My big prize!

My Big Prize!

Someone has asked why I was at last Saturday's Festival of Geology. The answer is that I was collecting first prize in the Photo Competition. £100, thank you very much! The photo is of Banded Iron Formation, taken in August 2013, while I was in Karajini National Park, Western Australia. If you wish you can download it from HERE. Or, even better, buy the GA calendar 2020 HERE and look at October. 

You may have seen my photo in various other places. It has been used on a book cover, blogs (THIS ONE at 4:35mins), and in lectures. This is with my permission, as they acknowledge that it is my photo (mostly).

Banded Iron Formation (BIF) rocks mark a change in the Earth's atmosphere. Single-celled creatures in the oceans started producing oxygen as a waste product. This reacted with dissolved iron, producing rust, which fell to the sea floor to form BIFs. When the iron was used up the oxygen moved into the atmosphere. (This is a somewhat simplified version!)

The prize winning photo

I rather like this one, taken not very far from the previous one. You can get it HERE.