite are also present, but do not appear to appreciably contribute to the natural remanent magnetization (NRM). Magnetization is broadly consistent along microbialite layers, and directional variations correlate with the internal slope of the layers. These observations suggest that the documented NRM may be primarily detrital in origin and that the timing of magnetization acquisition can be close to that of sediment deposition. 

Abstract We evaluate the relationship between the intensity of remanent magnetization andfO₂in natural and synthetic Mars meteorites. The olivine‐phyric shergottite meteorite Yamato 980459 (Y‐980459) and a sulfur‐free synthetic analog (Y‐98*) of identical major element composition were analyzed to explore the rock magnetic and remanence properties of a basalt crystallized from a primitive melt, and to explore the role of magmatic and alteration environmentfO₂on Mars crustal anomalies. The reducing conditions under which Y‐980459 is estimated to have formed (QFM‐2.5; Shearer et al. 2006) were replicated during the synthesis of Y‐98*. Y‐980459 contains pyrrhotite and chromite. Chromite is the only magnetic phase in Y‐98*. The remanence‐carrying capacity of Y‐980459 is comparable to other shergottites that formed in thefO₂range of QFM‐3 to QFM‐1. The remanence‐carrying capacity of these lowfO₂basalts is 1–2 orders of magnitude too weak to account for the intense crustal anomalies observed in Mars's southern cratered highlands. Moderately oxidizing conditions of >QFM‐1, which are more commonly observed in nakhlites and Noachian breccias, are key to generating either a primary igneous assemblage or secondary alteration assemblage capable of acquiring an intense remanent magnetization, regardless of the basalt character or thermal history. This suggests that if igneous rocks are responsible for the intensely magnetized crust, these oxidizing conditions must have existed in the magmatic plumbing systems of early Mars or must have existed in the crust during secondary processes that led to acquisition of a chemical remanent magnetization. 

Abstract Two basalts with compositions relevant to the crusts of Mars and Earth were synthesized at igneous temperatures and held at 650°C for 21 to 257 days under quartz‐fayalite‐magnetitefO₂buffer conditions. The run products are germane to slowly cooled igneous intrusions, which might be a significant volumetric fraction of the Martian crust and carriers of magnetic anomalies in the Southern Highlands. Both basalts acquired intense thermoremanent magnetizations and intense but easily demagnetized anhysteretic remanent magnetizations carried by homogeneous multidomain titanomagnetite. Hypothetical intrusions on Mars composed of these materials would be capable of acquiring intense remanences sufficient to generate the observed anomalies. However, the remanence would be easily demagnetized by impact events after the cessation of the Mars geodynamo. Coercivity enhancement by pressure or formation of single domain regions via exsolution within the multidomain grains is necessary for long‐term retention of a remanence carried exclusively by multidomain titanomagnetite grains.