The Laurentian record of Neoproterozoic glaciation, tectonism, and eukaryotic evolution in Death Valley, California

Neoproterozoic strata in Death Valley, California, contain eukaryotic microfossils and glacial deposits that have been used to assess the severity of putative snowball Earth events and the biological response to extreme environmental change. These successions also contain evidence for synsedimentary faulting that has been related to the rifting of Rodinia, and in turn the tectonic context of the onset of snowball Earth. These interpretations hinge on local geological relationships and both regional and global stratigraphic correlations. Here, we present new geological mapping, measured stratigraphic sections, carbon and strontium isotope chemostratigraphy, and micropaleontology from the Neoproterozoic glacial deposits and bounding strata in Death Valley. These new data enable us to refine regional correlations, both across Death Valley and throughout Laurentia, and construct a new age model for glacigenic strata and microfossil assemblages. Particularly, our remapping of the Kingston Peak Formation in the Saddle Peak Hills and near the type locality shows for the first time that glacial deposits of both the Marinoan and Sturtian glaciations can be distinguished in southeastern Death Valley, and that beds containing vase-shaped microfossils are slump blocks derived from the underlying strata. These slump blocks are associated with multiple overlapping unconformities that developed during synsedimentary faulting, which is a common feature of Cyrogenian strata along the margin of Laurentia from California to Alaska. With these data, we conclude that all of the microfossils that have been described to date in Neoproterozoic strata of Death Valley predate the glaciations and do not bear on the severity, extent, or duration of Neoproterozoic snowball Earth events