We have investigated the structural and compositional changes that are induced by the segregation of substrate Mg to the surface of 1fum-thick Fe 3 O 4 films on MgO(001). The thin films have been grown with plasma-assisted MBE, and characterization with RHEED (reflection high-energy electron diffraction), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometry show slightly strained, single-crystalline Fe 3 O 4 films. For the surface studies, we have combined Low-Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED) and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM). Initial and final surface characterization employed X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Ion Scattering Spec-troscopy (ISS) respectively. The surfaces of the MBE-grown samples are flat and show a (√2×√2)R45° reconstruction with respect to the Fe 3 O 4 surface unit cell. We observe the onset of Mg segregation to the surface at around 700 K, with long, narrow extensions of terraces being observed growing along the [110] and [110] directions. Upon prolonged heating at 800 K, massive Mg segregation to the surface is observed. Heating in an oxygen atmosphere induces a 1x4 surface reconstruction, and results in extremely long (≈ 1000 Å ), wide terraces.