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Preliminary magnetic studies of lagoon and stream sediments from Chascomús Area (Argentina)—magnetic parameters as indicators of heavy metal pollution and some results of using an experimental method to separate magnetic phases

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

Magnetic properties of lagoon and stream sediments from Chascomús area (Buenos Aires Province) and the relevance of various magnetic parameters as giving pollution status are studied in the present work. This work is focussed on magnetic parameters, such as concentration-dependent (magnetic susceptibility, saturation anhysteric and isothermal remanent magnetisation) and feature-dependent parameters (S-ratio, coercivity of remanence, anhysteric susceptibility/magnetic susceptibility-ratio), as pollution indicators. Firstly and most importantly, different magnetic parameters and chemical measurements were correlated in order to investigate their goodness, obtaining the best results for feature-dependent magnetic parameters. Coercivity of remanence correlate very well with chemical variables, showing correlations at high level of significance up to 0.9094, and the anhysteric susceptibility/magnetic susceptibility-ratio also shows very good correlations (up to 0.8376). Some results and advantages of using a new experimental method in order to discriminate hard and soft magnetic phases are also shown. This method uses alternately backfield isothermal remanent magnetisation and alternating field demagnetisation. From the experimental separation, the presence of hard magnetic phases in some samples was confirmed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (UNCPBA), Instituto Antártico Argentino (IAA), National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), and The Third World Academy of Science (TWAS, Research Grant Number: 02-429 RG/PHYS/LA) for their financial support. Many thanks to Mr. Claudio Santiago for his help with graphics. The authors are really indebted to the anonymous reviewer for his useful suggestions in order to improve this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IFAS, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Pinto 399, 7000, Tandil, Argentina

    Marcos A. E. Chaparro, Claudia S. G. Gogorza & Ana M. Sinito

  2. Instituto Antártico Argentino, Cerrito 1248, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Juan M. Lirio & Héctor Nuñez

Authors
  1. Marcos A. E. Chaparro
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  2. Juan M. Lirio
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  3. Héctor Nuñez
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  4. Claudia S. G. Gogorza
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  5. Ana M. Sinito
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Correspondence to Marcos A. E. Chaparro.

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Chaparro, M.A.E., Lirio, J.M., Nuñez, H. et al. Preliminary magnetic studies of lagoon and stream sediments from Chascomús Area (Argentina)—magnetic parameters as indicators of heavy metal pollution and some results of using an experimental method to separate magnetic phases. Environ Geol 49, 30–43 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-005-0049-4

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