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Deposition of 1.88-billion-year-old iron formations as a consequence of rapid crustal growth

Nature volume 484, pages 498–501 (2012)Cite this article

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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) ago1 has been attributed to the removal of dissolved iron through progressive oxidation2 or sulphidation3,4 of the deep ocean. Therefore, a sudden return of voluminous iron formations nearly 500 million years later poses an apparent conundrum3,5. Most late Palaeoproterozoic iron formations are about 1.88 Gyr old6,7,8 and occur in the Superior region of North America5,9,10. Major iron formations are also preserved in Australia, but these were apparently deposited11 after the transition to a sulphidic ocean at 1.84 Gyr ago that should have terminated iron formation deposition4, implying that they reflect local marine conditions5,12. 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 magmatism13,14, juvenile continental and oceanic crust formation15,16, mantle depletion17,18 and volcanogenic massive sulphide formation5,19—suggests deposition of iron formations as a consequence of major mantle activity and rapid crustal growth5,10,15,20. 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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Figure 1: Location and stratigraphy of late Palaeoproterozoic iron formations.
Figure 2: Summary of the age distribution of iron formations, VMS deposits, juvenile crust and ocean chemistry for the Precambrian.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by an ARC Linkage Grant and the Western Australian government Exploration Incentive Scheme Grant to B.R., I.R.F., J.R.M., C.J.G. and A.M.T. A.B. was supported by a NSERC Discovery Grant. A.M.T. publishes with the permission of the Executive Director of the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA). We thank P. Fralick for comments. Scanning electron microscopy imaging was performed at the Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis at the University of Western Australia. Zircon U–Th–Pb analyses were conducted using the SHRIMP ion microprobe of the John de Laeter Centre at Curtin University, Perth, Australia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Geology, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia,

    Birger Rasmussen, Ian R. Fletcher & Courtney J. Gregory

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada,

    Andrey Bekker

  3. Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia ,

    Janet R. Muhling

  4. Department of Mines and Petroleum, Geological Survey of Western Australia, Mineral House, 100 Plain Street, East Perth, Western Australia 6004, Australia,

    Alan M. Thorne

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  1. Birger Rasmussen
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Contributions

B.R., C.J.G., J.R.M. and A.M.T. collected samples, B.R. and J.R.M. carried out petrography and I.R.F. and C.J.G. performed geochronology. All authors were involved in the writing, design and interpretation of the results.

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Correspondence to Birger Rasmussen.

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Rasmussen, B., Fletcher, I., Bekker, A. et al. Deposition of 1.88-billion-year-old iron formations as a consequence of rapid crustal growth. Nature 484, 498–501 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11021

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