Glaciogenic Units Research Articles

Life through an Ediacaran glaciation: Shale- and diamictite-hosted organic-walled microfossil assemblages from the late Neoproterozoic of the Tanafjorden area, northern Norway

New organic-walled microfossil (OWM) assemblages are reported from upper Neoproterozoic glacial and interglacial siliciclastic deposits in Finnmark, northern Norway. A nearly continuous sedimentary succession of the Vestertana Group contains two glaciogenic units, the Smalfjorden and Mortensnes formations, interpreted as end-Cryogenian Marinoan and Ediacaran glaciations, respectively. We investigated the OWM record in the Nyborg, Mortensnes, and Stáhpogieddi formations to assess the impact of a glacial interval on the diversity of microscopic eukaryotes. A modified acid-extraction technique was applied to recover OWM from the diamictite matrix. The upper Nyborg Formation contains morphologically complex Doushantuo-Pertatataka acritarchs (DPA), restricting the age of the Nyborg Formation to early-mid Ediacaran. DPA occur below the dolostones that record a negative carbon isotope excursion correlated with the Shuram anomaly and below a glacial diamictite. A decline in species richness and compositional change is observed in the Mortensnes glacial assemblage. DPA are replaced by bacterial filaments and cell aggregates. The overlying Indreelva Member, Stáhpogieddi Formation contains Ediacara-type biota and palaeopascichnids, but only a depauperate OWM assemblage of leiosphaerids and flask-shaped microfossils characteristic of the late Ediacaran.The succession of assemblages in the Vestertana Group demonstrates a turnover from large eukaryotic OWM to a microbial community in the glacial interval, to a low diversity post-glacial assemblage during the rise of macroscopic life. We compared the Vestertana record to global DPA occurrences. Although one DPA assemblage zone postdates the Shuram excursion, no DPA occur above Ediacaran glacial diamictites in successions where those deposits are present. Considering this, and the community changes in the Vestertana succession, we suggest that DPA were affected by the onset of an Ediacaran glaciation. Lastly, we combined the biostratigraphic markers in the Vestertana Group to constrain the age of the Mortensnes diamictite.

Geochronology and formal stratigraphy of the Sturtian Glaciation in the Adelaide Superbasin

AbstractThe glaciogenic nature of the Yudnamutana Subgroup was first recognized over a century ago, and its global significance was recognized shortly after, with the eventual postulation of a global Sturtian Glaciation and Snowball Earth theory. Much debate on the origin and timing of these rocks, locally and globally, has ensued in the years since. A significant corpus of research on the lithology, sedimentology, geochronology and formal lithostratigraphy of these sequences globally has attempted to resolve many of these debates. In the type area for the Sturtian Glaciation, South Australia’s Adelaide Superbasin, the lithostratigraphy and sedimentology are well understood; however, formal stratigraphic nomenclature has remained complicated and contested. Absolute dates on the stratigraphy are also extremely sparse in this area. The result of these longstanding issues has been disagreement as to whether the sedimentary rocks of the Yudnamutana Subgroup are truly correlative throughout South Australia, and if they were deposited in the same time span recently defined for Sturtian glacial rocks globally, c. 717 Ma to c. 660 Ma. This study presents a large detrital zircon study, summarizes and compiles existing global geochronology for the Sturtian Glaciation and revises the formal lithostratigraphic framework of the Yudnamutana Subgroup. We show equivalence of the rocks that comprise the revised Sturt Formation, the main glaciogenic unit of the Yudnamutana Subgroup, and that it was deposited within the time span globally defined for the Sturtian Glaciation.

