Magnetite

Detailed Product Description

Magnetite is the most of all the naturally occurring minerals on .^[] Naturally magnetized pieces of magnetite, called , will attract small pieces of iron, and this was how ancient man first discovered the property of . Lodestone was used as an early form of . Magnetite typically carries the dominant magnetic signature in rocks, and so it has been a critical tool in , a science important in discovering and understanding and as historic data for and other . The relationships between magnetite and other iron-rich oxide minerals such as , hematite, and have been much studied, as the complicated between these minerals and influence how and when magnetite preserves records of the Earth's magnetic field.

Magnetite has been very important in understanding the conditions under which rocks form and evolve. Magnetite reacts with oxygen to produce hematite, and the mineral pair forms a that can control oxygen . Commonly contain grains of two , one between magnetite and ulvospinel and the other between ilmenite and hematite. Compositions of the mineral pairs are used to calculate how oxidizing was the (i.e., the fugacity of the magma): a range of are found in magmas and the oxidation state helps to determine how the magmas might evolve by .

Small grains of magnetite occur in almost all igneous rocks and . Magnetite also occurs in many , including .

In many igneous rocks, magnetite-rich and ilmenite-rich grains occur that precipitated together from magma. Magnetite also is produced from and by .

Magnetite is a valuable source of . It dissolves slowly in .

[] Distribution of deposits