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The late Neoproterozoic Abu Mahara Group of Oman is classically interpreted to records two discrete glacial period attributed to the Sturtian (Ghubrah Formation) and Marinoan (Fiq Formation) wide spread glaciation. These assignments are supported by an ash bed in the Ghubrah formation at c.a. 710 Ma and detrital zircon ages <640 Ma. In the light of new outcrops evidences and comprehensive detrital zircon population analysis we suggest that the Ghubrah is a tectonic repetition of parts of the Fiq Formation. The Abu Mahara group represents therefore a unique and continuous glacial period that is recorded in an already well developed and active rift system (Saqlah Formation). Glacial imprint appears to be triggered by the Saqlah rift development and terminates at a time where the rift paleotopography is limited. This long lived, rift related, glacial record contrast sharply with the Snowball Earth hypothesis and argues against discrete global repeated events. The late Neoproterozoic Abu Mahara Group of Oman resemble to what we know of Phanerozoic glaciations.
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