Table of Contents

The Extreme Proterozoic: Geology, Geochemistry, and Climate

Preface
Gregory S. Jenkins, Mark A. S. McMenamin, Christopher McKay, and Linda Sohl vii

Introduction: The Proterozoic
Gregory S. Jenkins, Christopher McKay, and Mark A. S. McMenamin 1

Observations of Extreme Proterozoic Conditions

Paleomagnetic Constraints on Neoproterozoic 'Snowball Earth' Continental Reconstructions
Joseph G. Meert and Trond. H. Torsvik 5

Geochemical Climate Proxies Applied to the Neoproterozoic Glacial Succession on the
Yangtze Platform, South China
Nicole Dobrzinski, Heinrich Bah I burg, Harald Strauss, and Qirui Zhang 13

Formerly-Aragonite Seafloor Fans from Neoproterozoic Strata, Death Valley and Southeastern
Idaho, United States: Implications for "Cap Carbonate" Formation and Snowball Earth
Frank A. Corsetti, Nathaniel J. Lorentz, and Sara B. Pruss 33

Modeling Extreme Proterozoic Conditions

Analysis of Carbon Cycle System During the Neoproterozoic: Implications for Snowball Earth Events
Eiichi Tajika 45

Secular Changes in the Importance of Neritic Carbonate Deposition as a Control on the
Magnitude and Stability of Neoproterozoic Ice Ages
Andy Ridgwell and Martin Kennedy 55

A Review of Neoproterozoic Climate Modeling Studies
Gregory S. Jenkins 73

Global Tectonic Setting and Climate of the Late Neoproterozoic: A Climate-Geochemical Coupled Study
Yannick Donnadieu, Gilles Ramstein, Yves Godderis, and Frederic Fluteau 79

Climate-Ice Sheet Simulations of Neoproterozoic Glaciation Before and After Collapse to Snowball Earth
David Pollard and James F. Kasting 91

Climate Dynamics in Deep Time: Modeling the "Snowball Bifurcation" and Assessing the
Plausibility of its Occurrence
W. R. Peltier, L. Tarasov, G. Vettoretti, and L. R Solheim 107

Synthesis: Hypothesis and Processes That Explain Extreme Proterozoic Climate

Interpreting the Neoproterozoic Glacial Record: The Importance of Tectonics
Nicholas Eyles and Nicole Januszczak 125

Neoproterozoic Glaciation: Reconciling Low Paleolatitudes and the Geologic Record
George E. Williams and Phillip W. Schmidt 145

Earth's Earliest Extensive Glaciations: Tectonic Setting and Stratigraphic Context of
Paleoproterozoic Glaciogenic Deposits
Grant M. Young 161

High Obliquity as an Alternative Hypothesis to Early and Late Proterozoic Extreme Climate Conditions
Gregory S. Jenkins 183

Thin Ice on the Snowball Earth
Christopher P. Mckay 193

Biological Aspects of Neoproterozoic Glaciation and its Implications for the Cambrian Explosion

Neoproterozoic Glaciations and the Fossil Record
Shuhia Xiao 199

Climate, Paleoecology and Abrupt Change During the Late Proterozoic: A Consideration
of Causes and Effects
Mark A. S. McMenamin 215

About the Author

Gregory S. Jenkins is the editor of The Extreme Proterozoic: Geology, Geochemistry, and Climate, published by Wiley. Mark A. S. McMenamin is an American paleontologist and professor of geology at Mount Holyoke College. He has contributed to the study of the Cambrian explosion and the Ediacaran biota.