Improved Pleistocene sediment stratigraphy and paleoenvironmental implications for the western Arctic Ocean off the East Siberian and Chukchi margins

Sediment cores from the East Siberian and Chukchi margins and adjacent basins are used to refine the upper Pleistocene stratigraphy and better constrain the timing of major glacial advances in the western Arctic Ocean. Cores have been analysed using high-resolution non-destructive physical properties (density, magnetic susceptibility and colour) and X-ray fluorescence elemental measurements (manganese and calcium contents). All analysed cores reveal a spatially coherent stratigraphic pattern that enables robust correlations from the East Siberian margin to the Mendeleev and Northwind Ridges, thus highlighting the potential of such multiproxy approach for improving stratigraphic framework. The distribution of sedimentary units resulting from core correlation indicates decreasing sedimentation rates by more than one order of magnitude from the East Siberian margin east- and northwards, reflecting an increased distance from the main sediment sources, increasing sea-ice cover, and longer residence times in the Beaufort Gyre circulation. The stratigraphy presented, consistent with existing geophysical data, indicates the most recent major glacial advance from the East Siberian margin with ice grounding at water depth > 800 m during estimated Marine Isotope Stages 4/3, roughly contemporaneous with the Middle Weichselian glaciation in northern Eurasia. Earlier glacial events are potentially indicated by glaciogenic units in cores away from the margin, where they are not overprinted by a younger ice advance. Sediment thickness increase towards the Siberian margin also suggests the possibility of a limited MIS 2 glaciation, although no direct evidence for such an ice sheet has been found thus far.

The sea-level fingerprint of a Snowball Earth deglaciation

Cap dolostones are thought to represent deposition from seas transgressing over formerly glaciated continental margins during Marinoan Snowball deglaciation. Nevertheless, facies associations within some cap dolostones indicate that an episode of regional regression punctuated these transgressive sequence tracts. To date, inferences of sea-level change during and after the Marinoan Snowball deglaciation have been interpreted using simple, qualitative arguments. In the present study, we explore the full spatio-temporal variability of sea-level change during Snowball deglaciation and its aftermath using a gravitationally self-consistent theory that accounts for the deformational, gravitational and rotational perturbations to sea level on a viscoelastic Earth model. The theory is applied to model Marinoan Snowball deglaciation on a generalized Ediacaran paleogeography with a synthetic continental ice-sheet distribution. We find that sea-level change following a synchronous, rapid (2 kyr) collapse of Snowball ice cover will exhibit significant geographic variability, including site-specific histories that are characterized by syn-deglacial sea-level fall or stillstand. Moreover, some sites that experience syn-deglacial transgression will continue to experience transgression in the post-deglacial phase. Taken together, these results suggest that sea-level change recorded by strata capping Snowball glaciogenic units may reflect a more complicated trajectory than previously thought, including deposition that was not limited to the deglaciation phase. These simulations, as well as others that explore the response to asynchronous melting and deglaciation phases of longer duration, demonstrate that an episode of regional regression interrupting a cap dolostone transgressive sequence tract may reflect one of several processes (or their combination): (1) near field adjustment associated with rapid local melting during an otherwise global hiatus in deglaciation; (2) post-glacial uplift of sites during a period of slowing deglaciation, and (3) a transition, at some sites, from a sea-level fall dominated by post-glacial uplift to a phase of sea-level rise due to eustasy and peripheral bulge subsidence throughout an extended (order 50 kyr or greater) Snowball deglaciation.

Ice-sheet erosion and the stripping of Tertiary regolith from Baffin Island, eastern Canadian Arctic

