Banded iron formation

, South Africa A typical banded iron formation consists of repeated, thin layers (a few millimeters to a few centimeters in thickness) of silver to black iron oxides, either magnetite (Fe3O4) or hematite (Fe2O3), alternating with bands of iron-poor chert, often red in color, of similar thickness. A single banded iron formation can be up to several hundred meters in thickness and extend laterally for several hundred kilometers. A well-preserved banded iron formation typically consists of macrobands several meters thick that are separated by thin shale beds. The macrobands in turn are composed of characteristic alternating layers of chert and iron oxides, called mesobands, that are several millimeters to a few centimeters thick. Many of the chert mesobands contain microbands of iron oxides that are less than a millimeter thick, while the iron mesobands are relatively featureless. BIFs tend to be extremely hard, tough, and dense, making them highly resistant to erosion, and they show fine details of stratification over great distances, suggesting they were deposited in a very low-energy environment; that is, in relatively deep water, undisturbed by wave motion or currents. of Neoproterozoic banded iron formation from Australia The great majority of banded iron formations are Archean or Paleoproterozoic in age. However, a small number of BIFs are Neoproterozoic in age, and are frequently, if not universally, associated with glacial deposits, often containing glacial dropstones. and soft-sediment deformation structures are common. This suggests very rapid deposition. Banded iron formations are distinct from most Phanerozoic ironstones. Ironstones are relatively rare and are thought to have been deposited in marine anoxic events, in which the depositional basin became depleted in free oxygen. They are composed of iron silicates and oxides without appreciable chert but with significant phosphorus content, which is lacking in BIFs. This classification has been more widely accepted, but the failure to appreciate that it is strictly based on the characteristics of the depositional basin and not the lithology of the BIF itself has led to confusion, and some geologists have advocated for its abandonment.{{cite encyclopedia |first1=H. |last1=Ohmoto |title=The Precambrian Earth - Tempos and Events |chapter=Evolution of the Hydrosphere and Atmosphere |editor1-first=P.G. |editor1-last=Eriksson |editor2-first=W. |editor2-last=Altermann |editor3-first=D.R. |editor3-last=Nelson |editor4-first=W.U. |editor4-last=Mueller |editor5-first=O. |editor5-last=Catuneanu |encyclopedia=Developments in Precambrian Geology |series=Developments in Precambrian Geology |volume=12 |year=2004 |at=5.2 ==Occurrence==

formations. Adapted from Trendall 2002. Banded iron formations are almost exclusively Precambrian in age, with most deposits dating to the late Archean (2800–2500 Ma) with a secondary peak of deposition in the Orosirian period of the Paleoproterozoic (1850 Ma). Minor amounts were deposited in the early Archean and in the Neoproterozoic (750 Ma). The Temagami banded iron deposits formed over a 50-million-year period, from 2736 to 2687 Ma, and reached a thickness of . Other examples of early Archean BIFs are found in the Abitibi greenstone belts, the greenstone belts of the Yilgarn and Pilbara cratons, the Baltic shield, and the cratons of the Amazon, north China, and south and west Africa. with a maximum thickness in excess of . These BIFs are predominantly granular iron formations. Neoproterozoic banded iron formations include the Urucum in Brazil, Rapitan in the Yukon, and the Damara Belt in southern Africa. They are relatively limited in size, with horizontal extents not more than a few tens of kilometers and thicknesses not more than about . These are widely thought to have been deposited under unusual anoxic oceanic conditions associated with the "Snowball Earth." ==Origins==

