The Magnetic Fingerprint of Pulsed Granite Magma Emplacement and Alteration: Slaufrudalur Pluton, Iceland

Magma reservoirs typically form through the incremental emplacement of smaller magma pulses over extended timescales. Pulsed reservoir growth significantly impacts a magma body's temperature evolution, chemical differentiation potential, and the probability, scale, and timing of volcanic eruptions. Moreover, the addition of thermal energy and magmatic fluids reheat and hydrothermally alter previously emplaced magma. Consequently, it may be difficult to distinguish individual magma pulses in exposed solidified intrusions (plutons), obscuring evidence of magma body construction and evolution. In this study, we employ geological mapping combined with petrofabric and Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS), Anisotropy of Anhysteretic Remanent Magnetization (AARM), hysteresis, First-Order Reversal Curves (FORCs) and susceptibility versus temperature analyses to investigate pulsed magma emplacement and its consequences in terms of fabric overprinting and hydrothermal alteration within the Slaufrudalur pluton in Southeast Iceland. The field mapping documents distinct emplacement styles, including magma ascent in marginal zones, subhorizontal sheet emplacement, and bulk intrusion below the sheets. The AMS fabrics show high K_m values (∼1 × 10⁻² SI), but overall weak degrees of anisotropy (P_j < 2%). The weak magnetic fabrics reflect the destructive interference between the magnetite fabric and the fabric of hematite and iron hydroxides. Later, pulses of magma are less oxidized, which indicates that the alteration was caused by volatile release from magma that intruded below already emplaced magma. Our results demonstrate that rock magnetic data provide a novel approach to detecting magma pulse interactions and associated alteration in plutons, offering insights into magma body dynamics.