The erosion of glaciated regions and concomitant changes in ice sheet dynamics through the Pleistocene are poorly documented. The Baffin Island landscape, which has been shaped by the Foxe Sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS), contains a variety of glacial and proximal glaciomarine sedimentary archives spanning the Pleistocene. We examine these records to better understand when Tertiary regolith was stripped from beneath the Foxe Sector of the LIS. Till on the interior plateaux of the island in areas with scoured bedrock have low chemical index of alteration (CIA) values, low meteoric 10Be (10Bemet) concentrations, and clay mineralogy consistent with erosion from an unweathered bedrock source. However, in some areas in between fiord onset zones, more weathered till is present, containing considerably higher CIA values, high 10Bemet concentrations, and secondary clay mineral weathering products, implying that the till has persisted on the landscape and weathered during successive glaciations. Using these weathering signatures, we analyze the coastal glaciogenic deposits of the Clyde Foreland Formation (CFF) at two sites for evidence of Tertiary regolith removal from the interior of Baffin Island by LIS erosion. Provenance indicators within the CFF demonstrate that Pleistocene LIS ice flow lines across Baffin Island have remained generally constant. The oldest CFF glaciogenic unit, likely representing one of the first, if not the first, LIS advances across Baffin Island, had high 10Bemet concentrations at the time of deposition consistent with extensive regolith erosion. Evidence of notably weathered sediment is absent in all younger units, suggesting that Tertiary regolith was likely largely stripped from the interior of the island by 1.6 ± 0.2 Ma.

Lower Palaeozoic unconformities in an intracratonic platform setting: glacial erosion versus tectonics in the eastern Murzuq Basin (southern Libya)

The stratigraphic record of the eastern Murzuq Basin has been importantly influenced by deformation resulting in angular and/or deeply erosional unconformities, though the overall context is intracratonic. Major transgressive events and the Ordovician glaciation are nevertheless documented, allowing the delineation of tectonic-, eustasy- or climate-driven unconformities. Lower Palaeozoic key events and related unconformities that characterize the North Gondwana platform have therefore a signature in the eastern Murzuq Basin. The basement/cover unconformity, also known as the infra-Tassilian surface, truncates all the deformed and metamorphosed Lower Cambrian and older rocks. Above is a ?Middle Cambrian to Lower Ordovician megasequence (Murizidie and Hasawnah Fms.), which is in turn truncated by an intra-Ordovician, angular unconformity. This megasequence is unconformably overlain by a Middle Ordovician (Hawaz Fm.) to Silurian (Tanzzuft and Akakus Fms) megasequence, which includes the Upper Ordovician glaciogenic unit (Mamuniyat Fm.), bounded at the base by a polygenic glacial erosion surface showing corrugated glacial lineations, tillites, and glaciotectonic structures. The Middle Ordovician to Silurian megasequence is finally truncated by a base-Devonian, angular unconformity overlain by fluvial sandstones. Regarding the possibility that those fluvial deposits may be as younger as Late Devonian in the eastern Murzuq Basin based on palaeoflora, the so-called Caledonian unconformity might be here a much younger (mid-Eifelian?) surface, and the occurrence of the Lower Devonian “Tadrart Fm.” is questioned. The Upper Ordovician glacial erosion surface, which is sometimes referred to as the Taconic unconformity, usually truncates Middle Ordovician strata in the Murzuq Basin but reaches significantly deeper stratigraphic levels in places that have been previously involved in the intra-Ordovician deformation event. In the Murizidie (southeastern Murzuq Basin), the infra-Tassilian surface, the intra-Ordovician unconformity, and the Upper Ordovician glacial erosion surface amalgamate together. Here, an estimate of the glacial erosion depth cannot be derived from the stratigraphic hiatus beneath the glacial incision, the main part of which relate to the intra-Ordovician tectonic event. The Upper Ordovician climate-related glacial erosion surface is not a valid unconformity for a sequence hierarchy framework of the Lower Palaeozoic, although it presents most of the physical attributes of tectonic-driven unconformities.

Chapter 65 Neoproterozoic glacial deposits of the Kimberly Region and northwestern Northern Territory, Australia

