Cryogenian Interglacial Litho- and C Isotope Chemo-stratigraphy of the Amadeus Basin, Central Australia

Abstract:

The Cryogenian stratigraphy of the Amadeus Basin in central Australia consists of the Areyonga, Aralka, and Olympic Formations. Both the Areyonga and Olympic Fms. include glacial deposits overlain by cap carbonates, observations that have prompted correlation of these formations with the global Sturtian and Marinoan glaciations, respectively. In this study we focus on the interglacial stratigraphic unit (Aralka Fm.), which is subdivided into the lower Ringwood Mbr. and the upper Limbla Mbr. C isotope values from carbonates within the Limbla Mbr. are particularly large (up to +10 per mil), suggesting that it correlates with the global “Keele Peak” anomaly. The underlying Ringwood Mbr. (the base of which comprises the Sturtian cap carbonate of the Amadeus Basin) varies from thin or non-existent in the northwestern part of the basin to hundreds of meters thick in eastern parts. C isotope values from Ringwood Mbr. carbonates are roughly -5 per mil at its base and rise rapidly up-section. A mid-interglacial negative C isotope excursion to values of approximately -5 per mil in the Ringwood Mbr. may correlate with the Tayshir anomaly of the Mongolian Neoproterozoic succession. Interglacial carbonates of the Aralka Fm. therefore have C isotope compositions that span at least 15 per mil and include both positive and negative isotopic excursions that seem to be globally correlative. Furthermore, detailed field observations from the Ringwood Mbr. suggest that it can be subdivided into three submembers, each of which is marked by stromatolitic intervals. Shallowing-upward parasequences in the Ringwood Mbr., as well as a major change in lithology from siltstones and microbialites of the Ringwood Mbr. to dominantly coarse-grained, cross-stratified sandstones of the Limbla Mbr., suggest that the interglacial strata of the Amadeus Basin were deposited during a period of significant and repeated changes in relative sealevel.