Quartzite with fluvial abrasion polish in the Precambrian of South Dakota, USA.
Extensive outcrops of pinkish, Paleoproterozoic-aged quartzites are present at Falls Park along the Big Sioux River in the city of Sioux Falls, southeastern South Dakota, USA. The quartzites here have nicely water-worn, sculpted surfaces with good, fluvially abraded polish in places. These rocks are part of the Sioux Quartzite (Paleoproterozoic, 1.65-1.70 Ga). Despite being subjected to regional metamorphism, this unit’s original sedimentary features, such as horizontal stratification and ripple marks, are still preserved.
The Sioux Quartzite is a famous erosion-resistant unit in America’s midcontinent. It has formed a long-lived paleotopographic high since Precambrian times - the Sioux tectonic core. This high is part of a NE-SW trending series of paleotopographic highs & depressions known as the Transcontinental Arch, which extends from Arizona to Minnesota (see Carlson, 1999).
The Sioux Quartzite has been quarried in southeastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota. Material from these quarries is used as road gravel, sidewalk and paving gravel, and erosion control blocks.
Stratigraphy: Sioux Quartzite, upper Paleoproterozoic, 1.65-1.70 Ga
Locality: Falls Park, near Sioux Falls along the Big Sioux River in the town of Sioux Falls, southeastern South Dakota, USA
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Reference cited:
Carlson (1999) - Transcontinental Arch - a pattern formed by rejuvenation of local features across central North America. Tectonophysics 305: 225-233.
Tags: South Dakota Sioux Falls Quartzite Precambrian Proterozoic Paleoproterozoic sandstone Transcontinental Arch fluvial abrasion polish
Limonite-magnetite BIF ventifact from Wyoming, USA. (~9.1 cm across at its widest)
Ventifacts are lustrous, polished rocks with subplanar to curved facets. They form by natural abrasion and polish by winds that carry sand grains. Ventifacts are naturally sand-blasted rocks.
The rock shown above is a BIF - a banded iron formation. BIFs are unusual, dense sedimentary rocks consisting of alternating layers of iron-rich oxides and iron-rich silicates. Most BIFs are Proterozoic in age (although some are Late Archean), and do not form today - they're “extinct”! Many specific varieties of iron formation are known, and some are given special rock names. For example, jaspilite is an attractive reddish & silvery gray banded rock consisting of hematite, red chert (“jasper”), and specular hematite or magnetite.
Because of their age, most BIFs have been around long enough to have been subjected to one or more orogenic (mountain-building) events. As such, most BIFs are folded and/or metamorphosed to varying degrees.
BIFs are known from around the world, but some of the most famous & extensive BIF deposits are found in the vicinity of North America’s Lake Superior Basin. Many BIFs have economic concentrations of iron and are mined. BIFs are the most important variety of iron ore on Earth.
This BIF specimen were originally eroded from outcrops in the western Seminoe Mountains of Wyoming, USA. It became a ventifact by being subjected to wind-blasting in Windy Gap between the Ferris Mountains and the Seminoe Mountains.
Stratigraphy: very likely derived from the "upper metasedimentary-metavolcanic unit" of Blackstone & Hausel (1991), Archean
Locality: ventifact recovered from sandy soil among low sand dunes in Windy Gap, northeastern Ferris Dune Field, north of Bradley Peak, between the Ferris Mountains & the Seminoe Mountains, northwestern Carbon County, south-central Wyoming, USA
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Reference cited:
Blackstone & Hausel (1991) - Field guide to the Seminoe Mountains. Wyoming Geological Association Guidebook, Forty-Second Field Conference: 201-210.
Tags: ventifact ventifacts BIF BIFs banded iron formation formations limonite magnetite Precambrian Archean Windy Gap Ferris Dune Field Wyoming wind abrasion polish
Limonite-magnetite BIF ventifact from Wyoming, USA. (~9.1 cm across at its widest)
Ventifacts are lustrous, polished rocks with subplanar to curved facets. They form by natural abrasion and polish by winds that carry sand grains. Ventifacts are naturally sand-blasted rocks.
The rock shown above is a BIF - a banded iron formation. BIFs are unusual, dense sedimentary rocks consisting of alternating layers of iron-rich oxides and iron-rich silicates. Most BIFs are Proterozoic in age (although some are Late Archean), and do not form today - they're “extinct”! Many specific varieties of iron formation are known, and some are given special rock names. For example, jaspilite is an attractive reddish & silvery gray banded rock consisting of hematite, red chert (“jasper”), and specular hematite or magnetite.
Because of their age, most BIFs have been around long enough to have been subjected to one or more orogenic (mountain-building) events. As such, most BIFs are folded and/or metamorphosed to varying degrees.
BIFs are known from around the world, but some of the most famous & extensive BIF deposits are found in the vicinity of North America’s Lake Superior Basin. Many BIFs have economic concentrations of iron and are mined. BIFs are the most important variety of iron ore on Earth.
This BIF specimen were originally eroded from outcrops in the western Seminoe Mountains of Wyoming, USA. It became a ventifact by being subjected to wind-blasting in Windy Gap between the Ferris Mountains and the Seminoe Mountains.