Abstract Neoproterozoic glaciogenic formations are preserved in the Kimberley region and northwestern Northern Territory of northern Australia. They are distributed in the west Kimberley adjacent to the northern margins of the King Leopold Orogen, the Mt Ramsay area at the junction of the King Leopold and Halls Creek orogens, and east Kimberley, adjacent to the eastern margin of the Halls Creek Orogen. Small outlier glaciogenic deposits are preserved in the Litchfield Province, Northern Territory (Uniya Fm.) and Georgina Basin, western Queensland (Little Burke Fm.). Glaciogenic strata comprise diamictite, conglomerate, sandstone and pebbly mudstone and characterize the Walsh, Landrigan and Fargoo/Moonlight Valley formations. Thin units of laminated dolomite sit conformably at the top of the Walsh, Landrigan and Moonlight Valley formations. Glaciogenic units are also interbedded with the carbonate platform deposits of the Egan Fm. and Boonall Dolomite. δ 13 C data are available for all carbonate units. There is no direct chronological constraint on these successions, and dispute over the regional correlation of the Neoproterozoic succession has been largely resolved through biostratigraphic, chemostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic analysis. However, palaeomagnetic results from the Walsh Fm. are inconsistent with sedimentologically based correlations. Two stratigraphically defined glaciations are preserved in northwestern Australia: the ‘Landrigan Glaciation’, characterized by SW-directed continental ice-sheet movement and correlated with late Cryogenian glaciation elsewhere in Australia and the world; and, the ‘Egan Glaciation’, a more localized glaciation of the Ediacaran Period. Future research focus should include chronology, palaeomagnetic constraint and tectonostratigraphic controls on deposition.

Chapter 12 Neoproterozoic glaciogenic diamictites of the Katanga Supergroup, Central Africa

Abstract Glaciogenic sediments of the Katanga Supergroup are represented by two units. The syn-rift Grand Conglomerat Formation (<765±5 Ma to >735±5 Ma) occurs within the Nguba Group, and the Petit Conglomerat Formation defines the base of the Kundelungu Group deposited in the earliest foreland basin of the Lufilian orogenic belt located between the Congo and Kalahari cratons. Their glacial origin is inferred on the basis of the following features: the common and widespread occurrence of thick polymictic conglomerates and diamictites with faceted and striated clasts, massive structure, abundant poorly sorted fine-grained matrix, and the presence of planar-laminated shales (laminites) with dropstones. Glaciomarine facies associations prevail over most of the geographic extent of both units, but at the northern periphery of the depository, continental glacial facies are present. The glaciomarine units are succeeded by carbonates: the Kakontwe Limestone and ‘Calcaire Rose’ respectively. The clasts in the glaciogenic units are of extrabasinal and intrabasinal provenance. Lower boundaries, conformable in the basin centre, evolve to unconformities in the marginal areas to the N and S. The palaeomagnetic evidence suggests deposition in low latitudes.

Chapter 49 The Neoproterozoic Macaúbas Group, Araçuaí orogen, SE Brazil

Abstract The Neoproterozoic Macaúbas Group records accumulation in the precursor basin of the Araçuaí orogen, located on the eastern margin of the São Francisco craton (SE Brazil). The Macaúbas basin evolved from a late Tonian continental rift to a passive margin that lasted at least until c. 660 Ma. It was orogenically inverted during the late Neoproterozoic Brasiliano event. The Macaúbas Group includes the pre-glacial Matão, Duas Barras and Rio Peixe Bravo formations, the glaciogenic Serra do Catuni, Nova Aurora and Lower Chapada Acauã formations, and the post-glacial Upper Chapada Acauã and Ribeirão da Folha formations. In the central sector of the Araçuaí orogen, the oldest glaciogenic unit of the group, the Serra do Catuni Formation, overlies the sandstone-conglomerate package of the Duas Barras Formation. The Serra do Catuni Formation consists of massive diamictite with minor sandstone and rare pelite, deposited mostly in a proximal glaciomarine environment. This unit passes upward and eastward into the Lower Chapada Acauã Formation, a thick succession of stratified diamictite, graded sandstone, pelite, transitional basalt and rare carbonate. This distal glaciomarine unit is covered by the diamictite-free Upper Chapada Acauã Formation, which passes eastward into the Ribeirão da Folha Formation, which includes fine-grained turbidite, pelite and ocean-floor rocks. In the northern sector of the Araçuaí orogen, the sandstone-pelite succession of the pre-glacial Rio Peixe Bravo Formation is covered by the Nova Aurora Formation, the glaciomarine unit rich in diamictite and Fe-rich diamictite, with minor graded sandstone and rare pelite. The Nova Aurora Formation is covered by the sandstone-pelite package of the Upper Chapada Acauã Formation. The pre-glacial and glaciogenic successions record the continental rift to transitional stages of the Macaúbas basin. The post-glacial succession represents proximal and distal passive margin to ocean floor environments. The Serra do Catuni Formation seems to be a proximal glaciomarine equivalent of the Jequitaí glacio-terrestrial deposits located on the São Francisco craton.

