Banded iron formation
Videos
Page
Banded iron formations are distinctive units of sedimentary rock consisting of alternating layers of iron oxides and iron-poor chert. They can be up to several hundred meters in thickness and extend laterally for several hundred kilometers. Almost all of these formations are of Precambrian age and are thought to record the oxygenation of the Earth's oceans. Some of the Earth's oldest rock formations, which formed about 3,700 million years ago (Ma), are associated with banded iron formations.
Banded iron formation, Karijini National Park, Western Australia
2.1 billion year old rock from North America showing banded iron formation, displayed in Dresden, Saxony, Germany
Banded iron formation from the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa
Close-up of banded iron formation specimen from Upper Michigan
Chert
Videos
Page
Chert is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a chemical precipitate or a diagenetic replacement, as in petrified wood.
A hand sample of chert
Chert (dark bands) in the Devonian Corriganville-New Creek limestone, Everett, Pennsylvania
Folded beds of chert comprising the Late Permian to Jurassic-aged Liminangcong Formation at Busuanga, Palawan, Philippines
Chert nodule within soft limestone at Akçakoca, Turkey