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Ore Loops
Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration of the desired material it contains. The value of the metals or minerals a rock contains must be weighed against the cost of extraction to determine whether it is of sufficiently high grade to be worth mining and is therefore considered an ore. A complex ore is one containing more than one valuable mineral. Minerals of interest are generally oxides, sulfides, silicates, or native metals such as copper or gold. Ore bodies are formed by a variety of geological processes generally referred to as ore genesis and can be classified based on their deposit type. Ore is extracted from the earth through mining and treated or refined, often via smelting, to extract the valuable metals or minerals. Some ores, depending on their composition, may pose t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banded Iron Formation
Banded iron formations (BIFs; also called banded ironstone formations) are distinctive units of sedimentary rock consisting of alternating layers of iron oxides and iron-poor chert. They can be up to several hundred meters in thickness and extend laterally for several hundred kilometers. Almost all of these formations are of Precambrian age and are thought to record the Great Oxygenation Event, oxygenation of the Earth's oceans. Some of the Earth's oldest rock formations, which formed about (Year#SI prefix multipliers, Ma), are associated with banded iron formations. Banded iron formations are thought to have formed in sea water as the result of oxygen production by photosynthesis, photosynthetic cyanobacteria. The oxygen combined with dissolved iron in Earth's oceans to form insoluble iron oxides, which precipitated out, forming a thin layer on the ocean floor. Each band is similar to a varve, resulting from cyclic variations in oxygen production. Banded iron formations we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