Chapter 37 The record of Neoproterozoic glaciations in the Windermere Supergroup, southern Canadian Cordillera

Abstract The Neoproterozoic Windermere Supergroup (WSG) is exposed over an area of 35 000 km 2 in the southern Canadian Cordillera, and consists primarily of deep-marine meta-sedimentary rocks interpreted to have been deposited during rifting and subsequent post-rift thermal relaxation. The main exposures of the WSG occur within thrust panels and structural culminations of the eastern Cordilleran orogen. Within the thick stratigraphic succession ( c. 9 km) are three units of glaciogenic affinity: Toby, Vreeland and Old Fort Point (OFP) formations. The Toby Formation (Fm.) is composed of up to 2500 m of diamictite, interbedded with conglomerate, sandstone, mudstone, carbonate and mafic volcanic rocks. The Vreeland Formation ranges from 350 m to 2000 m in thickness and consists of diamictite, interbedded with mudstone, sandstone and conglomerate. The OFP ranges from 60 to 450 m in thickness and consists of a distinctive threefold stratigraphic package of basal siltstone grading upward into limestone–siltstone rhythmite, organic-rich mudstone and an overlying heterolithic unit of diamictite, breccia, conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone to mudstone and limestone. A locally prominent unconformity marks the base of the OFP upper member. Both the Toby and Vreeland formations represent remobilized glacially derived marine sediments deposited by sediment-gravity flows. Deposition of the Toby Fm. was fault-controlled during an active tectonic phase (rifting), whereas the Vreeland Fm. accumulated during the subsequent quiescent phase (post-rift) with limited structural control. The OFP is interpreted to be a regionally extensive deep-marine post-glacial marker temporally associated with the glaciogenic Vreeland Fm. Although direct geochronological ages for WSG units in southwestern Canada are generally absent, high-precision radiometric ages of underlying and overlying igneous events constrain the relative maximum and minimum timing of deposition from c. 740–728 Ma to c. 569 Ma. At the base of the WSG succession, the Toby Fm. may be as young as c. 685 Ma based on ages obtained from potential stratigraphic correlatives in the USA. There is no direct age constraint for the deposition of the Vreeland Fm.; its minimum timing is based on its stratigraphic relationship with the post-glacial OFP. The middle member of the OFP was precisely dated at 607.8±4.7 Ma using the Re–Os method, placing it in the Ediacaran Period. Published geochemical and stable isotopic data are similarly limited for all three units with only some δ 34 S py values available from one section of the OFP. Recent work has focused on detailed sedimentological and stratigraphic studies of the Toby and OFP formations with future efforts being directed towards integrated geochemical and isotopic research. Additional geochronological constraints are needed to refine palaeogeographical models and strengthen regional correlations with other North American Cordilleran glaciogenic units.

