The simulator models how dissolved ferrous iron concentration, cyanobacterial oxygen output, and silica availability interact over geologic time to produce alternating iron-oxide and chert bands, showing how depletion of the ocean's iron reservoir ultimately shuts down BIF deposition once oxygen becomes persistent.
Adjust the cyanobacterial productivity rate and background dissolved iron supply, then run the simulation forward through simulated millions of years to watch bands accumulate in the cross-section view; toggle upwelling pulses and bloom-bust cycling on or off to compare their effects on band spacing and thickness, and watch the atmospheric oxygen tracker to see when the iron reservoir becomes exhausted and banding stops.
Sliders for cyanobacterial oxygen production rate, background dissolved ferrous iron supply, and silica input rate; toggles for seasonal cycling, bloom-bust dynamics, and deep-water upwelling pulses; a time-advance control to run deposition forward through geologic time; and a real-time display of dissolved iron reservoir level, atmospheric oxygen proxy, and the growing banded cross-section.
The Hamersley Group in Western Australia and the Lake Superior region formations in North America together hold a substantial share of the planet's economically mineable iron ore, meaning much of the world's steel supply originates from iron oxide particles that settled out of ancient, iron-saturated seawater more than two billion years ago.
The simulator models how dissolved ferrous iron concentration, cyanobacterial oxygen output, and silica availability interact over geologic time to produce alternating iron-oxide and chert bands, showing how depletion of the ocean's iron reservoir ultimately shuts down BIF deposition once oxygen becomes persistent.
The simulator models how dissolved ferrous iron concentration, cyanobacterial oxygen output, and silica availability interact over geologic time to produce alternating iron-oxide and chert bands, showing how depletion of the ocean's iron reservoir ultimately shuts down BIF deposition once oxygen becomes persistent.
Adjust the cyanobacterial productivity rate and background dissolved iron supply, then run the simulation forward through simulated millions of years to watch bands accumulate in the cross-section view; toggle upwelling pulses and bloom-bust cycling on or off to compare their effects on band spacing and thickness, and watch the atmospheric oxygen tracker to see when the iron reservoir becomes exhausted and banding stops.
The Hamersley Group in Western Australia and the Lake Superior region formations in North America together hold a substantial share of the planet's economically mineable iron ore, meaning much of the world's steel supply originates from iron oxide particles that settled out of ancient, iron-saturated seawater more than two billion years ago.