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Huab Formation

Huab Fm

Period: 
Permian

Age Interval: 
Early-Permian (Sakmarian- Kungurian)


Province: 
SouthAfrica-Namibia-Botswana

Type Locality and Naming

Huab Basin. Named after the Huab River valley in northwestern Namibia, where the unit is best exposed along the margins of the Huab Basin. Uppermost unit in Ecca Gr in Huab Basin

Synonym:


Lithology and Thickness

Predominantly consists of dark, carbonaceous, and frequently pyritic shales and mudstones. It often includes thin intercalations of carbonates, siltstones, and fine-grained sandstones.


Lithology Pattern: 
Claystone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Typically overlies the Tsarabis Fm

Upper contact

Conformably to paraconformably overlain by Gai-As Fm

Regional extent

Restricted to the Huab Basin in northwestern Namibia, forming a crucial marker horizon across the basin. Stratigraphically equivalent to the Whitehill Fm and Prince Albert Fm (Ecca Gr) of the Main Karoo Basin, and the Irati Fm of the Paraná Basin in Brazil.


GeoJSON

null

Fossils

Highly fossiliferous and globally significant for containing the aquatic mesosaurid reptile Mesosaurus tenuidens.


Age 

Early-Permian (Sakmarian- Kungurian)

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Sakmarian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.0

    Beginning date (Ma): 
293.52

    Ending stage: 
Kungurian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
1.0

    Ending date (Ma):  
274.37

Depositional setting

Brackish to marine


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

From the O. Catuneanu et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences 43 (2005) 211–253; Stollhofen, H. (1999): Karoo Synrift-Sedimentation und ihre tektonische Kontrolle am sich entwickelnden Kontinentalrand Namibias.; Holzförster, F., et al. (1999): Lithostratigraphy and depositional environments in the Waterberg-Erongo area, central Namibia, and correlated structural changes during the breakup of Gondwana. Journal of African Earth Sciences.