Kidd Creek Mine

Part of Hall of Planet Earth.

rocks from the Kidd Creek mineral mine AMNH/R.Mickens

Near Timmins, Ontario, geologists discovered one of the world’s largest deposits of zinc, copper, lead, silver, and tin. Known as the Kidd Creek deposit, it originally formed on the seafloor around hot springs 2.7 billion years ago, much as modern black smokers form on the seafloor today. The sulfide layers were later buried, folded, faulted, and tilted nearly vertically. Eventually, they were uplifted and eroded, to expose the vertical layers.