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Updated: May 15, 2026

Collection, Isolation and Enrichment of Naturally Occurring Magnetotactic Bacteria from the Environment
Published on: November 15, 2012
Evidence for abundant isolated magnetic nanoparticles at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary
Huapei Wang1, Dennis V Kent, Michael J Jackson
1Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
Abstract:
New rock magnetic results (thermal fluctuation tomography, high-resolution first-order reversal curves and low temperature measurements) for samples from the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum and carbon isotope excursion in cored sections at Ancora and Wilson Lake on the Atlantic Coastal Plain of New Jersey indicate the presence of predominantly isolated, near-equidimensional single-domain magnetic particles rather than the chain patterns observed in a cultured magnetotactic bacteria sample or magnetofossils in extracts. The various published results can be reconciled with the recognition that chain magnetosomes tend to be preferentially extracted in the magnetic separation process but, as we show, may represent only a small fraction of the overall magnetic assemblage that accounts for the greatly enhanced magnetization of the carbon isotope excursion sediment but whose origin is thus unclear.
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