from the Barbeton Supergroup in South Africa. The red layers were laid down when Archaean photosynthesizing cyanobacteria produced oxygen that reacted with dissolved iron compounds in the water, to form insoluble iron oxide (rust). The white layers are sediments that settled when there was no oxygen in the water, or when dissolved Fe2+ was temporarily depleted. Banded iron formation provided some of the first evidence for the timing of the Great Oxidation Event, 2,400 Ma. With his 1968 paper on the early atmosphere and oceans of the Earth, Preston Cloud established the general framework that has been widely, if not universally, accepted for understanding the deposition of BIFs. The few formations deposited after 1,800 Ma may point to intermittent low levels of free atmospheric oxygen, while the small peak at may be associated with the hypothetical Snowball Earth. Formation processes The microbands within chert layers are most likely varves produced by annual variations in oxygen production. Diurnal microbanding would require a very high rate of deposition of 2 meters per year or 5 km/Ma. Estimates of deposition rate based on various models of deposition and sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) estimates of the age of associated tuff beds suggest a deposition rate in typical BIFs of 19 to 270 m/Ma, which are consistent either with annual varves or rhythmites produced by tidal cycles. In the case of granular iron formations, the mesobands are attributed to winnowing of sediments in shallow water, in which wave action tended to segregate particles of different size and composition. Algoma-type BIFs formed primarily in the Archean. These older BIFs tend to show a positive europium anomaly consistent with a hydrothermal source of iron. The concentrations of phosphorus and trace metals in BIFs are consistent with precipitation through the activities of iron-oxidizing bacteria. Iron isotope ratios in the oldest banded iron formations (3700-3800 Ma), at Isua, Greenland, are best explained by assuming extremely low oxygen levels (2 levels in the photic zone) and anoxygenic photosynthetic oxidation of Fe(II): An alternate route is oxidation by anaerobic denitrifying bacteria. This requires that nitrogen fixation by microorganisms is also active. The carbon that is present in banded iron formations is enriched in the light isotope, 12C, an indicator of a biological origin. If a substantial part of the original iron oxides was in the form of hematite, then any carbon in the sediments might have been oxidized by the decarbonization reaction: or annual turnover of basin water combined with upwelling of iron-rich water in a stratified ocean. Another abiogenic mechanism is photochemical oxidation of Fe(II) by sunlight. Laboratory experiments suggest that this could produce a sufficiently high deposition rate under likely conditions of pH and sunlight. However, if the iron came from a shallow hydrothermal source, other laboratory experiments suggest that precipitation of ferrous iron as carbonates or silicates could seriously compete with photooxidation. Diagenesis Regardless of the precise mechanism of oxidation, the oxidation of ferrous to ferric iron likely caused the iron to precipitate out as a ferric hydroxide gel. Similarly, the silica component of the banded iron formations likely precipitated as a hydrous silica gel. or from hydrothermal mud during late stages of diagenesis. A 2018 study found no evidence that magnetite in BIF formed by decarbonization, and suggests that it formed from thermal decomposition of siderite via the reaction :: The iron may have originally precipitated as greenalite and other iron silicates. Macrobanding is then interpreted as a product of compaction of the original iron silicate mud. This produced siderite-rich bands that served as pathways for fluid flow and formation of magnetite. Great Oxidation Event in the Earth's atmosphere. Red and green lines represent the range of the estimates while time is measured in billions of years ago (Ga). it was assumed that the rare, later (younger) banded iron deposits represented unusual conditions where oxygen was depleted locally. Iron-rich waters would then form in isolation and subsequently come into contact with oxygenated water. The Snowball Earth hypothesis provided an alternative explanation for these younger deposits. In a Snowball Earth state the continents, and possibly seas at low latitudes, were subject to a severe ice age circa 750 to 580 Ma that nearly or totally depleted free oxygen. Dissolved iron then accumulated in the oxygen-poor oceans (possibly from seafloor hydrothermal vents). Following the thawing of the Earth, the seas became oxygenated once more causing the precipitation of the iron. due to glacially-driven thermal overturn. The limited extent of these BIFs compared with the associated glacial deposits, their association with volcanic formations, and variation in thickness and facies favor this hypothesis. Such a mode of formation does not require a global anoxic ocean, but is consistent with either a Snowball Earth or Slushball Earth model. ==Economic geology==

in the Iron Range Banded iron formations provide most of the iron ore presently mined. By 1956, large-scale commercial production from the BIF itself began at the Peter Mitchell Mine near Babbitt, Minnesota. Production in Minnesota was of ore concentrate per year in 2016, which is about 75% of total U.S. production. , Australia Iron ore became a global commodity after the Second World War, and with the end of the embargo against exporting iron ore from Australia in 1960, the Hamersley Range became a major mining district. The banded iron formations here are the thickest and most extensive in the world, Over of iron ore is removed from the range every year. The Itabarite banded iron formations of Brazil cover at least and are up to thick. Production from the Iron Quadrangle helps make Brazil the second largest producer of iron ore after Australia, with monthly exports averaging from December 2007 to May 2018. Mining of ore from banded iron formations at Anshan in north China began in 1918. When Japan occupied Northeast China in 1931, these mills were turned into a Japanese-owned monopoly, and the city became a significant strategic industrial hub during the Second World War. Total production of processed iron in Manchuria reached in 1931–1932. By 1942, Anshan's Shōwa Steel Works total production capacity reached per annum, making it one of the major iron and steel centers in the world. Production was severely disrupted during the Soviet occupation of Manchuria in 1945 and the subsequent Chinese Civil War. However, from 1948 to 2001, the steel works produced 290 million tons of steel, of pig iron and of rolled steel. Annual production capacity is of pig iron, of steel and of rolled steel. A quarter of China's total iron ore reserves, about , are located in Anshan. ==See also==