Bird’s-eye view of an Ediacaran subglacial landscape

Indirect evidence for glaciation (dropstones, diamictites) is common in Neoproterozoic strata, and often debated, but direct evidence (e.g. unconformities cut directly by ice) is rare. Only two such unconformities are known to have been preserved globally (from western Australia and from central China). This paper provides the first full description of a spectacular subglacial landscape carved beneath Ediacaran ice masses in the Shimengou area of central China, with classical subglacial bedforms including general facetted forms, müschelbruche, cavetto, spindle forms and striations testify to an abundance of meltwater during subglacial erosion. These features were produced during the southward, somewhat sinuous, flow of a temperate to polythermal ice mass.