Debates on the formation of banded iron formations in ancient ferruginous oceans are
dominated by a dichotomy between abiotic and biotic iron cycling. This is fuelled by
difficulties in unravelling the exact processes involved in their formation. Here we provide
fossil environmental evidence for anoxygenic photoferrotrophic deposition of analogue
banded iron rocks in shallow marine waters associated with an Early Quaternary
hydrothermal vent field on Milos Island, Greece. Trace metal, major and rare earth elemental …