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Minerals
Special Issues
Geochemical, Isotopic, and Biotic Records of Banded Iron Formations
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Geochemical, Isotopic, and Biotic Records of Banded Iron Formations

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Geochemistry and Geochronology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 266

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Zidong Peng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Interests: banded iron formation; sedimentary manganese deposit; palaeoenvironment; iron and phosphorus speciations
Dr. Caiyun Lan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an 710069, China
Interests: banded iron formation; ironstone; great oxidation event; palaeoenvironment
Prof. Dr. Xiuqing Yang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Earth Science and Resources, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, China
Interests: iron deposits; banded iron formations
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Banded iron formations (BIFs) are layered, iron-rich, and siliceous marine chemical sediments that formed throughout the Archean and early Paleoproterozoic. Given the unique temporal–spatial distribution features of BIFs, changes in their chemical, mineralogical, and isotopic characteristics have been linked to compositional and environmental changes that took place on the evolving Earth. Furthermore, although it remains possible that direct seawater precipitation of iron silicates (e.g., greenalite) might have contributed to BIF formation, it is widely accepted that the ferric oxyhydroxide phase (e.g., ferrihydrite or ferric oxyhydroxide-Si gel) could have been the initial water column precipitate of BIFs, raising the question of the importance/potential amount of the contribution of Earth’s early photosynthetic biosphere to Fe(II) oxidation.

This Special Issue aims to present the latest advances on geochemical, isotopic, and biotic records and characteristics of BIFs. The combined research of the related specific fields (e.g., sedimentology, mineralogy, cultural experiments, and modeling) is expected to provide important information concerning the origin of BIFs, meanwhile, enabling a better understanding of Earth’s early environmental conditions and activities of the photosynthetic biosphere. This Special Issue invites submissions that include original scientific research relating to above aspects, especially those application of cutting-edge techniques, on BIFs of Archean to Paleoproterozoic ages worldwide.

Dr. Zidong Peng
Dr. Caiyun Lan
Prof. Dr. Xiuqing Yang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • banded iron formations
  • carbon isotope
  • non-traditional stable isotope
  • paleoenvironment
  • oxygenic photosynthesis
  • Archean to Paleoproterozoic

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 3201 KiB  
Article
Coupled Eu Anomalies and Fe Isotopes Reveal a Hydrothermal Iron Source for Superior-Type Iron Formations: A Case Study from the Wilgena Hill Iron Formation, South Australia
by Shuo Chen, Jian Sun, Xiangkun Zhu and Yuelong Chen
Minerals 2025, 15(8), 824; https://doi.org/10.3390/min15080824 (registering DOI) - 2 Aug 2025
Abstract
Superior-type iron formations (IFs) represent a globally significant source of iron ore; yet, their origin remains a subject of ongoing debate. Early models proposed a continental weathering source for the iron, whereas later interpretations—mainly supported by positive europium (Eu) anomalies—favored a hydrothermal source. [...] Read more.
Superior-type iron formations (IFs) represent a globally significant source of iron ore; yet, their origin remains a subject of ongoing debate. Early models proposed a continental weathering source for the iron, whereas later interpretations—mainly supported by positive europium (Eu) anomalies—favored a hydrothermal source. However, the hydrothermal model largely relies on REE systematics, and whether iron and REEs in Superior-type IFs share the same source remains uncertain. As iron isotopes directly trace the sources and fractionation history of iron, a spatial co-variation between Fe isotopes and Eu anomalies would shed new light on the iron source issue of IFs. In this study, we present new Fe isotope and REE data from the drill core WILDD004 at Wilgena Hill and integrate them with reported data for two additional drill cores: HKDD4 (Hawks Nest) and GWDD1 (Giffen Well). All three cores are stratigraphically equivalent to the Wilgena Hill Jaspilite Formation but span a lateral distance of ~100 km across the Gawler Craton, South Australia. While the Hawks Nest and Giffen Well samples exhibit both positive Eu anomalies and elevated δ56Fe values, the Wilgena Hill samples show positive yet smaller Eu/Eu* (1.17–2.41) and negative δ56Fe values (−0.60‰ to −1.63‰). The consistent presence of Eu anomalies and the systematic spatial correlation between δ56Fe and Eu/Eu* across all three locations provide direct, Fe-based geochemical evidence for a hydrothermal source of iron in this Superior-type IF. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geochemical, Isotopic, and Biotic Records of Banded Iron Formations)
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