The sea-floor magnetism in the Bouvet transform zone, South Atlantic

The results of a combined study of the anomalous magnetic field and magneti c properties of seafloor rocks in the Bouvet transform fault region are pre sented. 3-D modeling revealed nonlinear areas of seafloor magnetization non linearly trending in the region. To elucidate the nature of the pattern obs erved, the magnetic properties of basalts were studied. This study showed t hat, when heated to above-Curie temperatures, samples collected from the fa ult and adjacent areas differ in the coercivity behavior. Basalts from the fault revealed a decrease in the coercivity after their thermal treatment, and a rise in the coercivity was observed in basalts fi om the adjacent are as. The origin of this difference is determined from special experiments.