322 Eart h a n d Pl ane t ar y Sc i e nc e Letto:~.

78 (1986) 322 326

Elsevier Science Publ i sher s B.V., Ams t e r d a m - Pr i nt ed in The Ne t he r l a nds
[31
The magnetic soils of Brazil
Ma u r o Re s e n d e ~, J a c que l i ne Al l an 2 a nd J . M. D. Co e y 2
J De par t me nt o f S o i l Sci ence, Federal UniversiO, o f Vi~osa, Vigosa. MG ( Brazi l )
-" De par t me nt o f Pur e a n d Ap p l i e d PIwsi cs, Tr i ni t y College, Dubl i n 2 ( I rel and)
Recei ved Augus t 29, 1985; revi sed ver si on accept ed Febr uar y 25, 1986
Cer t ai n Brazi l i an l at osol s show a s pont a ne ous magnet i zat i on of t he cl ay size fract i on in excess of 1 J / T kg: t hey can
be pi cked up by a ha nd magnet . Magnet i zat i on is a good i ndi cat or of soil type, bei ng gr eat est in t hos e soils deri ved
f r om maf i c or itabiritic rocks whi ch have been little i nf l uenced by xant hi zat i on (t he soil yel l owi ng process). The
magnet i c phas e is ful l y-oxi di zed t i t anomaghemi t e whi ch is i nheri t ed di rect l y f r om weat her ed bedrock. Si mpl e magnet i c
me a s ur e me nt s are r e c omme nde d as an ai d in cl assi f yi ng t ropi cal l at osol s.
Tropi cal latosols (also known as Oxisols or
Ferralsols) are composed mostly of quartz, kaolin-
ite and oxides [1] of iron or aluminium. Iron
oxides are typically 10- 30 wt.% of the clay f r ac-
tion, al t hough somet i mes they can be much more.
The main iron phases, aluminous hemat i t e and
al umi nous goethite, impart, respectively, the char-
acteristic red or yellow col our to the soils [2].
Maghemi t e has somet i mes been suggested as a
possible const i t uent . Accordi ng to Mullins [3] and
Fi t zpat ri ck [4], it coul d be formed (a) from the
ot her iron oxides in a surface l ayer in the presence
of burni ng organi c mat t er [5], (b) by pedogeni c
t ransformat i on under hydr omor phi c conditions,
formi ng localized concret i ons [6], and (c) by in-
heri t ance and alteration of t i t anomagnet i t e.
Following observat i ons in the field that the
entire soil col umn at cert ai n locations in Brazil is
easily at t ract ed by a hand magnet [7], we investi-
gat ed the origin and significance of these unusual
magnetic propert i es. Here we discuss results for
the following materials:
(1) A series of 15 represent at i ve latosols selected
by the Brazilian Soil Survey (samples B0- B14)
which includes two except i onal l y iron-rich materi-
als derived from itabirite [8,9].
(2) A vertical sequence (samples V1- V4) in-
cl udi ng soil from the B and C hori zons at a site
near Vicosa in the Zona da Mat a of Mi nas Gerais.
(3) A hori zont al t oposequence (samples G1
G6) from the B2 hori zon of a shallow hill slope
(1%) about 200 m long in I t umbi ar a in sout hern
Goi as [9]. It represents in mi crocosm the xanthiza-
tion or yellowing process in tropical soil i nduced
by climatic and pedogeni c factors (e.g. moist soil
climate, high organi c matter), which favour trans-
f or mat i on of hemat i t e into goethite [10,11]. On
passing f r om summi t (G6) to foot sl ope (G1) the
soil col our changes from red to yellow as it be-
comes richer in goethite and kaolinite, but poor er
in hemat i t e and gibbsite. Our measurement s were
made on the clay fract i on whose magnet i zat i on is
especially sensitive to these factors.
Magnet i zat i on curves for some represent at i ve
samples are shown in Fig. l a. Two paramet ers are
derived: sat urat i on magnet i zat i on o~ obt ai ned by
ext rapol at i on to zero appl i ed field, and the high-
field slope X= d ~ / d B0 defi ned in the interval
0 . 3 < B, , < 1 . 5 T. Values of o~ and )t for all 24
samples are listed in Tabl e 1. Variations in o~ for
the soils span more t han three orders of magni-
t ude whereas X is relatively const ant . Magnetiza-
tion is expressed here per kg of Fe20~, since
Mossbauer spectra show t hat pract i cal l y all the
iron in the soils is oxidized to Fe 3+ (1 J / T kg = 1
emu/ g) , o~ reflects quant i t at i vel y the presence of
ferri magnet i c oxides, whereas ), arises mainly f r om
ant i ferromagnet i c oxides or paramagnet i c iron.
