Khuis Formation

Khuis Fm

Period:

Carboniferous, Permian

Age Interval:

Late Carboniferous-Early Permian (Kasimovian)

Province:
SouthAfrica-Namibia-Botswana

Type Locality and Naming

Named after the village of Khuis along the Molopo River in southwestern Botswana, where rare surface exposures of the formation can be seen in riverbank quarries.

Synonym:

Lithology and Thickness

A heterolithic (mixed) glacial sequence. It consists of dark grey pebbly mudstones (diamictites), thinly bedded rythmites and varvites (finely laminated seasonal glacial lake deposits), black shales, and calcareous siltstones

Lithology Pattern:

Glacial till

Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Overlies the massive, basal ground-moraine tillites of the Malogong Fm (the lowest unit of the Dwyka Gr in Botswana).

Upper contact

Conformably overlain by the finer-grained siltstones of the Middlepits Fm. In localized basin mapping where the Middlepits is not recognized as a separate unit, the Khuis is directly overlain by the Ecca Gr (Kobe Fm).

Regional extent

Southwestern Botswana (Gemsbok Sub-basin). Upper Dwyka Gr equivalent (Botswana).

GeoJSON

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Fossils

Age

Late Carboniferous to Early Permian (Kasimovian- Asselian). Put as only in Carboniferous to adjust Permian (upper Khuis Fm)

Age Span:

Beginning stage:

Kasimovian

Fraction up in beginning stage:

0.0

Beginning date (Ma):

307.02

Ending stage:

Gzhelian

Fraction up in the ending stage:

1.0

Ending date (Ma):

298.89

Depositional setting

Depositional pattern:

Additional Information

Compiler:

From the O. Catuneanu et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences 43 (2005) 211–253; Smith, R.A. (1984): The lithostratigraphy of the Karoo Supergroup in Botswana; Key, R.M., et al. (1998): The Lower Karoo Supergroup geology of the southeastern part of the Gemsbok Sub-basin... South African Journal of Geology.