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Banded iron formations (also known as banded ironstone formations or BIFs) are distinctive units of sedimentary rock that are almost always of Precambrian age. A typical BIF consists of repeated, thin layers (a few millimeters to a few centimeters in thickness) of silver to black iron oxides, either magnetite (Fe3O4) or hematite (Fe2O3), alternating with bands of iron-poor shales and cherts, often red in color, of similar thickness, and containing microbands (sub-millimeter) of iron oxides. Some of the oldest known rock formations, formed over , include banded iron layers.〔Minik T. Rosing, et al., ''Earliest part of Earth's stratigraphic record: A reappraisal of the >3.7 Ga Isua (Greenland) supracrustal sequence,'' Geology, 1996, v. 24 no. 1 p. 43-46〕 Banded layers rich in iron were mostly deposited between 2,400 and 1,900 mya. Phanerozoic ironstones generally have a different genesis. Banded iron beds are an important commercial source of iron ore, such as the Pilbara region of Western Australia and the Animikie Group in Minnesota. ==Relation to atmospheric oxygenation== The formations are abundant around the time of the great oxygenation event, 2,400 million years ago (mya or Ma), and become less common after 1,800 mya. Conditions of a reappearance of a sea with dissolved iron at , and later in association with Snowball Earth BIF reappeared , and that is problematic to explain (see below). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Banded iron formation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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