Sedimentology of the Madumabisa Mudstone Formation (Late Permian), Lower Karoo Group, mid-Zambezi Valley Basin, southern Zambia
Abstract
Sediments of the Upper Carboniferous to Lower Jurassic Karoo Supergroup (∼ 4.5 km thick) were deposited in the mid-Zambezi Valley Basin, southern Zambia. The Upper Palæozoic Lower Karoo Group in this area ends with a Late Permian sedimentary unit called the Madumabisa Mudstone Formation. The formation is 700 m thick and comprises four lithofacies grouped into two facies assemblages, collectively interpreted as lacustrine deposits. Sediments of a massive mudrock facies assemblage were deposited from suspension, probably from sediment-laden rivers entering a lake. Concretionary calcilutite beds probably mark the positions of palæosediment-water interfaces where calcite was precipitated. A laminated mudrock facies assemblage is attributed to lacustrine deposition from inflowing rivers at the lake margins and shallow parts of the lake. Repeated thickening-upward cycles are evidence of upward shallowing, interrupted by events of more abrupt deepening. Sandstone interbeds are interpreted as fluvial deposits laid down during low lake stands, with cross-lamination and asymmetrical ripples indicating current rather than wave deposition. A fossil assemblage of ostracods, bivalves, gastropods, fish scales, the alga Botryococcus sp. and fossil burrows is consistent with a lacustrine origin for the formation.
- Publication:
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Journal of African Earth Sciences
- Pub Date:
- April 2000
- DOI:
- 10.1016/S0899-5362(00)00037-3
- Bibcode:
- 2000JAfES..30..535N