PhD: A tropical view of late Neoproterozoic glaciation: sedimentary insights from glacial deposits in Rondonia, Brazil

Importance of the area of research:

The Ediacaran Period (635-541 Ma) witnessed some of the greatest geological and evolutionary events in Earth history, including the rise of oxygen to modern levels, the diversification of animal life, global glaciation events, and large-scale continental readjustments. Determining how biological events such as the appearance of the Ediacaran biota relate to contemporary geological events is a key question for researchers attempting to understand the interplay between Earth and life. Significant questions include what caused the ‘Snowball Earth' glacial events of the late Neoproterozoic, and did their cessation ~580 million years ago play a role in triggering the evolution of the Ediacaran biota? Few global successions document the rocks of early and middle Ediacaran age required to provide answers to these questions, but a new locality in Brazil may provide new insights into early Ediacaran climate change.

Project summary:

This project will investigate a newly recognized Neoproterozoic sedimentary basin in Rondonia, Brazil. The succession includes at least two glacial deposits, and a thick intervening sequence of laminated carbonates. The project will characterize the sedimentology, palaeontology, carbon isotope geochemistry and (if suitable tuffs are identified) age of the section and its glacial units, to inform discussions surrounding global glaciation and its timing relative to biological and geochemical events. This is an excellent opportunity to fully characterize a previously unexplored region with potential importance to global Neoproterozoic research.