Ontario banded iron formation main content.

Ontario banded iron formation

Part of Hall of Planet Earth.

Ontario Banded Iron Formation AMNH/R.Mickens

Exhibition Text

This banded iron formation comes from a rock unit 60 meters thick that formed over a 50-million-year period, from 2.736 to 2.687 billion years ago. The red bands are silica-rich, composed primarily of jasper, and the black bands contain the iron oxide min