Tuffite-derived magnetic soils in the Alto Paranaíba region, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, have a variable mineralogy and are assumed to contain iron oxides that are isoestructural to spinel, more specifically, (Mg,Ti)-rich magnetite and maghemite. In this study, magnetic portions (saturation magnetization, 34.4 < sigma/J T-1 kg-1 < 43.7) were separated from sand fractions of pedomaterials of a Brunizem (Chernosol) (samples labeled AP31CR; AP31B and AP31A) and of a leptic Chernosol (AP33CR e AP33A) developed from tuffite were collected near the city of Patos de Minas, MG. Maghemite (gammaFe2O3), hematite (alphaFe2O3) and a reportedly identified magnesioferrite (ideal formula, MgFe2O4) were found to also occur in these magnetic extracts, as it could be deduced from X ray diffractometry and 298 K and 110 K 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy data. It was also observed that the relative proportions and particle sizes of the iron oxides vary progressively in each soil profile. Mean crystallite diameters are 27 nm (magnetic portion of sample AP31CR); 25 nm (AP31B); 23 nm (AP31A); 48 nm (AP33CR) and 32 nm (AP33A). The isomorphical Al contents in hematite also increase systematically from 5 to 13 mol%, from the bottom to the top of the AP31 profile and tend to be constant at about 9 mol% along the AP33 profile. An overall model was proposed including the main transformation pathway involving only iron oxides, in which magnesioferrite is the pedogenetic precursor of maghemite up to hematite in these pedosystems: MgFe2O4 -> gFe2O3 -> aFe2O3.
magnetization; maghemite; Mössbauer
