Microbial precipitates in old iron ore mines (central Bohemia)

Radek Mikuláš (Institute of Geology, CAS) sampling the tabular and reniform Fe- and Ca-rich precipit

The entrance to the gallery was covered with a waste dump until recently.

A thin bed of calcareous and ferruginous greywacke, Ordovician in age, represents the presumed iron

Calcium carbonate precipitate resembling so-called cave pearls.

A lamina of iron-rich precipitate on the gallery wall.

Plates of ferruginous limestone originated as so-called raft structures, precipitated on the surface

One of the preserved galleries in the former iron-ore mining district of Zdice (35 km SW of Prague) originated between 1950 and 1965. The iron-rich layer, Ordovician (460 million years) in age, was found to be of low thickness and low grade to be economic. The present study of the gallery is focused on presently forming secondary precipitates of iron and calcium compounds. It is likely that some of the precipitates are microbially induced, with a significant involvement of iron bacteria.

Čeština

Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Microbial precipitates in old iron ore mines (central Bohemia)