Geochemical, Isotopic, and Biotic Records of Banded Iron Formations

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

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