Ferromagnetic phase-mass equivalence and lunar sample magnetic remanence

Man-made alloy spheres simulating the compositions of particles found in the lunar soil and weighting approximately 10 mg are shown to be equivalent, insofar as remanence intensity and demagnetization stability are concerned, to more than about 10 billion submicrometer spherical iron particles. The large particles not only contain large stable magnetic remanence, but when the polished surfaces of these particles are etched and carefully studied, they provide useful petrogenetic information, imply the mechanism of magnetization, the time-temperature history, and outline the format for possible paleointensity analysis. The intensity and stability of the remanence in these large spheres is related to the microstructure developed during rapid cooling.