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Series:   Elements in Geochemical Tracers in Earth System Science

Iron Formations as Palaeoenvironmental Archives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2021

Kaarel Mänd ,
Leslie J. Robbins ,
Noah J. Planavsky ,
Andrey Bekker  and
Kurt O. Konhauser
Kaarel Mänd
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
Leslie J. Robbins
Affiliation:
University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Noah J. Planavsky
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Andrey Bekker
Affiliation:
University of California, Riverside
Kurt O. Konhauser
Affiliation:
University of Alberta

Summary

Ancient iron formations - iron and silica-rich chemical sedimentary rocks that formed throughout the Precambrian eons - provide a significant part of the evidence for the modern scientific understanding of palaeoenvironmental conditions in Archaean (4.0–2.5 billion years ago) and Proterozoic (2.5–0.539 billion years ago) times. Despite controversies regarding their formation mechanisms, iron formations are a testament to the influence of the Precambrian biosphere on early ocean chemistry. As many iron formations are pure chemical sediments that reflect the composition of the waters from which they precipitated, they can also serve as nuanced geochemical archives for the study of ancient marine temperatures, redox states, and elemental cycling, if proper care is taken to understand their sedimentological context.
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Keywords

iron formationspalaeotemperatureredoxArchaeanPalaeoproterozoic
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in Geochemical Tracers in Earth System Science
Online ISBN: 9781108993791
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 20 January 2022

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