ABSTRACT Large igneous provinces and associated silicic magmatism can have a significant global climatic effect, so we explored the relationship between the large igneous province record and the ca. 580 Ma Gaskiers glaciation. The late Ediacaran glaciation exists on at least 14 different paleocontinental blocks, and assuming synchroneity, this Gaskiers glaciation was likely of short duration, with estimates ranging from 1.6 m.y. to 340 k.y. The Central Iapetus magmatic province event found in Laurentia, Baltica, and West Africa consists of multiple pulses in the range 620–520 Ma, with the ca. 580 Ma pulse particularly well developed in North Africa. Based on the age matches of 580–570 Ma Central Iapetus magmatic province pulses and the Gaskiers glaciation, and taking into consideration that there is no robust evidence for a major meteorite impact at the time of the Gaskiers onset, we propose that: (1) the initial silicic ca. 580 Ma pulse of the Ouarzazate event (Anti-Atlas of Morocco) helped to trigger the Gaskiers glaciation, and (2) global warming associated with the subsequent ca. 579–570 Ma continental flood basalts, marking the second stage of the Ouarzazate event, helped to end the ice age.

Abstract Different parts of a Tonian–Early Devonian sedimentary succession, covering Proterozoic crystalline basement, occur along the erosional front to the Caledonide orogen, as outliers and coastal strips on land, and as more continuous strata in offshore areas. Rift-related Tonian–Cryogenian siliciclastic sedimentation preceded the break-up of the supercontinent Rodinia, the birth of Baltica and surrounding oceanic realms during the Ediacaran, and a marine transgression across Baltica during the Cambrian. An Ediacaran alkaline and carbonatite intrusive complex in central Sweden formed in connection with the extensional activity. Subsequently, during the Cambrian–Early Devonian, Baltica drifted northwards in the southern hemisphere to the equator, and six different lithofacies associations containing both siliciclastic and carbonate sedimentation were deposited in platformal shelf and Caledonian foreland basin settings. Bentonites in Ordovician and early Silurian successions were coupled to closure of the surrounding oceanic realms. Tectonic processes during the Caledonian orogeny around the margins to Baltica, the distance to different crustal components in this continent and climatic changes steered variations in lithofacies. Resultant fluctuations in sea-level gave rise to hiatuses and palaeo-karsts. Uranium and other metals in kerogen-rich black shales (Cambrian–Early Ordovician), hydrocarbons, stratabound Pb–Zn sulphide deposits in Cambrian (–Ediacaran?) sandstone, and limestone constitute the main resources.

Abstract Reconstructing the stratigraphic architecture of deposits prior to Cenozoic Himalayan uplift is critical for unravelling the structural, metamorphic, depositional and erosional history of the orogen. The nature and distribution of Proterozoic and lower Paleozoic strata have helped elucidate the relationship between lithotectonic zones, as well as the geometries of major bounding faults. Stratigraphic and geochronological work has revealed a uniform and widespread pattern of Paleoproterozoic strata >1.6 Ga that are unconformably overlain by <1.1 Ga rocks. The overlying Neoproterozoic strata record marine sedimentation, including a Cryogenian diamictite, a well-developed carbonate platform succession and condensed fossiliferous Precambrian–Cambrian boundary strata. Palaeontological study of Cambrian units permits correlation from the Indian craton through three Himalayan lithotectonic zones to a precision of within a few million years. Detailed sedimentological and stratigraphic analysis shows the differentiation of a proximal realm of relatively condensed, nearshore, evaporite-rich units to the south and a distal realm of thick, deltaic deposits to the north. Thus, Neoproterozoic and Cambrian strata blanketed the northern Indian craton with an extensive, northward-deepening, succession. Today, these rocks are absent from parts of the inner Lesser Himalaya, and the uplift and erosion of these proximal facies explains a marked change in global seawater isotopic chemistry at 16 Ma.