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LITHOEN

Mineral

Magnetite

A strongly magnetic iron oxide. Its presence in ocean-floor basalt is what allowed the sea floor to record the polarity of Earth’s magnetic field as it cooled — and so what made seafloor spreading detectable.

Black metallic magnetite crystals set among white calcite.
Magnetite crystals with calcite, from Vyhne, Slovakia. Magnetite carries iron in two oxidation states at once — its approved formula is Fe2+Fe3+2O4 — which is why it is both strongly magnetic and a sensitive recorder of redox conditions. Locality: Vyhne, Slovakia.

Mineralysk, CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC-BY-SA-4.0 · source · Derivative: Downscaled to 1000 px wide by the Wikimedia thumbnail service; no cropping, no colour or content alteration.

Classification

formula
Fe3O4
ima status
grandfathered
crystal system
cubic

How this record is known

2
Settled consensus
Cited as the accepted position of the discipline.

2 of 2 claims on this page cite at least one registered source. Counts describe how each statement is known, not how likely it is to be true.

What Lithoen records

Each claim states how it is known and cites its evidence.

EstablishedFe2+Fe3+2O4

Magnetite is an accepted mineral species in the IMA List of Minerals, with the CNMNC-approved formula Fe2+Fe3+2O4 and IMA status “grandfathered”.

  • definition basis: IMA List of Minerals, September 2026 update, which is the authority on mineral species status.
  • precision note: An approved formula is an idealised composition; natural crystals of most species depart from it through substitution.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification, International Mineralogical Association 2026 Primary authority

EstablishedCubic; spinel structure type.

The Handbook of Mineralogy records magnetite as a cubic iron oxide of the spinel structure type.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Mineral Data Publishing 2001 Institutional reference

In the knowledge graph

Record last updated 2026-09-06. Corrections follow the published corrections policy; superseded claims are retained, never silently edited.