THE UNPRECEDENTED PRECIPITATION OF THE
EARTH'S MINERAL DEPOSITS
At the same time as the massive erosion event scoured the earth's surface, the chemistry of the oceans also abruptly changed. The change was so dramatic that two thirds of all of the earth’s mineral deposits that now exist, were all precipitated from the sea water suddenly and at the same time. This event has never been repeated again in the earth’s history, and in some cases the precipitates cannot even be duplicated in a laboratory.
All of the earth’s commercially mined iron deposits were laid down during the Precambrian age, and are typically found as either Magnetite or Hematite. These iron deposits are called Banded Iron Formations because the iron is found in layers which are mixed with alternating layers of Chert (Silica dioxide, SiO2).
In Western Australia the Precambrian Hamersley rocks contain alternating layers of iron oxide (Hematite, Fe2O3) and Chert (SiO2), forming a banded iron formation. A paper written on the geology of some of the Australian iron deposits by the Australian Department of Mines, noted that the bands of chert and iron in the Hamersley group were of good continuity. A one inch thick band of chert within the Hamersley group was able to be traced for 105 miles with certainty, and it was speculated that it might in fact extend for 300 miles without interruption. (Ref. G.F. Whitten, Department of Mines South Australia, Jan. 1966, "The Geology of Some South Australian Iron Deposits.").
It would be unreasonable to suggest that a one inch thick layer of chert was uniformly deposited over a period of several million years without a discontinuity. However a sudden, massive and very short lived event such as a worldwide flood, could easily produce the sediment structure that is found in the Hamersley rocks.
The sedimentary character of the Hamersley group is similar to that of other Precambrian iron deposits around the world, such as those of the Jaspilites and Meta Jaspilite deposits of the Labrador Trough in Quebec/Labrador and the Lake Superior deposits of Iron Mountain, Mesabi, Minnesota, Cuyuna, Gogebic and Marquette in the United States.
All of these deposits were formed in water that covered the continents at the same time, all over the earth.
The Hamersley Group of rocks in Western Australia were examined used scanning electron microscopy to view the iron particles. It was observed that in some parts the iron was bound to silica in nano sized particles and had formed a compound called Greenalite (Fe3Si2O5 (OH)4).
Petrographic analysis of the iron identified that the depleted amounts of rare earth elements within the iron deposits were characteristic of hydrothermal fluids that had been released from tectonic plate movement. The source of the iron could not have come from sediment that had washed into the sea from the continents, but had been released from a subterranean source. (Ref. Geochimca et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 57, issue 10, May 1993, p2239-2249. M. Bau, P. Moller, “Rare earth element systematics of the chemically precipitated component in early Precambrian iron formations”).
Further research identified that the precipitation of the iron was found to take place in alkali conditions and became inhibited once the pH dropped below 7.4. (Ref. N. J. Tosca, S. Guggenheim, P. K. Pufahl. “An authigenic origin for Precambrian greenalite”).
The modern day oceans of the earth possess all of the requirements for iron precipitation, and yet the volume and alternating pattern of precipitation that is seen in the Precambrian rocks has never been duplicated since that time. This means that some additional factor had to exist during the Precambrian period that was very different from the modern oceans of today.
At the commencement of the flood the Bible tells us that:
“THE SAME DAY WERE ALL THE FOUNTAINS OF THE GREAT DEEP BROKEN UP, AND THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN WERE OPENED.” (Gen 7:11).
The words “broken up” are translated from the Hebrew word “baqa” which literally means to rip open. The subterranean water that burst forth from the ruptured continental plates continued to flow for forty days according to the Genesis account.
It would appear from the geological evidence, that this subterranean water contained many different minerals including iron and silica, which immediately precipitated upon contact with the oxygen that was present in the existing sea water.
The precipitation of iron did not occur uniformly over all of the earth, but only at the plate boundaries where the earth’s crust had ruptured. Sea water and fresh water tend to remain as separate solutions with different acidities for some time before finally mixing together. Each of the two solutions contained the chemistry and acidity to favour either the precipitation of iron oxide or chert, independent of each other.
With both precipitates being produced at the same time by each of the two different solutions, the motion of the ocean currents was all that was required to create the alternate layering, and account for the immense volume of iron and chert that is now found in the Precambrian rocks.
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