A newly discovered Neoproterozoic diamictite-cap carbonate couplet from the Western Himalaya: The expansion of the Marinoan snowball Earth glaciation to the northwestern margin of the Indian Plate in North Pakistan

Cryogenian and Ediacaran integrative stratigraphy, biotas, and paleogeographical evolution of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding areas

“…The sequence consists of basal diamictites, dolostones, and siltstones/ sandstones of the Kakul Formation that are vertically succeeded by carbonate dominant succession of the Abbottabad Formation (Figure 3, Profile 21). Based on sedimentological and chemostratigraphic characteristics, the diamictite-cap carbonate couplet in the basal Tannaki Member of the Kakul Formation is interpreted as a Marinoan glacial and postglacial sequence (Khan et al, 2022). The detrital zircon age of ~598 Ma obtained from the overlying Sangargali Mem-ber further supports an Ediacaran age for the upper part of the Kakul Formation (Qasim et al, 2017).…”

“…Unlike the Yangtze and Tarim blocks, the Indian Block only records late Cryogenain glacial deposits, which are mainly distributed along the Himalayan orogenic belt. In Western Himalaya, a Marinoan glacial diamictite-cap carbonate couplet has been recently reported from the basal part of the Kakul Formation exposed in the Hazara Basin, northern Pakistan (Khan et al, 2022). In the Central Himalaya, diamictites in the Blaini Formation of the Krol belt have been considered Marinoanaged (Etienne et al, 2011).…”