These data, t oget her with extensive observat i ons
in the field, establish that magnet i zat i on is sub-
0012- 821X/ 86/ $03. 50 ~:' 1986 Elsevier Science Publ i sher s B.V.
b
0
30
Slope X
/
T-
O6
f
j
a
i , i , l J , , ,
20
I 0
b
i . . . . I . . . . . . .
0 O5
GI
v 2 m
v l m
v1
10
B,~ r r )
Z5
Fig. 1. Room t emper at ur e magnet i zat i on curves for (a) t he clay
fract i on sampl es GI and G6 and the whol e soil V4, and (b) t he
whol e rock V1 and t he magnet i c ext ract s of t he rock and
yel l ow r i nd Vl m and V2m. ( Not e the di f f er ent vertical scale.)
st ant i al onl y when the soil derives f r om maf i c rock
or f r om t he except i onal l y i ron-ri ch itabirites. Al-
t hough t here can be l arge vari at i ons of os rel at ed
to local fact ors such as relief and dr ai nage
( G1 - G6 : the t wo ext remes are i ncl uded in the
figure), as well as br oad di fferences in cl i mose-
quence in di fferent regions of the count r y ( B9-
B12), the magnet i c soils t end to be those t hat are
high in phos phor us and t race el ement s [12,13].
They are among the mos t fertile soils in Brazil.
Magnet i zat i on is t herefore a val uabl e i ndi cat or of
soil type, and one t hat is mor e sensitive t han
col our to i nci pi ent xant hi zat i on. B9 and B10, for
exampl e, are qui t e alike in col our and f or m f r om
si mi l ar rock but the l ower magnet i zat i on of the
l at t er reflects a cooler, mor e moi st regime.
I n or der to est abl i sh the origin of the magnet i -
zat i on, we focussed our at t ent i on on the vert i cal
323
sequence, V1- V4. The magni t ude of o s for these,
and ot her st rongl y magnet i c sampl es, is t oo large
to be expl ai ned by any moder at el y- pur e cryst al l i ne
i ron oxi de except f er r i magnet i c magnet i t e or mag-
hemi t e. Ther e are some report s, f r om X- r ay dif-
fract i on, of maghemi t e in the cl ay fract i on of
i
Brazilian soils [12-16], i ncl udi ng B0 and G6 [9].
Because of the l i kel i hood t hat i ron in the cl ay
fract i on will be oxidized, it is general l y t aken for
gr ant ed t hat the phase giving the di agnost i c peak
near 2.95 A is maghemi t e r at her t han magnet i t e
[7]. However, large magnet i t e and i l meni t e grai ns
i nheri t ed di rect l y f r om the par ent rock can persi st
in the coarse fract i on of t ropi cal soils, where t hey
are f ound to be except i onal l y st abl e (e.g. t here is
about 10% of the i ron present in i l meni t e bot h in
V1 and V4).
Magnet i zat i on of the whole soil mat eri al in the
vert i cal sequence V2- V4 is of si mi l ar magni t ude
to t hat of t he r ock V1 f r om which it is derived. V1
is a maf i c rock compos ed of quart z, plagioclase,
pyr oxene and opaque oxides. The yel l ow rind, V2,
1- 10 mm thick, which f or ms di rect l y on the
weat her ed rock provi des the clue needed to under -
st and the magnet i zat i on of the soil. An at t empt at
magnet i c separ at i on was i neffect i ve for sampl es
f r om the B hori zons but we found t hat coarse,
bl ack, sand-si zed grai ns (V2m) coul d easily be
separ at ed f r om the yel l ow ri nd wi t h a hand mag-
net ; X- r ay di ffract i on i ndi cat ed t hat maghemi t e
( a = 8.33(1) A) was present in these grai ns to-
get her wi t h some ilmenite. X- r ay fl uorescence in-
di cat ed t hat the ot her maj or met al l i c el ement pres-
ent in the magnet i c ext ract was Ti ( Ti Oz/ Fe203
= 0.43). Magnet i zat i on of V2m was o 2 = 45 J / T
kg (25 J / T kg of sampl e), while t hat of the clay
fract i on of the yel l ow ri nd was onl y 0.1 J / T kg.
