Abrahamskraal Formation

Abrahamskraal Fm

Period:

Permian

Age Interval:

Middle Permian (Wordian-Wuchiapingian)

Province:
SouthAfrica-Namibia-Botswana

Type Locality and Naming

Main Karoo Basin (Western Foredeep). Only formation in Beaufort Gr (basal portion of the lower Beaufort succession in the western and southern parts of the basin)

Synonym:

Lithology and Thickness

Siltstones, fluvial mudstones and sandstones

Lithology Pattern:

Siltstone

Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Conformably overlies the shallow marine and deltaic deposits of the Waterford Fm (uppermost Ecca Gr)

Upper contact

Conformably overlain by the fluvial mudstones and sandstones of the succeeding Beaufort Gr.

Regional extent

Main Karoo Basin, South Africa, primarily constituting the basal Beaufort succession in the west and south, operating as a lateral equivalent to the Koonap and Middleton Fm found further east

GeoJSON

null

Fossils

Age

Middle Permian (Wordian-Wuchiapingian)

Age Span:

Beginning stage:

Wordian

Fraction up in beginning stage:

0.0

Beginning date (Ma):

269.21

Ending stage:

Wuchiapingian

Fraction up in the ending stage:

1.0

Ending date (Ma):

254.24

Depositional setting

Fluvial environments

Depositional pattern:

Additional Information

The Abrahamskraal Formation records the initial establishment of the vast, semi-arid to temperate terrestrial floodplains that would come to characterize the Beaufort Group depositional environment.

Compiler:

From the O. Catuneanu et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences 43 (2005) 211–253