Grant M. Cox

Sea ice−free conditions during the Sturtian glaciation (early Cryogenian), South Australia

In the Neoproterozoic snowball Earth hypothesis, shutdown of the planet9s hydrological system has been attributed to a global ice cover during one or more extreme glaciations. In the central Flinders Ranges, South Australia, the Yudnamutana Subgroup of Sturtian age includes diamictite, sandstone, and siltstone units of glaciomarine origin as much as 5000 m thick, and is overlain by postglacial transgressive siltstone and shale of the Tindelpina Shale Member, Tapley Hill Formation. In the central Flinders Ranges, the Yudnamutana Subgroup consists of (1) the Pualco Tillite (gravity resedimented glacial deposits), (2) the Holowilena Ironstone (glacioturbidites), (3) poorly stratified pebbly diamictite of the Warcowie Dolomite Member, lowermost Wilyerpa Formation (gravity resedimented glacial deposits), succeeded by (4) siltstones and sandstones with abundant hummocky cross-stratification (HCS: storm deposits), and (5) a lonestone-bearing succession with cobble-sized clasts in the upper Wilyerpa Formation (ice-rafted debris interpreted to record a glacial re-advance) in which HCS is absent. Because the action of oscillating waves is required to produce HCS on the seafloor, its presence indicates an interval of significant meltback prior to glacial re-advance. Given that the HCS occurs ∼2 km beneath the Tindelpina Shale Member, it signifies a major ice-free interval during the Sturtian glaciation.

Snowball Earth climate dynamics and Cryogenian geology-geobiology

We review recent observations and models concerning the dynamics of Cryogenian global glaciation and their biological consequences. Geological evidence indicates that grounded ice sheets reached sea level at all latitudes during two long-lived Cryogenian (58 and ≥5 My) glaciations. Combined uranium-lead and rhenium-osmium dating suggests that the older (Sturtian) glacial onset and both terminations were globally synchronous. Geochemical data imply that CO2 was 102 PAL (present atmospheric level) at the younger termination, consistent with a global ice cover. Sturtian glaciation followed breakup of a tropical supercontinent, and its onset coincided with the equatorial emplacement of a large igneous province. Modeling shows that the small thermal inertia of a globally frozen surface reverses the annual mean tropical atmospheric circulation, producing an equatorial desert and net snow and frost accumulation elsewhere. Oceanic ice thickens, forming a sea glacier that flows gravitationally toward the equator, sustained by the hydrologic cycle and by basal freezing and melting. Tropical ice sheets flow faster as CO2 rises but lose mass and become sensitive to orbital changes. Equatorial dust accumulation engenders supraglacial oligotrophic meltwater ecosystems, favorable for cyanobacteria and certain eukaryotes. Meltwater flushing through cracks enables organic burial and submarine deposition of airborne volcanic ash. The subglacial ocean is turbulent and well mixed, in response to geothermal heating and heat loss through the ice cover, increasing with latitude. Terminal carbonate deposits, unique to Cryogenian glaciations, are products of intense weathering and ocean stratification. Whole-ocean warming and collapsing peripheral bulges allow marine coastal flooding to continue long after ice-sheet disappearance. The evolutionary legacy of Snowball Earth is perceptible in fossils and living organisms.

Kikiktat Volcanics of Arctic Alaska—Melting of Harzburgitic Mantle Associated with the Franklin Large Igneous Province

The Kikiktat volcanics (new name) of the northeastern Brooks Range of Arctic Alaska are exceptionally well-preserved Neoproterozoic continental tholeiites. This volcanic suite includes high-temperature picritic compositions, making them an excellent probe of mantle composition and temperature underlying the northern margin of Laurentia during the breakup of Rodinia. Detrital zircons from a volcaniclastic sample directly overlying basaltic flows of the Kikiktat volcanics were dated at 719.47 ± 0.29 Ma by U-Pb chemical abrasion–thermal ionization mass spectrometry. This age suggests that the Kikiktat volcanics are an extension of the Franklin large igneous province. Petrogenetic modeling indicates a simple crystallization sequence of olivine → plagioclase → clinopyroxene, recording anhydrous low-pressure fractionation of a picritic parental melt. The composition of this parental liquid requires melting of harzburgite in the spinel stability field, while temperature estimates of the primary melt indicate elevated mantle potential temperatures. In contrast to the ca. 720 Ma Natkusiak basalts of Victoria Island, the Kikiktat volcanics have very low Ti concentrations, consistent with melting of harzburgitic mantle possibly by thermal conduction of an underlying plume. These data are consistent with Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic tectonic reconstructions that restore the North Slope of Arctic Alaska to the northeastern margin of Laurentia and not directly adjacent to Victoria Island.

