MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY ANISOTROPY OF VARIOUS ROCK TYPES AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR GEOPHYSICS AND GEOLOGY*

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Abstract
In the interpretation of magnetic anomalies and in paleomagnetism, the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility is commonly neglected. Nevertheless, this property has basic significance, because, owing to susceptibility anisotropy, the directions of the vectors of induced and remanent magnetization are deflected from the direction of the Earth's magnetic field. Almost all rock types investigated possess higher or lower degree of the susceptibility anisotropy. Effusive and sedimentary rocks have the lowest degree of anisotropy. For the latter, the “masking effect” of the paramagnetic mineral components has some influence on the anisotropy degree due to the low mean susceptibility of sedimentary rocks. Metamorphic and plutonic rocks usually exhibit a considerable degree of anisotropy. The highest degree of anisotropy has been found in the rocks containing ferromagnetic minerals with mimetic fabric.The dependence of the degree of the susceptibility anisotropy on the degree of metamorphism proved to be very complicated; of the rock sequence from slates to gneisses, the transient rocks (roofing slates and mica‐schist‐gneisses) showed the highest degree of anisotropy. This result can be used in geology for reliable determination of these rock types.