The M0ssbauer spect r um of the ext ract (Fig. 2a)
shows a ferric magnet i c pat t er n but there is no
sign of the charact eri st i c Fe 2+/3+ hyper f i ne sextet
f r om B-site i ron in magnet i t e [17]; a mi nor amount
of i l meni t e is present . We t herefore i dent i fy the
magnet i c const i t uent in V2 as coarse grai ns of
fully oxi di zed t i t anomaghemi t e. The phase, whose
composi t i on is est i mat ed to be F e l . 9 Ti 0 . 6 0 4 (aft er
correct i on for the i ron in ilmenite), decomposes
t her mal l y at 290 + 10C. The magnet i zat i on of
ful l y-oxi di zed synt het i c t i t anomaghemi t e of this
composi t i on is about 10 J / T kg [18], whereas the
324
TABLE 1
Magnetic properties of Brazilian latosols
Sample Description Colour, Elevation (m) Fe203 o~ k
No. bedrock (wt.%) ( J / T kg ( J / T 2 kg)
of Fe203 )
(a) Representatiue Brazilian latosols
B0 B 2 clay < 2 btm itabirite 63.3 6.43 0,52
B1 B z clay 10R3/ 6 1200
itabirite 47.4 2.91 0.30
B2 B 2 clay 7. 5YR5/8 850
gneiss 11.2 0.08 0.46
B3 B 2 clay 7.5YR4/5 950
charnockite 18.3 0,09 0.59
B4 B 2 clay 10YR5/6 480
Tertiary sediments 8.6 0.12 0.52
B5 B 2 clay 2. 5YR3/7
siltstone 16.6 2.08 0.35
B6 B 2 clay 4YR4/ 4 645
mafic 23.3 2.38 0.60
B7 B 2 clay 1. 5YR3/4 760
marie 26.4 8.05 0.30
B8 B 2 clay 1.5YR3.5/6
sandstone 10.4 0.89 0.16
B9 B 2 clay 1YR3/ 4 640
mafic 23.8 14.39 0.51
BIO B 2 clay 1YR3/ 5 760
marie 20,1 5.62 0,43
BI 1 B 2 clay 3.5YR3.5/5 920
mafic 20.6 1.22 0.35
B12 B 2 clay 5YR3,5/5 1100
mafic 19.9 0.25 0.49
B13 B 2 clay 1YR4/ 8 910
Tertiary sediments 10.8 0.56 0.31
BI4 B 2 clay 10YR6/ 8 860
migmatite 13.5 0.07 0.53
(b) Soi l profile
VI C rock mafic 19.6 6.00 1.04
VI m C rock mafic 40.2 44.60 1.36
magnetic extract
V2 C yellow rind mafic 31.9 8.60 0.78
V2c C yellow rind mafic 37.1 0.10 0.20
clay
V2m C yellow rind mafic 55.4 45.20 1.26
magnetic extract
V4 B 2 soil mafic 22.0 3.83 0.66
(c) Toposequence
G1 B 2 clay (bottom) mafic 17.9 0.29 0.30
G2 B 2 clay mafic 16.6 0.48 0.45
G3 B 2 clay mafic 20.2 0.72 0.37
G4 B 2 clay mafic 20.9 1.01 0.38
G5 B 2 clay mafic 23.5 1.49 0,30
G6 B 2 clay (top) mafic 26.3 4.45 0,36
-. , 0
o
~ 6
C)
t~
- Q
0
a
i
V2 m
I t I
I ' ' ' ' t
I l 1 I I I
-I0 -6 -2 2 6 I0
Veloc/ty (mm/s)
Fig. 2. Room t emper at ur e M~Sssbauer spect r a of t he magnet i c
ext ract s of (a) t he yel l ow r i nd V2m, and (b) t he basal t i c rock
f r om whi ch it is deri ved Vl m as well as of t he whol e r ed
magnet i c soil V4 (c).
magnet i zat i on of t he nat ural mi neral in the mag-
net i c ext ract s is about 50 J / T kg (Tabl e 1). This
suggests t hat t here are significant di fferences in
the cat i on di st ri but i on in nat ural and synt het i c
samples. Knowi ng o S of the nat ural t i t anomag-
hemite, it is possible to i nfer the quant i t y present
in soils f r om magnet i zat i on measurement s. The
magnet i cal l y separat ed fract i on of the rock Vl m
gives a M~Sssbauer spect rum (Fig. 2b) similar to
t hat of the magnet i c ext ract f r om the yellow rind
(Fig. 2a). Fi t paramet ers of the magnet i c sextet are
i somer shift relative to iron 0.32 r a m/ s , quadru-
pol e shift 0.00 mm/ s , hyperfi ne field 49.7 T. The
lattice par amet er for the spi nel -st ruct ure phase is
a = 8.31(1) A. It t herefore appears t hat the
t i t anomaghemi t e is i nheri t ed f r om the par ent rock
and it is br oken down to finer part i cl es and in-
t i mat el y mi xed with ot her soil material in the
upper hori zons (Fig. 2c). The r emar kabl e decrease
in magnet i zat i on in the r e d- ~ yellow sequence
G6 - G1 , as well as the di fferences in B9- B12,
325
i ndi cat e t hat soil maghemi t e in the clay fract i on is
mor e likely to be el i mi nat ed t han soil hemat i t e
duri ng xant hi zat i on.
In summar y we concl ude:
(1) Magnet i c latosols formi ng on mafi c rocks
are wi despread in Brazil; t hey cover perhaps 5% of
its l and area.