Synthesis of the 780–740 Ma Chuar, Uinta Mountain, and Pahrump (ChUMP) groups, western USA: Implications for Laurentia-wide cratonic marine basins

The upper Tonian Chuar, Uinta Mountain, and middle Pahrump (ChUMP) groups of present-day western Laurentia collectively record the early breakup of Rodinia, large-scale perturbations in the carbon cycle, and eukaryotic evolution, all of which preceded the onset of global glaciation by tens of millions of years. The spectacularly preserved and shale-rich Chuar Group of the Grand Canyon Supergroup stands out as one of the best global records of this time period, particularly for paleobiology. A new U-Pb age of 782 Ma on detrital zircons ( n = 14 young grains) from the underlying Nankoweap Formation refines the Chuar Group’s maximum depositional age to younger than 782 Ma. A new 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age of 764 ± 16 Ma (2σ) from K-feldspar within early diagenetic marcasite nodules from the upper Chuar Group (Awatubi Member) helps calibrate the rich Chuar microfossil record and constrain the large-magnitude shift in δ 13 C org (up to 18‰; referred to here as the Awatubi positive carbon-isotope excursion or APCIE) to between ca. 764 and ca. 742 Ma, the date of an ash near the top of the Chuar Group. In addition to the maximum depositional age of ca. 782 Ma, U-Pb detrital zircon analyses ( n = 826 grains) on sandstone beds from the underlying Nankoweap Formation indicate the presence of multiple older Laurentian age peaks. The similarity of detrital zircon populations and sedimentary character to that of the overlying Chuar Group ( n = 764 grains) suggests that the Nankoweap Formation should be included as the lowermost unit in the Chuar Group. This revised geochronological framework indicates a 300 Ma unconformity between the Chuar Group (including the Nankoweap Formation) and the underlying 1.1 Ga Cardenas Basalt of the Unkar Group. Chuar Group detrital zircon populations share similarities with those of the Uinta Mountain Group and especially the middle Pahrump Group, including ca. 780 Ma grains. Biostratigraphic correlation using microfossils enhances the ChUMP connection and shows a trend of higher acritarch diversity in the lower Chuar and Uinta Mountain groups, and the presence of vase-shaped microfossils in the upper intervals of all three ChUMP units. Comparisons of δ 13 C org and δ 13 C carb among ChUMP successions suggest a combination of local and regional controls. Thus, ChUMP successions are coeval within the 780−740 Ma range, show similar fossil and C-isotope trends, and derived sediments from similar Laurentian sources or source types. In light of recent age constraints and compiled paleontology in other Neoproterozoic basins, our high-resolution correlation of ChUMP successions can be extended to the Callison Lake dolostone of NW Canada and the Akademikerbreen-Polarisbreen groups of Svalbard. Biostratigraphic correlation with poorly age-constrained strata such as the Akademikerbreen-Polarisbreen groups and, farther afield, the Visingso Group of Baltica suggests that ChUMP units record continentwide—and perhaps global—evolutionary patterns. The δ 13 C org and δ 13 C carb values in the Chuar Group and its equivalents in Canada and Svalbard show broadly similar trends, including the APCIE, suggesting that δ 13 C org values from organic-rich shale record variations in the C-isotope composition of late Tonian oceans. Intracratonic basins and contiguous rift margins of ChUMP age are inferred to have been important locations for microbial productivity and significant organic carbon burial that induced large positive shifts in δ 13 C and changes in global carbon balance prior to the onset of snowball Earth.