INTERBEDDING OF GLACIGENIC ROCKS AND CAP CARBONATES IN THE NEOPROTEROZOIC KINGSTON PEAK FORMATION, PANAMINT RANGE, DEATH VALLEY, CA

The existing stratigraphic paradigm for Neoproterozoic glacial intervals is characterized by an abrupt shift from glacigenic facies to carbonate deposition (cap carbonates), thought to record rapid climate change and an abrupt termination of Neoproterozoic ice ages. Field observations from the Sourdough Limestone within the Kingston Peak Formation in the southern Panamint Range of Death Valley, California show interbedding of diamictite commonly assumed to be of glacial origin and limestone commonly attributed to a discrete cap carbonate unit occurring over tens of meters of section. Rapid facies changes, as opposed to the sharp contact observed elsewhere in Death Valley and in other equivalent Neoproterozoic basins, suggest that this region records a basin marginal position, more sensitive to sea level changes than distal sections, and capable of recording a progressive or cyclical change in climate more similar to Phanerozoic glacial/interglacial intervals. Interpretation of climate based on changes in lithology is complicated by lateral lithological changes proximal to synsedimentary faults which may call into question a glacial origin for many of the diamictite intervals used to support a glacial origin in the Kingston Peak Formation.