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[Immortal-D]

Just occurred to me that all Iron Ores are Sedimentary, as is Tin (for Bronze when no Iron is available).  Sure Deep Metal gets you stuff like Gold, Silver, and various alloy reagents; but a couple decent Jewelers can transform even Copper crafts into amazing value.  So I'm wondering if I should be prioritizing Shallow Metals (plural) when choosing a site.

[Witty]

If your goal is more weapon-grade metals, then yes I'd say. Just remember that the shallow metals indicator doesn't immediately guarantee anything. I tend to embark on both shallow and deep metal sites, just so I have the greater chance to fall back on something if my original plans don't work out.

[Nirreln]

Cassiterite is found in granite(granite is metamorphic stone) and hematite can be found in extrusive igneous layers.

[Immortal-D]

Ah, quite right.  Hematite can be found a bit further down.

[Montieth]

Cassiterite is found in granite(granite is metamorphic stone) and hematite can be found in extrusive igneous layers.

Granite is actually igneous intrusive.

[Alfrodo]

Igneous Extrusive = Obsidian

I.e. You can find iron deposits in Volcanoes.

[gralcio]

I.e. You can find iron deposits in Volcanoes.

Sure, usually directly under your goblin repository.

[tonnot98]

Careful with shallow and deep metals, I ended up getting zinc, galena, and to rub salt in the wounds, native silver everywhere.

[Alfrodo]

Careful with shallow and deep metals, I ended up getting zinc, galena, and to rub salt in the wounds, native silver everywhere.

You can use the zinc and lead to power level your blacksmiths / metalcrafters, and silver to make warhammers until you can get better materials off of caravans or dead gobbos.

[Borge]

In my experience sedimentary layers are far more likely to contain iron ore than igneous or metamorphic layers. Which is why if i specifically target iron, i go for coastal zones with shallow metal and sand/clay.

[Iamblichos]

As others have said, iron is most common either on the coasts or near volcanoes, though I have occasionally found it in deep sites around magma pools.

One thing my current embark has driven home though... I would rather embark on a site with wood/charcoal and flux but no iron, than wood/charcoal and iron but no flux.  Without a flux layer, you are dependent on the dwarven caravan, and there's no way they can bring enough to make even a borderline steel industry possible.  Occasionally you get lucky and get marble (which for whatever reason, doesn't show as flux on the site finder) but really at that point you are reduced to buying anything steel from the dwarven caravan and melting it down.  Which blows.  Nothing is more shameful than having your dwarves out scavenging spent steel bolts from caravan guards.

[Jazzeraint]

Careful with shallow and deep metals, I ended up getting zinc, galena, and to rub salt in the wounds, native silver everywhere.

Silver maces and arrows for everyone!

[Alfrodo]

Careful with shallow and deep metals, I ended up getting zinc, galena, and to rub salt in the wounds, native silver everywhere.

Silver maces and arrows for everyone!

yaayyy!

Even if you have a site with no metal whatsoever, it's still possible to make bone armor, crossbows and bolts.

You make weapons from the dead you made, most likely with weapons.

[Geltor]

If you want a high chance of getting the most possibly diverse embark metalwise, just embark in the middle of a biome intersection with 3 or more biomes. I usually get the entire package in those type of embarks

[Niddhoger]

Careful with shallow and deep metals, I ended up getting zinc, galena, and to rub salt in the wounds, native silver everywhere.

You can use the zinc and lead to power level your blacksmiths / metalcrafters, and silver to make warhammers until you can get better materials off of caravans or dead gobbos.

You are implying that there is a better weapon than a silver warhammer? Naturally the gold and platinum varieties... but talking artifacts is cheating! You'd be best just making everyone a silver hammerer and channeling any other metals into armor.  Silver hammers are more or less on par with addy edged weapons from the item testing arena. 

To the OP, this is a quote straight form the wiki: "Sedimentary layers are, on average, the most economically valuable of the four stone layers."  Not only do they contain -all- iron ores, but they also have two different flux stones as possible layers (dolomite, limestone, and chalk).  Aaaaaaaaand it is the only layer that contains coal and lignite. To sweeten the deal, it also contians Kaolinite (porcelain!).  As has already been said, outside of igneous extrusive (volcanoes and vents) with its hematite, no other layer type has iron.  Considering that sedimentary layers are also the only source of tin... this layer is your make or break for military production... Granted, you have to be near a volcano to lack a sedimentary level, but you could look for "shallow metals" and "flux stone" as your highest priorities when finding a site.  Flux stone is notorious for giving false positivies, but if you want iron/steel (or at least bronze) production, you want your richest diversity of metals to be on the surface.