Chapter 64. Neoproterozoic glacial deposits of Tasmania

In Tasmania, Neoproterozoic glaciogenic deposits were laid down in one or more epicratonic basins, probably situated at the eastern margin of the Australian-Antarctic craton. Rifting and volcanism took place in the late Cryogenian to early Ediacaran. On King Island, north of Tasmania, the Cottons Breccia consists of 50-200 m of diamictite, conglomerate and sandstone. Limestone and dolostone clasts are abundant in the diamictite, although carbonate is unknown in the underlying successions. The Cottons Breccia is overlain by 10 m of laminated dolostone and limestone with a negative, upward-decreasing δ ¹³C profile. Rift volcanics and shallow intrusives higher in the sequence are dated at c. 575 Ma. In NW Tasmania, two diamictite units are found in the Togari Group. The Julius River Member, 200 m thick, contains dominantly dolostone clasts and overlies a shallow-marine dolostone unit with vase-shaped microfossils and C-isotopes consistent with a mid-Cryogenian age. Some clasts in the Julius River Member contain a stromatolite (Baicalia cf. B. burra) very similar to a form that is abundant in the middle part of the Burra Group, Adelaide rift basin. The Julius River Member is immediately overlain by black shale and impure carbonate dated by Re-Os at 641±5 Ma. The younger diamictite in the Togari Group is the Croles Hill Diamictite, 70 m thick, with predominantly volcanic clasts, underlain by a shale and mafic-volcaniclastic succession and overlain by thin mudstone followed by thick rift tholeiites. At one locality this diamictite is underlain by a rhyodacite flow dated at 582±4 Ma. In southern Tasmania, diamictites are found in the Wedge River Beds and in the Cotcase Creek Formation (Fm.) (Weld River Group). Laminated siltstone with dropstones is associated with the diamictites in the Cotcase Creek Fm. The southern Tasmanian deposits are poorly constrained in age.