The Huqf Supergroup, Sultanate of Oman, contains an important record of Neoproterozoic history, including evidence for two glaciations, a massive reorganization of the global carbon cycle, and the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition. New U-Pb geochronologic data provide precise constraints on the age of several key stratigraphic levels in the Neoproterozoic Huqf Supergroup and its subjacent crystalline basement rocks. The basement ages constrain an interval of felsic magmatism to have occurred from at least 840 Ma to approximately 810 Ma. Detrital zircons from several stratigraphic levels within the Huqf Supergroup yield ages in excess of 2.5 Ga, suggesting proximity of Archean crust during the Neoproterozoic evolution of the eastern Arabian Peninsula. Volcanic ash beds intercalated within the Huqf Supergroup were dated in the Oman Mountains, and in several subsurface wells (South Oman Salt Basin). Glacial deposits of the Abu Mahara Group in the Oman Mountains (Ghubrah Formation) contain volcaniclastic rocks that are approximately 713 Ma; overlying syn-glacial turbiditic sandstones of the Fiq Formation yield a suite of detrital zircon dates ranging from 920 to 664 Ma so that deposition of at least the upper Fiq must have post-dated 664 Ma. In the South Oman Salt Basin, volcaniclastic deposits intercalated within glaciogenic strata of the Fiq Formation yielded zircons, the youngest of which is about 645 Ma. These data indicate two distinct episodes of glaciation at approximately 713 and <645 Ma

The Huqf Supergroup, Sultanate of Oman, contains an important record of Neoproterozoic history, including evidence for two glaciations, a massive reorganization of the global carbon cycle, and the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition. New U-Pb geochronologic data provide precise constraints on the age o...