A Neoproterozoic glacially influenced basin margin succession and ‘atypical’ cap carbonate associated with bedrock palaeovalleys, Mirbat area, southern Oman

The Ayn Formation of the Neoproterozoic Mirbat Group comprises <400 m of little‐deformed, glacially influenced basin margin deposits. These deposits are preserved in several palaeovalleys eroded in crystalline basement and overlain by a discontinuous cap carbonate. The Ayn Formation and the cap carbonate, which are superbly exposed along a 20 km SW–NE‐striking escarpment in south Oman, provide important insights into the processes operating on a basin margin during a Neoproterozoic glaciation and its demise. The Ayn Formation comprises units of glacimarine rain‐out diamictite and sediment gravity flow deposits, alternated with units of fluvial and deltaic sandstones and conglomerates, which may have formed by proglacial outwash. The stratigraphic evolution of the Ayn Formation indicates a highly active hydrological cycle during a phase of overall (glacio‐eustatic?) low stand when glaciers advanced into and receded upon bedrock valleys. The transgressive cap carbonate was deposited primarily in shallow marine or shallow lacustrine environments over palaeohighs during the deglaciation, and was partly reworked into deeper parts of the basin through sediment gravity flow processes. Locally, the cap carbonate transgresses over crystalline basement containing a network of fissures filled with carbonate originating from the cap. The δ¹³C isotopic composition of the cap carbonate varies systematically between −3.5 and +5.8‰ Pee Dee Belemnite standard, in common with other older Cryogenian examples.