[5] It coincided with a global low point in sea level caused by glacioeustasy and is closely followed by an excursion in geochemical isotopes in the ensuing late Ludfordian faunal stage and a change in depositional regime.
[10] A different hypothesis attributes the carbon isotope fluctuations to methanogenesis caused by the increased influx of iron-bearing dust and consequent disruption of limiting nutrient ratios.
He uses a correlation between the events and glacially induced global sea level change to suggest that carbonate weathering is the major player, with other factors playing a less significant role.
[15] These changes appear to display anachronism, marked by an increase in erosional surfaces and the return of flat-pebbled conglomerates in the Eke beds.
This is further evidence of a major blow to ecosystems of the time – such deposits can only form in conditions similar to those of the early Cambrian period, when life as we know it was only just becoming established.