Abstract
U-Pb zircon data from the uppermost Cottons Breccia, representing the Marinoan glacialpostglacial transition on King Island, Tasmania, provide the first direct age constraint on the Cryogenian-Ediacaran boundary in Australia. Zircons in four samples from the topmost meter of the Cottons Breccia, dated by sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe, exhibit two modes ca. 660 Ma and ca. 635 Ma. The younger component predominates in the uppermost sample, a possibly volcanolithic dolomitic sandstone, apparently lacking glacially transported debris, in the transition to cap carbonate. Chemical abrasion-thermal ionization mass spectrometry (CA-TIMS) U-Pb dating of euhedral zircons from that sample yields a weighted-mean age of 636.41 ± 0.45 Ma. Equivalence to published TIMS ash bed dates from Cryogenian-Ediacaran transitional strata in Namibia (635.51 ± 0.82 Ma, within glacial deposit) and China (635.23 ± 0.84 Ma, 2 m above glacial deposit) supports correlation of those strata to the Australian type sections and globally synchronous deglaciation at the end of the Cryogenian Period. © 2013 Geological Society of America.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1127-1130 |
Journal | Geology |
Volume | 41 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2013 |