lab virtual field trip
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School
Citrus College *
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Course
MISC
Subject
Geology
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
Pages
2
Uploaded by valeriezuniga49
Instructions:
Explore the entirety of the gorge. Interact with 5 different media icons and
summarize each (#1-5 with Media Title).
Once you finish your trip, answer the following questions based on what you've learned:
#6 How old are the Banded Iron Formations in Karijini Gorge? What eon is that? (See the
Geologic Timescale).
#7 Why do Banded Iron Formations mainly disappear from the rock record after the
Precambrian?
Media Icons:
#1: Conventional interpretation of the BIFs
The conventional interpretation is that there had to be a bit of oxygen locally and that it was
produced by photosynthetic microbes. Very similar to modern equivalence in western australia.
#2 Lamination
Lamination is the fine layers in all kinds of sedimentary rocks and its the layering for which the
banded eye formation gets its name
#3 Supergene weathering and alterations
Rocks can be altered from the original rock it once was, it can lose its lamination. Over 70
million years water has been dissolving silica from the rocks and it enriches the iron oxide.
#4 Unique structures on gorge floor
The gorge floor has what are called diagenetic structures. It's important to know that they are not
stromatolites like they were first believed to have been and they are not fossils either.
#5 Microbes that can make rust
There are other types of microbes that can make rust, they photosynthesize and they simply
haven't figured out how to make oxygen. They take its iron and its electrons and this is also
another hypothesis that some scientists believe might be how banded iron could have formed
before microbes.
#6 How old are the Banded Iron Formations in Karijini Gorge? What eon is that? (See the
Geologic Timescale).
The banded iron formation in Karijini Gorge are about 2500 million years old and it was in the
Proterozoic Eon.
#7 Why do Banded Iron Formations mainly disappear from the rock record after the
Precambrian?
In summary, the disappearance of Banded Iron Formations from the rock record after the
Precambrian is mainly due to shifts in ocean chemistry, evolution of oxygen levels in the
atmosphere and oceans, biological activity, and changes in tectonic processes that collectively
altered the conditions required for the formation and preservation of BIFs.
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