Genesis of High-Grade Hematite Orebodies of the Hamersley Province, Western Australia

Taylor, D.

doi:10.2113/96.4.837

Cited by 80 publications

(113 citation statements)

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“…Given their economic importance, iron formations have been extensively studied during the past one hundred years, but many aspects of their sedimentary origin remain enigmatic because modern analogues are unknown. How these deposits were upgraded to iron ore also remains an intriguing question (e.g., Morey, 1999;Taylor et al, 2001). However, as Precambrian studies advance and become more closely coupled with modern biogeochemical work, our understanding of iron formations also improves.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Iron Formation: The Sedimentary Product of a Complex Interplay among Mantle, Tectonic, Oceanic, and Biospheric Processes

Bekker¹,

Krapež²,

Slack³

et al. 2010

Economic Geology

854

494

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Iron formations are economically important sedimentary rocks that are most common in Precambrian sedimentary successions. Although many aspects of their origin remain unresolved, it is widely accepted that secular changes in the style of their deposition are linked to environmental and geochemical evolution of Earth. Two types of Precambrian iron formations have been recognized with respect to their depositional setting. Algoma-type iron formations are interlayered with or stratigraphically linked to submarine-emplaced volcanic rocks in greenstone belts and, in some cases, with volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits. In contrast, larger Superior-type iron formations are developed in passive-margin sedimentary rock successions and generally lack direct relationships with volcanic rocks. The early distinction made between these two iron-formation types, although mimimized by later studies, remains a valid first approximation. Texturally, iron formations were also divided into two groups. Banded iron formation (BIF) is dominant in Archean to earliest Paleoproterozoic successions, whereas granular iron formation (GIF) is much more common in Paleoproterozoic successions. Secular changes in the style of iron-formation deposition, identified more than 20 years ago, have been linked to diverse environmental changes. Geochronologic studies emphasize the episodic nature of the deposition of giant iron formations, as they are coeval with, and genetically linked to, time periods when large igneous provinces (LIPs) were emplaced. Superior-type iron formation first appeared at ca. 2.6 Ga, when construction of large continents changed the heat flux at the core-mantle boundary. From ca. 2.6 to ca. 2.4 Ga, global mafic magmatism culminated in the deposition of giant Superior-type BIF in South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Russia, and Ukraine. The younger BIFs in this age range were deposited during the early stage of a shift from reducing to oxidizing conditions in the ocean-atmosphere system. Counterintuitively, enhanced magmatism at 2.50 to 2.45 Ga may have triggered atmospheric oxidation. After the rise of atmospheric oxygen during the GOE at ca. 2.4 Ga, GIF became abundant in the rock record, compared to the predominance of BIF prior to the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). Iron formations generally disappeared at ca. 1.85 Ga, reappearing at the end of the Neoproterozoic, again tied to periods of intense magmatic activity and also, in this case, to global glaciations, the so-called Snowball Earth events. By the Phanerozoic, marine iron deposition was restricted to local areas of closed to semiclosed basins, where volcanic and hydrothermal activity was extensive (e.g., backarc basins), with ironstones additionally being linked to periods of intense magmatic activity and ocean anoxia.Late Paleoproterozoic iron formations and Paleozoic ironstones were deposited at the redoxcline where biological and nonbiological oxidation occurred. In contrast, older iron formations were deposited in anoxic oceans, where ferrous iron oxid...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Iron Formation: The Sedimentary Product of a Complex Interplay among Mantle, Tectonic, Oceanic, and Biospheric Processes

Bekker¹,

Krapež²,

Slack³

et al. 2010

Economic Geology

854

494

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Iron formations that contain hematite and martite-goethite are some of the largest known ore bodies. Their origin remains controversial, but hydrothermal processes are well documented (Taylor et al, 2001;Thorne et al, 2009 (Rasmussen et al, 2007). Within the iron ore bodies of the Hamersley Province, hematite-carbonate alteration occurred at temperatures of ~250°C under high fluid pressures (Taylor et al, 2001).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Iron formations: A global record of Neoarchaean to Palaeoproterozoic environmental history

Konhauser

Planavsky

Hardisty

et al. 2017

Earth-Science Reviews

382

257

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“…Most world-class high-grade Fe ore deposits are the product of epigenetic enrichment of Precambrian BIFs (Gutzmer et al, 2006). For example, the high-grade (>63 wt.% Fe(t)) martite-microplaty hematite Fe ore deposits mostly hosted within BIFs in the Hamersley province of northwest Western Australia, Taylor et al (2001), Thorne et al (2009) and Gutzmer et al (2006) suggested that meteoric fluids were responsible for the hydrothermal enrichment of BIFs to high grade iron ores. Hofmann et al (2003) suggested that surface weathering gives rise to a gossaneous appearance and obliterates primary structural feature.…”

Section: Comparison With Typical Bif Deposits In the Worldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geological characteristics and age of the Dahongliutan Fe-ore deposit in the Western Kunlun orogenic belt, Xinjiang, northwestern China

Wang

Huang

et al. 2016

Journal of Asian Earth Sciences

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Genesis of High-Grade Hematite Orebodies of the Hamersley Province, Western Australia

Cited by 80 publications

References 0 publications

Iron Formation: The Sedimentary Product of a Complex Interplay among Mantle, Tectonic, Oceanic, and Biospheric Processes

Iron Formation: The Sedimentary Product of a Complex Interplay among Mantle, Tectonic, Oceanic, and Biospheric Processes

Iron formations: A global record of Neoarchaean to Palaeoproterozoic environmental history

Geological characteristics and age of the Dahongliutan Fe-ore deposit in the Western Kunlun orogenic belt, Xinjiang, northwestern China

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