Thomas Matthew Vandyk

Past Life and Environments

RHUL

UCL

The Ediacaran to Cambrian aged Luoquan Formation (> 521 Ma, North China) comprises exquisitely preserved subglacially striated pavements, overlain by a range of subglacial to proglacial deposits. This project seeks to better understand its depositional context and processes, along with the character, extent and dynamics of its glacial ice. This will be achieved through outcrop investigation using well-established geological techniques, such as measured sections, mapping and sedimentary structure orientation. This study will improve understandings of how our past planet worked: (1) Striated pavements are globally rare upon such ancient rocks and those of the Luoquan Formation are amongst the best Precambrian examples. They yield important information about the overlying ancient ice, yet scant data is published on the Luoquan pavements and they are imminently threatened by anthropogenic destruction; (2) Whether any glacial strata of Cambrian age occur globally remains unconfirmed; (3) The North China Craton was at mid to low latitudes during Luoquan Formation deposition. The presence of sea-level ice at these latitudes during the preceding Cryogenian Period is considered diagnostic evidence of pan-global “Snowball Earth” glaciation. A sea-level depositional context for ice rafted debris of the Luoquan Formation would therefore significantly change understandings of Ediacaran to Cambrian global climate.

This study will contribute to the debate on causes and consequences of global climate change throughout Earth history as well as the relationship between climate, the carbon cycle and the Cambrian Explosion.

• Postgraduate Research Grant – British Society for Geomorphology
• Postgraduate Grant – International Association of Sedimentologists
• Ian Gass Bursary – Open University
• Robert Scott Memorial Award – CASP, administered by Geological Society of London
• Crowther Fund – Open University
• Kirsty Brown Memorial Fund – administered by Royal Holloway

• Vandyk T.M., Wu G., Davies B., Xiao Y., Li M., Shields G., le Heron, D. (2019) Temperate glaciation on a Snowball Earth: Glaciological and palaeogeographic insights from the Cryogenian Yuermeinak Formation of NW China Precambrian Research DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2019.105362
• Le Heron D.P., Vandyk, T.M. (2019) A slippery slope for Cryogenian diamictites? The Depositional Record DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/dep2.67
• Le Heron D.P., Vandyk T.M., Kuang H., Liu Y., Chen X., Wang Y., Yang Z., Sharfenberg L., Davies B., Shields G. (2019) A bird’s eye view of an Ediacaran subglacial landscape Geology DOI: https://doi.org/10.1130/G46285.1
• Le Heron D.P., Vandyk T.M., Wu G., Li M. (2018) New perspectives on the Luoquan Glaciation (Ediacaran‐Cambrian) of North China The Depositional Record DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/dep2.46
• Xiao Y., Wu G., Vandyk T.M., You L. (2019) Geochronological and geochemical constraints on Late Cryogenian to Early Ediacaran magmatic rocks on the northern Tarim Craton: implications for tectonic setting and affinity with Gondwana International Geology Review DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00206814.2019.1581847
• Tofaif S., Vandyk T.M., Le Heron D.P., Melvin, J (2019) Glaciers, flows, and fans: Origins of a Neoproterozoic diamictite in the Saratoga Hills, Death Valley, California Sedimentary Geology DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2019.03.003
• Vandyk T.M., Le Heron D.P., Chew D.M., Amato J.M., Thirlwall M., Dehler C.M., Hennig J., Castonguay S.R. Knott, T., Tofaif S., Ali D.O., Manning C.J., Busfield M.E., Doepke, D., Grassineau, N. (2018) Precambrian olistoliths masquerading as sills from Death Valley, California Journal of the Geological Society DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2017-002
• Wu G., Yuan Y., Huang S., Vandyk T.M., Xiao Y., Cai Q., Luo B. (2018) The Dihedral Angle and Intersection Processes of a Conjugate Strike-Slip Fault System in the Tarim Basin, NW China Acta Geologica Sinica DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-6724.13495
• Le Heron D.P., Busfield M.E., Ali D.O., Vandyk T., Tofaif S. (2018) A tale of two rift shoulders, and two ice masses: the Cryogenian glaciated margin of Death Valley, California Geological Society of London Special Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/SP475.11
• Le Heron D.P., Tofaif S., Vandyk T., Ali D.O. (2017) A diamictite dichotomy: Glacial conveyor belts and olistostromes in the Neoproterozoic of Death Valley Geology DOI: https://doi.org/10.1130/G38460.1
• Le Heron D.P., Busfield M.E., Ali D.O., Al Tofaif S., Vandyk T.M. (2017) The Cryogenian record in the southern Kingston Range, California: The thickest Death Valley succession in the hunt for a GSSP Precambrian Research DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2017.07.017