Geological Society of America

18 Neo-Insights into the Neoproterozoic of Western North America

Wednesday, 16 March 2022
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
CBC-A 112

SORTING SNOWBALLS IN DEATH VALLEY

Paper number: 18-8
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 10:20 AM – 10:40 AM

Authors

Lyle Nelson Presenting Author
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Emily F. Smith
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Francis A. Macdonald
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA

Abstract

Among Precambrian geologists, the Kingston Peak (KP) Formation of Death Valley is renowned for its stratigraphic record of Cryogenian snowball Earth glaciation. Yet, due to complex intraformational unconformities and facies change, compounded by uncertainties in structural reconstructions of the southern Basin and Range, local to regional correlation models for units of the KP remain ambiguous. Building upon decades of previous work on the KP, we integrate new geologic mapping and stratigraphic data sets from across Death Valley with recent geochronology and chemostratigraphy to provide an updated depositional framework for these units and discuss their relationships to the broader, global context of Cryogenian climate and tectonics.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 54, No. 2

doi: 10.1130/abs/2022CD-374056

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