Iron by the Sea
At the listed coordinates you will find a statue of Langley George Hancock, the man credited with discovering Western Australia's great Iron deposits in the Pilbara. The Statue itself is a large boulder of Banded Iron Formation (BIF). For this Earthcache you will need to study the rock and answer the questions below.
Age : Paleoproterozoic
Source : Hamersley Range, Pilbara Region
Formation : Banded iron formation (BIF) is a sedimentary rock and was deposited from dissolved ferrous iron in the circulating waters of an early global ocean under a reduced atmosphere. The alternating bands show the marine environment see-sawing between oxygen-rich (dissolved iron precipitates) and oxygen-poor (silica precipitates), as microbial activity varied. The Brockman Iron Formation in the Hamersley province is the most significant host for high-grade hematite iron ore deposits. Pure hematite contains 69.9% Fe. It has been the dominant iron ore mined in Australia since the early 1960s. Approximately 96% of Australia's iron ore exports are high-grade hematite, most of which has been mined from deposits in the Hamersley province of Western Australia (WA). Hematite is an iron oxide mineral. It is non-magnetic and when polished is a vivid sliver grey colour as opposed to the normal reddish brown.
Significance : It is the distinctive, spectacular precursor of many of the globally significant Pilbara iron ore deposits and thus one of Australia's most important rocks. Pilbara BIFs are the best exposed, least metamorphosed and least deformed BIFs on Earth and contain the world's largest concentration of iron, amounting to billions of tonnes of minable ore.
Please email me the answers to the following questions:-
1. Is Banded Iron an igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary rock type?
2. Study the raw uncut side of the rock, what are the predominant colours?
3. Study the cut polished side of the rock, what colours do you see. What does this tell you about the BIF?
4. In which year did Lang Hancock discover Iron deposits in the Pilbara?
Optional
Feel free to take a picture of yourself and include with your log. Just make sure it doesn't give away any answers to the above questions.
Please note : You are welcome to log this Earthcache after sending your answers to me. If no answers are received, your log will be deleted. Please be mindful of your logs to ensure there are no spoiler images/answers for the questions above, spoilers will also be removed.