Theoretical models for the relationship between magnetic anisotropy and strain: effect of triaxial magnetic grains

The movements of individual triaxial particles in some models of deformed rocks are in general much more complex than the movements of spheroidal particles. However, the presented magnetic anisotropy to strain models considering multiparticle systems of triaxial magnetic particles show very similar results to the models that consider a mixture of prolate and oblate spheroidal particles. We explain this observation by assuming that even though the movements of individual triaxial particles are very complex, the multiparticle system as a whole 'averages out' in some way the movements, and the resulting magnetic anisotropy tensor does not differ very much from the tensor of the model considering a mixture of prolate and oblate spheroids. The magnetic anisotropy vs. strain models are therefore much more robust than the standard fabric vs. strain models. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.