Plate tectonics play a critical role in global climate control. During the Neoproterozoic era (541- 1000 million years ago), the Earth’s climate feedback failed, plunging the planet into a global glaciation called Snowball Earth whose origin and ending are still disputed. This event coincided with the formation and destruction of an ancient supercontinent, Rodinia, suggesting a possible correlation. Rodinia’s history is still greatly debated, and this project worked to constrain the timing of the dispersion of the supercontinent and reconstruct continental placement and movement during the Neoproterozoic. This project included a compilation and analysis of the largest database of Neoproterozoic circum-Arctic Uranium-Lead and Lutetium-Hafnium ages from zircon grains within samples. Comparing zircon ages among samples was used to explore which rock formations were adjacent and shared sediment sources, and which ancient continent, Laurentia or Baltica, they later became a part of following Rodinia’s split. In this project, a case study was performed to examine specific provenance changes across Svalbard. This information can be used to glean the timing of Rodinia’s division, and how the plates separated, which may provide insight into the ending of Snowball Earth, and the overall effects of tectonics on climate, which can be useful in mitigating anthropogenic climate change.

This work was in collaboration with Dr. Karol Faehnrich and Dr. Justin Strauss during my time in the Strauss Lab. I presented a poster of this project at the 2021 Wetterhahn Science Symposium.