Table Mountain sandstone
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Table Mountain Sandstone is a group of rock formations within the Cape Supergroup sequence of rocks. It's Ordovician age quartzitic sandstone which was deposited in a marine delta environment prone to wave action in pre-Pangaean South Africa. After the sand was compacted and over time and exposed to minor metamorphism, it become an extremely weather-resistant sedimentary rock and currently forms a geological formation that is approximately 2km thick. The Cape Supergroup of rocks lies above an unconformity of the Malmesbury Formation shales and the Cape Granite intrusions. Many of the Western Cape's mountain ranges are primarily of Table Mountain Sandstone. The formation's namesake is the famous Cape Town landmark, Table Mountain. Formations within the group include the Graafwater Formation (sandstone, siltstone, shale), Peninsula Formation (quartizitic sandstone), Pakhuis Formation (glacial deposited tillite)
[edit] References
Geology of the Cape Peninsula. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town. Retrieved on 2007-10-26.