Isotope stratigraphy of the Lapa Formation, São Francisco Basin, Brazil: Implications for Late Neoproterozoic glacial events in South America

The Lapa Formation is a thick carbonate sequence (∼900m) that constitutes the upper part of the Vazante Group on the São Francisco craton, Brazil. It conformably overlies a previously unrecognized glacial diamictite unit of poorly constrained age. The sequence, above the glacial unconformity, consists predominantly of organic-rich shale, subtidal rhythmic dolomicrites and microbialaminites, and intertidal stromatolites. Four boreholes, spanning different depositional settings, were sampled at high-resolution and investigated for their petrographic and chemical criteria to evaluate their degree of preservation.The δ13C and δ18O values of well preserved Lapa carbonate microsamples range from −8.2‰ to 3.3‰ (VPDB) and from −13.6‰ to −0.9‰ (VPDB), respectively. Each of the δ13C profiles of the investigated cores reveals two strong negative excursions of up to 8‰, an event in post-glacial dolomicrites immediately above the glaciogenic unit and a 10m interval of organic-rich shale, and a second near the top of the sequence associated with a shale interval. Based on the observation of dropstones and sedimentary iron formation in the underlying diamictite, as well as the distinguishable carbon isotope trends, the Lapa Formation is considered as a cap carbonate lithofacies. The age of the Lapa Formation is presently unknown but the least radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr value (∼0.7068), associated with a negative carbon isotope excursion, matches that from the Rasthof Formation in Namiba on the Congo craton, which is radiometrically constrained to be younger than ca. 750Ma.

Two distinct glacial successions in the Neoproterozoic of Oman

ABSTRACT Neoproterozoic glacial strata in Oman are key to the ongoing Snowball Earth discussion, providing a great opportunity to test the hypothesis. The Abu Mahara Group (Huqf Supergroup) is well exposed in the core of the Jabal Akhdar of northern Oman. It contains two glaciogenic units, the Ghubrah Formation (723+16/−10 Ma) and the Fiq Formation (currently undated), that are separated by the volcaniclastic Saqlah Formation. An angular unconformity is present between the Ghubrah and Saqlah formations, indicating a significant time gap between the deposition of the Ghubrah and Fiq glacial successions. The localised occurrence of pillow basalts and more widespread volcaniclastics of the Saqlah Formation, suggests the initiation of a rifting phase, which is considered to have continued during deposition of the Fiq Formation. Given the available geochronology, the Ghubrah Formation may correlate with other glaciogenic successions worldwide attributed to the Sturtian glacial epoch, and the Fiq Formation with younger glaciogenic successions attributed to the Marinoan glacial epoch. Neoproterozoic glaciations appear to have taken place at times of tectonically generated accommodation, suggesting a link between geodynamics, basin development and climate change.

Glacially influenced sedimentation in the Later Proterozoic of the Paraguay belt (Mato Grosso, Brazil)

Late Proterozoic (probably early Vendian, 610-590 Ma) glaciogenic and turbiditic sediments and metasediments are present along the transitional zone between the Amazonian Craton to the northwest and the Paraguay Belt to the southeast, in the Cuiabá region, Mato Grosso, Brazil. A few exposures of diamictites are associated with conglomerates and graded pebbly sandstones on the cratonic fringe and pass southeastwards into fine-grained sediments deposited in the deeper part of the probably marine basin. In the Paraguay Belt, these rocks have been affected by the Brasiliano Orogeny, possibly around 570 Ma. They show increasing deformation and metamorphism from the craton towards the fold belt. The sedimentation scheme proposed for the western border of the Paraguay Belt and the eastern edge of the Amazonian Craton involves three, probably marine, main depositional systems. To the west, on the craton, the platform domain can be subdivided into a western inner shelf and an eastern outer shelf. The deposits on the inner shelf subdomain show an alternation of dominant massive diamictites, sandstones and fine-grained sediments with few dropstones. This diamictite association is tentatively interpreted as glaciomarine in origin. In the outer shelf subdomain, the massive diamictites are progressively replaced southeastwards by an association of massive diamictites, stratified diamictites and fine-grained sediments. This diamictite association is interpreted, as a whole, as resedimented glacial debris deposited by subaqueous debris flows. The slope domain, located at the transition between craton and fold belt, is characterized by strong reworking of the glaciomarine sediments by gravity flows responsible for a type of submarine fan deposition. The coarse clastic facies, which result from a reworking by rapid downslope transport of cohesive debris-flows and gravity flows with high viscosity, fill feeder channels in the upper fan. Eastward, inside the belt, a progressive sorting in the deeper portions of the fan is shown by the transition from diamictites, massive gravels, sandstone intercalations with occasional inverse and/or normal grading (debris flow + turbidity current) to normal graded, finer sediments (turbidity current). Sandstone and siltstone intercalations represent interchannel deposits formed by turbidity currents. East of the slope, well-bedded, fine-grained sediments were generated by low-density turbidity currents. Direct glacial influence is reduced to the presence of a few isolated clasts or dropstones. Two distinct Upper Proterozoic glaciogenic units are known in Brazil. The older and more widespread one, dated at about 950 Ma, is located on the São Francisco Craton and in the adjacent Brasiliano fold belts. The younger one (≈600 Ma) is restricted to the Paraguay Belt and the adjacent border of the Amazonian Craton. In southern Western Gondwana, Late Proterozoic glaciation is of mountain-type and developed at latitudes of 60° on highs probably generated by Pan African-Brasiliano rifting. At the same time, in its northern part, a widespread ice sheet covered the West African Craton.

