The magnetic properties experiments on the Viking missions and the Pathfinder mission indicate that the Martian soil and airborne dust are somewhat magnetic (average saturation magnetization, &sgr;S~4 A m2 kg-1). While hematite, superparamagnetic or macro-crystalline, is not sufficiently magnetic to yield the results obtained, pyrogenetic titaniferous magnetite (TiMt) might conceivably be the cause. However, the &sgr;S of the dust is considerably higher than that in any of the known Martian meteorites, some of which may be representative of the bedrock from which the Mars soil formed. Furthermore if the reported TiO2 content of Mars soil (~1% by weight) was entirely present as TiMt of composition Usp 60 (that typical of terrestrial ocean floor basalts), the calculated abundance (<4%) would yield &sgr;S of only 1.2 A m2 kg-1. As the Pathfinder magnetic properties experiment results pertain only to the airborne dust particles on Mars, the likelihood of aeolian concentration of such TiMt grains is minimal. Ferrous iron in the bedrock silicates must have been converted to maghemite (&ggr;-Fe2O3) by some unknown oxidative mechanism; this magnetic enhancement should be incorporated in any process envisioned for the origin of Martian soil. ¿ 2000 American Geophysical Union