(2) Ti t anomaghemi t e in these soils is i nheri t ed
f r om rock cont ai ni ng al ready-al t ered t i t anomag-
netite.
(3) Ti t anomaghemi t e in the clay fract i on is
sensitive to pedocl i mat i c envi ronment s favouri ng
i nci pi ent xant hi zat i on.
(4) Magnet i zat i on measurement s can be useful
in Oxisol t axonomy. Since the original t i t anomag-
net i t e associates with trace elements, the soil mag-
net i zat i on correl at es with a number of desirable
soil characteristics.
(5) Ti t anomaghemi t e can be det er mi ned quant i -
tatively f r om soil sat urat i on magnet i zat i on, pro-
vi ded the magnet i zat i on of the pure mi neral is
known.
A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s
We are grat eful to Dr. I. Sanders for help and
advi ce on the pet rographi c analysis and to Mr. D.
Si mpson for the el ect ron mi cr opr obe analysis.
Thi s work was suppor t ed by the Uni t ed Na-
tions Devel opment Project, under cont r act UNDP
BRA 82/ 023.
R e f e r e n c e s
1 " Oxi de s " are t aken t o i ncl ude hydr oxi des and oxyhydr ox-
ides.
2 U. Schwer t mann and R. M. Taylor, I r on oxides, in: Mi ner-
als in Soil Envi r onment s, J.B. Di xon and S.B. Weed, eds.,
145 pp., Soil Science Society of Ameri ca, Madi son, Wisc.,
1977.
3 C.E. Mullins, Magnet i c suscept i bi l i t y of t he soil and its
si gni fi cance in soil s c i e n c e - - a review, J. Soil Sci. 28,
223-246, 1977.
4 R. W. Fi t zpat ri ck, The occur r ence and pedogeni c signifi-
cance of Fe-oxi des in soils of t he sout her n hemi sphere, in:
I r on in Soils and Clay Mi neral s, J.W. Stucki and B.A.
Goodman, eds., Reidel, in press.
5 U. Schwer t mann and B. Hei nemann, Ober das Vor kommen
und die Ent s t ehung von Maghemi t in nor ddeut s chen B6den,
Neues Jahrb. Mi neral . Monat sh. 8, 174-181, 1959.
6 R. M. Tayl or and U. Schwer t mann, Maghemi t e in soils and
its origins, Clay Mi ner. 10, 289-310, 1974.
7 M. Resende, Mi neral ogy, chemi st ry, mor phol ogy, and geo-
mor phol ogy of some soils of t he Cent ral Pl at eau of Brazil,
Ph. D. Thesis, Pur due Uni versi t y, 1976.
326
8 Sampl es B1- B14 bel ong to a set s t udi ed by Brazi l i an soil
sci ent i st s in connect i on wi t h t he devel opment of a soil
cl assi fi cat i on s ys t em unde r t he l eader shi p of S NL C S /
EMBRAPA.
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f r om t he Cent r al Pl at eau of Brazil, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 48,
341- 346, 1984.
10 U. Schwer t mann, Tr a ns f or ma t i on of hemat i t e to goet hi t e in
soils, Na t ur e 232, 624- 625, 1971.
11 U. Schwer t mann, The effect of pedogeni c e nvi r onme nt s on
i ron oxi de mi ner al s, Adv, Soil Sci. 1, 171- 200, 1985.
12 N. Curl , Li t hos equence and t opos equence of Oxi sol s f r om
Goi as a nd Mi na s Ger ai s St at es, Brazil, Ph. D. Thesi s, Pur due
Uni ver si t y, 1983.
13 M. Resende, unpubl i s he d dat a.
14 J. Esson and L.C. Sur can dos Sant os. Che mi s t r y and
mi ner al ogy of a sect i on t hr ough t he l at eri t i c nickel deposi t
at Li ber dade, Brazil, Tr ans . Inst . Mi n. Met al l . 87, B53- B60,
1978.
15 L. C. A. Pombo, E. Kl amt , I. Kus r a t h and D. Gi anl uppi ,
Identificaca~o de oxi dos de ferro na f r acao argi l a de Lat os -
sol o Roxo, Rev. Bras. Ci en. Solo. 6. 13 17, 1982.
16 D. P. Sant ana, Ph. D. Thesi s, Pur due Uni ver si t y, 1984.
17 J. M. D. Coey, A. H. Mor r i s h and G. A. Sawat zky, A
M6s s ba ue r s t udy of conduct i on in magnet i t e, J. Phys. 32,
C1. 271- 273, 1971.
18 P. W. Re a d ma n and W, O' Rei l l y, Magnet i c pr oper t i es of
oxi di zed t i t anomagnet i t es , J. Geomag. Geoel ect r. 24, 69 90,
1972.