Sinian glacial deposits in Xinjiang, Northwest China

Three levels of Sinian glaciogenic deposits are widespread in Xinjiang in northwestern China. Two of these are assigned to the lower Sinian and one to the upper Sinian. There is also some evidence for an older, fourth glacial episode. Continental, transitional and marine glacial deposits have been recognised; within these depositional environments six sedimentary facies can be distinguished. The three well-defined glaciogenic units of northwestern China can be correlated with those of South China, and possibly with other parts of the world.

Quaternary interglacial and associated deposits in southwest Newfoundland

A coastal cliff section near Codroy, Newfoundland exposes five distinctive lithologic units, which are defined lithologically and structurally as colluvial, lacustrine, or glacial in origin. They have been preserved in a gypsum karst depression, but continuing karst evolution has disturbed their original attitudes.The two oldest units, 5 and 4, were formed by sidewall slumping of local bedrock and earlier glacial material from the failing rim of a newly formed sinkhole. Unit 3 represents tranquil sedimentation of thin sand and silt–clay laminae, first in a freshwater sinkhole pond, then in brackish marine waters that entered after breaching of its seaward wall, and finally again in fresh water as sea level fell below the sill of the small embayment. Units 2 and 1 are glacial deposits laid down over older units after a second major sinkhole collapse. Collapse has continued to the present day.Pollen and spores from unit 3 indicate that during its deposition regional vegetation changed from tundra (Zone A) to boreal forest (Zone B), and back to tundra (Zone C), through an interglacial cycle of vegetation change. Balsam fir wood from Zone B is radiocarbon-dated to > 40 000 BP (I-10203).Foraminifera from unit 3 indicate that brackish marine conditions prevailed before Zone B times, and that nearshore fully marine conditions briefly prevailed in Zone B times. Zone B is thus assigned full interglacial status, based on pollen and foraminiferal evidence, and is tentatively assigned to the Sangamonian for want of indications to the contrary and for economy of interpretation. The overlying glaciogenic units 1 and 2 are thus probably of early Wisconsinan age.Calcite crystals, possibly pseudomorphous, found within Zone B of unit 3, were radiocarbon-dated at 30 000 ± 1450 BP (UQ-115). δ18O values of −6.8 to −7.5‰ (versus PDB) indicate replacement by calcite under conditions similar to present. δ13C values of −24.00 to −26.24‰ (versus PDB) indicate that carbonate carbon was supplied by decay of local organic matter. The date is thus a minimum and supports the contention that the sediments are of at least last interglacial age.Gypsum karst has thus been evolving in this area since before the last interglacial and has preserved a record of environmental change for that period that is unique in the Atlantic Provinces of Canada. Unit 3 is proposed as the stratotype for the "Codroy Interglacial Beds" (new name).