Lower Karoo Group

Lower Karoo Group
Stratigraphic range: Permian

Opencast coal mine in Upper Karoo sequence at Sengwa, Gokwe North District, Zimbabwe)
Type Geological group
Unit of Karoo Supergroup
Underlies Upper Karoo Group
Lithology
Primary Sandstone
Other Coal, tillite, siltstone, mudstone
Location
Country Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique

The Lower Karoo Group is a sequence of late Carboniferous and Permian sedimentary rocks found in Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, underlain and overstepped by the Upper Karoo Group.[1]

The Lower Karoo corresponds to the lower portion of the Karoo Supergroup sequence. The basal unit comprises glacial tillites,[1] being the Dwyka Formation in the Mid-Zambezi Basin, Basal Beds in the Limpopo basins[2] and Kondo Pools Formation in the Mana Pools and Cabora Bassa Basins.[3] These are overlain in the Mid-Zambezi by the Wankie sandstones and coal and the Madumabaisa Mudstone Formation[1] In the Mana Pools and Cabora Bassa Basins, the Kondo Pools Formation is overlain by the Mkanga Formation sandstone and mudstones.[4]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Catuneanu, O.; Wopfner, H.; Eriksson, P.G.; Cairncross, B.; Rubidge, B.S.; Smith, R.M.H.; Hancox, P.J. (2005). "The Karoo basins of south-central Africa". Journal of African Earth Sciences 43: 211. Bibcode:2005JAfES..43..211C. doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2005.07.007.
  2. Bordy, Emese M.; Catuneanu, Octavian (2001). "Sedimentology of the upper Karoo fluvial strata in the Tuli Basin, South Africa". Journal of African Earth Sciences 33 (3–4): 605. Bibcode:2001JAfES..33..605B. doi:10.1016/S0899-5362(01)00090-2.
  3. d'Engelbronner, E.R. (1996). "New palynological data from Karoo sediments, Mana Pools basin, northern Zimbabwe". Journal of African Earth Sciences 23: 17. Bibcode:1996JAfES..23...17D. doi:10.1016/S0899-5362(96)00049-8.
  4. P. M. Oesterlen and B. D. Millsteed (1994). "Lithostratigraphy, palaeontology, and sedimentary environments of the western Cabora Bassa Basin, lower Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe". South African Journal of Geology 97: 205–224.