The recent proliferation of stratigraphic studies of delta 13C variation in carbonates and organic C in later Neoproterozoic and basal Cambrian successions (approximately 850-530 Ma) indicates a strong oscillating trend in the C-isotopic composition of surface seawater. Alone, this trend does not adequately characterize discrete intervals in Neoproterozoic time. However, integrated with the vec...

The behavior of the solid Earth system is often overlooked when the causes of major Neoproteozoic (1000–542 Ma) climate and biosphere events are discussed although ∼20% of the present continental crust formed or was remobilized during this time. Processes responsible for forming and deforming the continental crust during Neoproterozoic time were similar to those of the modern Earth and took pla...

The Bi'r Umq suture zone (BUSZ) in western Saudi Arabia comprises Neoproterozoic oceanic-arc plutonic, volcanosedimentary, and ophiolitic rocks that record some of the earliest magmatic and tectonic events of the East African Orogen in the Arabian–Nubian Shield (ANS). New Nd isotopic analyses are combined with data on zircon inheritance and published isotopic studies to establish the case that ...

New stratigraphic, geochronological and palaeomagnetic constraints allow updates to be made to a synthesis of Neoproterozoic glacial palaeolatitudes, including modifications to some reliability estimates. The overall pattern of a Neoproterozoic climatic paradox persists: there is an abundance of tropical palaeolatitudes and near to complete absence of glaciogenic deposits demonstrably laid down...

The oxygen isotope composition of terrestrial sulfate is affected measurably by many Earth-surface processes. During the Neoproterozoic, severe "snowball" glaciations would have had an extreme impact on the biosphere and the atmosphere. Here, we report that sulfate extracted from carbonate lenses within a Neoproterozoic glacial diamictite suite from Svalbard, with an age of approximately 635 mi...

The Neoproterozoic glaciations supposedly ended in a supergreenhouse environment, which led to rapid melting of the ice cover and precipitation of the so-called cap carbonates. If Earth was covered with ice, then extraterrestrial material would have accumulated on and within the ice and precipitated during rapid melting at the end of the glaciation. We found iridium (Ir) anomalies at the base o...

Negative carbon isotope anomalies in carbonate rocks bracketing Neoproterozoic glacial deposits in Namibia, combined with estimates of thermal subsidence history, suggest that biological productivity in the surface ocean collapsed for millions of years. This collapse can be explained by a global glaciation (that is, a snowball Earth), which ended abruptly when subaerial volcanic outgassing rais...

Several severe glaciations occurred during the Neoproterozoic eon, and especially near its end in the Cryogenian period (630-850 Ma). While the glacial periods themselves were probably related to the continental positions being appropriate for glaciation, the general coldness of the Neoproterozoic and Cryogenian as a whole lacks specific explanation. The Cryogenian was immediately followed by t...

This special issue is based on a theme session convened at the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America held in Denver, Colorado, in October 2004. The theme session brought together a diverse group of scientists interested in the chemistry of Precambrian and Paleozoic oceans and its role in climatic and evolutionary events. The contributors to this issue make use of a wide range of i...

A brief account of the representative and workable industrial minerals namely magnesite, talc and barite in Lesser Himalaya, is presented here emphasizing their genesis. Deposits of magnesite and talc are found associated with Neoproterozoic, plateform type, shelf-slope limestone-dolomite host rocks from inner Lesser Himalayan sequences. Field, textural, geochemical signatures and fluid inclusi...