A potentially New Early Ediacaran Glaciation

Abstract

Multiple episodes of Neoproterozoic glaciation, namely the Beiyixi, Altungol, Tereeken and Hankalchough glaciations, are recorded in the Kuruktag area of northeastern Tarim Craton, NW China. The Tereeken glaciation was previously correlated with the global Marinoan glaciation based on sedimentary and chemostratigraphic features recorded in the cap dolostone immediately overlying the glaciogenic diamictite, as well as less precise radiometric age constraints. In this study, we obtained chemical-abrasion isotope dilution isotope ratio mass spectrometry (CA-ID-IRMS) U-Pb age of 624.03 ± 0.10 Ma from zircons extracted from a tuff lava interbeded within the diamictite of the Tereeken Formation, which suggests an Early Ediacaran age for the Tereeken glaciation. Such newly discovered Early Ediacaran glaciation in the Tarim region could have induced the negative δ¹³C_carb excursions of 625–605 Ma by providing oxygen and other oxidants to invoke remineralization of a deep ocean dissolved organic carbon (DOC) reservoir.

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