bog iron

A soft, porous deposit of impure hydrous oxides, such as goethite, formed in bogs, marshes, shallow lakes, and swamps through precipitation from iron-rich water and the oxidizing action of algae, bacteria, or the atmosphere.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Translations

järvimalmi

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References in periodicals archive ?

24) didn't at least mention bog iron, which was the major source of iron ore during the Iron Age, at least in the Northern Hemisphere.

Bog iron

"Water from the Saugus River powered the waterwheels and machinery and, because the Saugus River is tidal, the change in water level allows for larger boats to come and go at certain times." Just as important, the location offered access to raw materials like bog iron ore, which workers collected from the bottom of bogs, swamps, ponds, and riverbeds, yielding a mixture of materials that contained 30-50 percent usable iron.

An iron will: the manufacturing might of Saugus Iron Works helped the colony of Massachusetts take its first uncertain steps toward independence from England

The Vikings gathered bog iron ore from the peat bog, which they smelted to make iron nails for their boats.