Stratigraphy: very likely derived from the "upper metasedimentary-metavolcanic unit" of Blackstone & Hausel (1991), Archean
Locality: ventifact recovered from sandy soil among low sand dunes in Windy Gap, northeastern Ferris Dune Field, north of Bradley Peak, between the Ferris Mountains & the Seminoe Mountains, northwestern Carbon County, south-central Wyoming, USA
--------------------------
Reference cited:
Blackstone & Hausel (1991) - Field guide to the Seminoe Mountains. Wyoming Geological Association Guidebook, Forty-Second Field Conference: 201-210.
Tags: ventifact ventifacts BIF BIFs banded iron formation formations limonite magnetite Precambrian Archean Windy Gap Ferris Dune Field Wyoming wind abrasion polish
Limonite-magnetite BIF ventifact from Wyoming, USA. (~3.0 cm across along the base)
Ventifacts are lustrous, polished rocks with subplanar to curved facets. They form by natural abrasion and polish by winds that carry sand grains. Ventifacts are naturally sand-blasted rocks.
The rock shown above is a BIF - a banded iron formation. BIFs are unusual, dense sedimentary rocks consisting of alternating layers of iron-rich oxides and iron-rich silicates. Most BIFs are Proterozoic in age (although some are Late Archean), and do not form today - they're “extinct”! Many specific varieties of iron formation are known, and some are given special rock names. For example, jaspilite is an attractive reddish & silvery gray banded rock consisting of hematite, red chert (“jasper”), and specular hematite or magnetite.
Because of their age, most BIFs have been around long enough to have been subjected to one or more orogenic (mountain-building) events. As such, most BIFs are folded and/or metamorphosed to varying degrees.
BIFs are known from around the world, but some of the most famous & extensive BIF deposits are found in the vicinity of North America’s Lake Superior Basin. Many BIFs have economic concentrations of iron and are mined. BIFs are the most important variety of iron ore on Earth.
This BIF specimen were originally eroded from outcrops in the western Seminoe Mountains of Wyoming, USA. It became a ventifact by being subjected to wind-blasting in Windy Gap between the Ferris Mountains and the Seminoe Mountains.
Stratigraphy: very likely derived from the "upper metasedimentary-metavolcanic unit" of Blackstone & Hausel (1991), Archean
Locality: ventifact recovered from sandy soil among low sand dunes in Windy Gap, northeastern Ferris Dune Field, north of Bradley Peak, between the Ferris Mountains & the Seminoe Mountains, northwestern Carbon County, south-central Wyoming, USA
--------------------------
Reference cited:
Blackstone & Hausel (1991) - Field guide to the Seminoe Mountains. Wyoming Geological Association Guidebook, Forty-Second Field Conference: 201-210.
Tags: ventifact ventifacts BIF BIFs banded iron formation formations limonite magnetite Precambrian Archean Windy Gap Ferris Dune Field Wyoming wind abrasion polish
Hematite-rich BIF ventifact from Wyoming, USA. (~5.9 cm across at its widest)
Ventifacts are lustrous, polished rocks with subplanar to curved facets. They form by natural abrasion and polish by winds that carry sand grains. Ventifacts are naturally sand-blasted rocks.
The rock shown above is a BIF - a banded iron formation. BIFs are unusual, dense sedimentary rocks consisting of alternating layers of iron-rich oxides and iron-rich silicates. Most BIFs are Proterozoic in age (although some are Late Archean), and do not form today - they're “extinct”! Many specific varieties of iron formation are known, and some are given special rock names. For example, jaspilite is an attractive reddish & silvery gray banded rock consisting of hematite, red chert (“jasper”), and specular hematite or magnetite.
Because of their age, most BIFs have been around long enough to have been subjected to one or more orogenic (mountain-building) events. As such, most BIFs are folded and/or metamorphosed to varying degrees.
BIFs are known from around the world, but some of the most famous & extensive BIF deposits are found in the vicinity of North America’s Lake Superior Basin. Many BIFs have economic concentrations of iron and are mined. BIFs are the most important variety of iron ore on Earth.
This BIF specimen were originally eroded from outcrops in the western Seminoe Mountains of Wyoming, USA. It became a ventifact by being subjected to wind-blasting in Windy Gap between the Ferris Mountains and the Seminoe Mountains.
Stratigraphy: very likely derived from the "upper metasedimentary-metavolcanic unit" of Blackstone & Hausel (1991), Archean
Locality: ventifact recovered from sandy soil among low sand dunes in Windy Gap, northeastern Ferris Dune Field, north of Bradley Peak, between the Ferris Mountains & the Seminoe Mountains, northwestern Carbon County, south-central Wyoming, USA
--------------------------
Reference cited:
Blackstone & Hausel (1991) - Field guide to the Seminoe Mountains. Wyoming Geological Association Guidebook, Forty-Second Field Conference: 201-210.
Tags: ventifact ventifacts BIF BIFs banded iron formation formations hematite Precambrian Archean Windy Gap Ferris Dune Field Wyoming wind abrasion polish