Evidence for a primordial magnetic field during the meteorite parent body era

Data on 247 meteorites were examined, and a log-log plot of the magnetic moment/gm versus the susceptibility/gm reveals a straight-line relation with a slope of unity for a range of meteorite types extending from achondrites at the low Fe-Ni end to stony-irons. The relation holds for a span of parameter values ranging between four and five orders. The results support the hypothesis of a common background magnetic field at the time of meteorite formation. An equation relating the primordial field strength to the average carrier demagnetization factor, which can vary from 0 to 4 pi, is presented. The extreme lower limit for the field strength is 0.02 oersted, while for the mean field of 0.27 oersted determined from a study of individual meteorites (Stacy and Banerjee, 1974), the average value for the carrier demagnetization factor is 0.74, corresponding to elongated grains.