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Originally published in Science Express on 24 February 2005
Science 1 April 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5718, pp. 95 - 98
DOI: 10.1126/science.1107765
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Reports

U-Pb Ages from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation, China

Daniel Condon,1* Maoyan Zhu,2 Samuel Bowring,1 Wei Wang,2 Aihua Yang,2 Yugan Jin2

U-Pb zircon dates from volcanic ash beds within the Doushantuo Formation (China) indicate that its deposition occurred between 635 and 551 million years ago. The base records termination of the global-scale Marinoan glaciation and is coeval with similar dated rocks from Namibia, indicating synchronous deglaciation. Carbon isotopic and sequence-stratigraphic data imply that the spectacular animal fossils of the Doushantuo Formation are for the most part younger than 580 million years old. The uppermost Doushantuo Formation contains a pronounced negative carbonate carbon isotopic excursion, which we interpret as a global event at circa 551 million years ago.

1 Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
2 Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dcondon{at}mit.edu

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