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Production of Neoproterozoic banded iron formations in a partially ice-covered ocean

Nature Geoscience volume 17, pages 298–301 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

The meridional extent of marine ice during the Neoproterozoic snowball Earth events is debated. Banded iron formations associated with the Sturtian glaciation are considered evidence for a completely ice-covered, ferruginous ocean (hard snowball). Here, using an ocean general circulation model with thick sea glaciers and Neoproterozoic biogeochemistry, we find that circulation in a partially ice-covered ocean (soft snowball) yields iron deposition patterns similar to the observed distribution of Sturtian banded iron formations.

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Fig. 1: Schematic representation of the biogeochemical model.
Fig. 2: Results of the snowball simulation with 12° S to 12° N ice-free ocean and mean seawater phosphate concentration ([PO43−]) of 0.1 μM (3% modern).
Fig. 3: Iron deposition rates in the snowball simulation with 12° S to 12° N and 30° S to 30° N ice-free ocean; the mean seawater phosphate concentration ([PO43−]) is 0.1 μM (3% modern).

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Data availability

The model data and the Python script necessary to reproduce the figures presented in this study are available from the figshare repository at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25130783.v1 (ref. 58). The other data that have been analysed can be accessed through the links provided in the studies that have been cited.

Code availability

The simulations are carried out using the MITgcm, an open-source ocean model that can be downloaded from https://mitgcm.readthedocs.io/en/latest/overview/overview.html. The specific model configuration is available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

K.G., H.G. and Y.A. acknowledge the Joint National Natural Science Foundation of China, Israel Science Foundation Research Grant No. 2547/17 and the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) Grant No. 2018152. I.H. acknowledges a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (OOID No. 755053). E.T. acknowledges NSF grant 2303486 from the P4CLIMATE programme and DOE grant DE-SC0023134. E.T. also thanks the Weizmann Institute for its hospitality during parts of this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fredy & Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Kaushal Gianchandani & Hezi Gildor

  2. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

    Itay Halevy

  3. Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel

    Yosef Ashkenazy

  4. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Eli Tziperman

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Contributions

K.G. led the conceptualization, method development, data curation and analysis, and code development and performed the numerical simulations presented in this study. I.H., H.G., Y.A. and E.T. contributed to the conceptualization, method development, supervision and validation of the study. H.G. and Y.A. additionally contributed to project administration, resource management and funding acquisition. Y.A. additionally was involved in software development. K.G. drafted the initial manuscript, and all the authors contributed to the text and participated in the review and approval of the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kaushal Gianchandani or Itay Halevy.

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Nature Geoscience thanks Maxwell Lechte and Lennart Ramme for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor(s): James Super, in collaboration with the Nature Geoscience team.

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Supplementary Sections 1–4, Figs. 1–11 and Tables 1–3.

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Gianchandani, K., Halevy, I., Gildor, H. et al. Production of Neoproterozoic banded iron formations in a partially ice-covered ocean. Nat. Geosci. 17, 298–301 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01406-4

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