that such minerals are soluble in nature; and the assumption of insolubility, so often made in geologic discussions, is based on the fact that most other minerals are more soluble than silica minerals, and that in the end-products of weathering silica minerals therefore usually remain as important constituents. Iron oxide, on the other hand, is less soluble even than silica,—with the result that when the two occur together, the evidence of leaching of silica from the mixture becomes conspicuous.
The fact that these deposits are almost exclusively residual deposits formed by the leaching of silica has an important bearing on exploration. If they have been formed by the transportation and deposition of iron from the surrounding rocks, there is no reason why they should not occasionally be found in veins and dikes outside of the iron formation. As a matter of fact they do not transgress a foot beyond the limits of the iron formation. Failure to recognize the true nature of the concentration of these ores has sometimes led to their erroneous classification as ores derived from the leaching and redeposition of iron from the surrounding rocks.
The distribution and shapes of ore deposits of this class are far more irregular and capricious than those of the primary sediments, as would be expected from the fact that their concentration has taken place through the agency of percolating waters from the surface, which worked along devious channels determined by a vast variety of structural and lithological conditions. The working out of the structural conditions for the different mines and districts constitutes one of the principal geologic problems in exploration. These conditions have been fully discussed in the United States Geological Survey reports, and are so various that no attempt will be made to summarize them here.
One of the interesting features of the concentration of Lake Superior iron ores is the fact that it took place long ago in the Keweenawan period, preceding the deposition of the flat-lying Cambrian formations, at a time when the topography was mountainous and the climate was arid or semi-arid. These conditions made it possible for the oxidizing and leaching solutions to penetrate very deeply, how deeply is not yet known, but certainly to a depth below the present surface of 2,500 feet. At present the water level is ordinarily within 100 feet of the surface, and oxidizing solutions are not going much below this depth. This region, therefore, furnishes a good illustration of the intermittent and cyclic character of ore concentration which is now coming to be recognized in many ore deposits.
Subsequent changes far beneath the surface have folded, faulted, and metamorphosed some of the Lake Superior iron ores but have not enriched them. The same processes have recrystallized and locked together the minerals of some of the lean iron formations, making them hard and resistant, so that subsequent exposure and weathering have had little effect in enriching them to form commercial ores.
The weathering of limestones containing minor percentages of iron minerals originally deposited with the limestones may result in the residual concentration of bodies of limonite or "brown ores" associated with clays near the surface. This process is similar in all essential respects to the concentration of the Lake Superior ores. Such limonitic ores are found rather widely distributed through the Appalachian region and in many other parts of the world. Because of the