The Vendian–Cambrian Cyclometric Stratigraphic Scale for the Southern and Central Siberian Platform

Abstract

Abstract —The general Vendian stratigraphic scale of Siberia, with the uncertain age of the Vendian base ranging from 600 to 630– 640 Ma in most of recent publications, remains worse constrained than the Cambrian scale, in which the boundaries of epochs and stages have been well defined. However, the imperfect classical stratigraphic division has been compensated by data on the cyclicity of the Vendian–Cambrian sedimentary section. The Vendian stratigraphy of the Siberian Platform and the related deposition history with cycles of sedimentation and gaps, as well as the hierarchy of sedimentation processes, can be inferred from the succession of alternating clastic, carbonate, and salt units. The cyclicity of geologic processes and their recurrence are attributed to periodic oscillatory motions of the crust. The ranks of these motions correlate with the cyclicity of sedimentary strata, including regocyclites, nexocyclites, and halcyclites separated by gaps. Each Vendian long-period oscillatory motion begins with a regocyclite and ends with a regional-scale gap. The Cambrian section includes one pre-Mayan regional gap at the end of the early Cambrian long-period cycle. Cambrian regocyclites are composed of carbonate subformations and formations in the lower part and alternating salt and carbonate beds in the upper part.