Mall Bay Formation

The Mall Bay Formation is an Ediacaran formation, cropping out in Newfoundland and possibly elsewhere. It is part of the Conception Group, underlying the Gaskiers Formation.^[2][1]

Mall Bay Formation
Stratigraphic range: Ediacaran 608–580 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N [1]
Type	Formation
Unit of	Conception Group
Underlies	Gaskiers Formation[2]
Thickness	1000 m (3,280 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Siliciclastic siltstones
Other	Mudstone, Sandstone
Location
Region	Newfoundland
Country	Canada
Outcrop distribution on Avalon peninsula, Newfoundland

A recent study has found that this formation preserves evidence that the Gaskiers glaciation, which had previously been restricted to the Gaskiers Formation and only lasting roughly 1 million years, had actually begun a lot earlier than originally thought. This has been inferred through the discovery of glacial deposits like dropstones and clasts some 500 m below the Gaskiers base, giving the Gaskiers glaciation a duration of somewhere between 1.05 Ma to 4.8 Ma, up from the previous estimate of 350 ka to 1.6 Ma.^[1]