Late Precambrian paradoxical glaciation and obliquity of the Earth – a discussion of dynamical constraints

G.E. Williams’ observations on Late Precambrian glaciogenic sequences pose some major challenges to the understanding of the dynamical evolution of the Earth’s orbit and spin that have not yet been adequately addressed. In this paper, we investigate whether dissipative core–mantle coupling is an effective mechanism for reducing the obliquity by such a large amount as suggested by Williams [G.E. Williams, Earth Sci. Rev. 112 (1993) 1–45], and we examine the relationship between the obliquity and spin rate in the presence of such coupling. We show that this mechanism not only cannot explain the rapid and substantial decrease in obliquity, but also that such a decrease is in contradiction with existing paleorotation evidence for the same period, thus confirming the previous findings of Néron de Surgy and Laskar [O. Néron de Surgy, J. Laskar, Astron. Astrophys. 318 (1997) 975–989].