Magnetic normalization of particle size effects in a heavy metal pollution study of intertidal sediments from the Yangzte Estuary

Magnetic, granulometric and geochemical analyses were conducted on an intertidal sediment core from the Yangtze Estuary to evaluate the possibility of normalizing samples for particle size effects in a heavy metal pollution study by means of magnetic proxies. It has been found that the magnetic parameter χ_ARM, indicating fine grained ferrimagnetic minerals, correlates well with the clay content and organic matter concentration of the sediments. χ_ARM also shows significant relationship with heavy metals. Therefore χ_ARM is proposed as a proxy for clay content in the sediments, and can be used to compensate for the particle size effect in sedimentary heavy metal records, where magnetic minerals are not subject to significant post-depositional alteration.