Magnetic properties of agricultural topsoils of the Isle of Man: their characterization and classification by factor analysis

Abstract

A classification system for land potential in agricultural use has identified five soil categories on the Isle of Man (British Isles), based on the nature and properties of parent materials. Each soil category has been sampled and analyzed in terms of mineral magnetic characteristics. This article describes these compositional data and uses multivariate statistics to determine whether Manx soil types can be classified on the basis of their mineral magnetic characteristics. Magnetic data indicate the soils contain low to moderate quantities of magnetic minerals, are dominated by low-coercivity (e.g., ferrimagnetic) mineral types, and contain a range of magnetic domain sizes. Soil parent material is identified as the primary source of magnetic minerals, but parent material texture does not influence magnetic domain size. Multivariate data analysis suggests that mineral magnetic characteristics are appropriate for distinguishing between Manx soil categories and, thus, indicates the generic potential of mineral magnetic methodologies in such studies.