Ediacaran diamictite deposition in South China: Detrital zircon u-pb age evidence and macro sedimentary texture of the Aiqiling formation in southeastern Hunan Province

A better understanding of Ediacaran (Gaskiers) glaciations, including their ages, global distribution and types, is critical to our understanding of the Earth’s evolution following the Neoproterozoic “Snowball Earth”. The present study focuses on a diamictite that forms part of a continuous succession of Neoproterozoic clastic sedimentary rocks in the northwestern margin of the Cathaysia block in South China. Detailed sedimentary sequence established here shows that the diamictite, previously interpreted to be Cryogenian in age, is a part of the Ediacaran Aiqiling Formation. Detrital zircon U-Pb ages constrain its maximum deposition age to ca. 571 Ma, supporting its Ediacaran age. The macro sedimentary textures of the diamictite unit, including matrix-supported sediments with angular and randomly distributed clasts, combined with regional geochemical results, suggest a glaciogenic origin. The U-Pb detrital zircon age data also indicate an uplifting source area to the southeast that migrated northwestward since the Ediacaran.