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Deposition of 1.88-billion-year-old iron formations as a consequence of rapid crustal growth
Abstract
Iron formations are chemical sedimentary rocks comprising layers of iron-rich and silica-rich minerals whose deposition requires anoxic and iron-rich (ferruginous) sea water. Their demise after the rise in atmospheric oxygen by 2.32 billion years (Gyr) ago has been attributed to the removal of dissolved iron through progressive oxidation or sulphidation of the deep ocean. Therefore, a sudden return of voluminous iron formations nearly 500 million years later poses an apparent conundrum. Most late Palaeoproterozoic iron formations are about 1.88 Gyr old and occur in the Superior region of North America. Major iron formations are also preserved in Australia, but these were apparently deposited after the transition to a sulphidic ocean at 1.84 Gyr ago that should have terminated iron formation deposition, implying that they reflect local marine conditions. Here we date zircons in tuff layers to show that iron formations in the Frere Formation of Western Australia are about 1.88 Gyr old, indicating that the deposition of iron formations from two disparate cratons was coeval and probably reflects global ocean chemistry. The sudden reappearance of major iron formations at 1.88 Gyr ago--contemporaneous with peaks in global mafic-ultramafic magmatism, juvenile continental and oceanic crust formation, mantle depletion and volcanogenic massive sulphide formation--suggests deposition of iron formations as a consequence of major mantle activity and rapid crustal growth. Our findings support the idea that enhanced submarine volcanism and hydrothermal activity linked to a peak in mantle melting released large volumes of ferrous iron and other reductants that overwhelmed the sulphate and oxygen reservoirs of the ocean, decoupling atmospheric and seawater redox states, and causing the return of widespread ferruginous conditions. Iron formations formed on clastic-starved coastal shelves where dissolved iron upwelled and mixed with oxygenated surface water. The disappearance of iron formations after this event may reflect waning mafic-ultramafic magmatism and a diminished flux of hydrothermal iron relative to seawater oxidants.
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“It is now widely accepted that the deposition of large, economically important IF coincided in time with mantle plume breakout events”
From Iron formations: A global record of Neoarchaean to Palaeoproterozoic environmental history (2017) · cites this paper as Rasmussen et al., 2012
In the citing paper
“At this time, shallow-marine GIFs were deposited above wave-base on several cratons (e.g., Rasmussen et al., 2012; Bekker et al., 2014) indicating a large flux of Fe(II) and Mn(II) from submarine-hydrothermal vents in association with an extensive LIP event.”
From Iron formations: A global record of Neoarchaean to Palaeoproterozoic environmental history (2017) · cites this paper as Rasmussen et al., 2012
In the citing paper
“However, despite declining Fe concentrations following the final Paleoproterozoic episode of widespread IF deposition at 1.88 Ga (Rasmussen et al., 2012), Fe utilization in biological systems remains high.”
From Trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution (2016) · cites this paper as Rasmussen et al., 2012
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Metadata
- Authors
- Rasmussen, B., Fletcher, I. R., Bekker, A., Muhling, J. R., Gregory, C. J., & Thorne, A. M.
- Affiliations
- Curtin University (AU)
- University of Manitoba (CA)
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- Geological Survey of Western Australia (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Rasmussen, Birger
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2012-04
- Volume
- 484
- Issue
- 7395
- Pages
- 498-501
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W1969248880
- Cited by
- 140
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 6.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- eSpace (Curtin University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Geochemistry and Elemental Analysis
- Keywords
- iron-formation, crustal growth, atmospheric oxygenation, ocean redox state, zircon geochronology, tuff layers, Western Australia, oceanic crust, Precambrian stratigraphy
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