Klopperfontein Fm
Type Locality and Naming
Soutpansberg, Tshipise, and Tuli Basins (Limpopo Province, South Africa; extending into Zimbabwe and Botswana). Named after the farm Klopperfontein in the far north of the Limpopo Province (near the Kruger National Park). It was formally established as a distinct lithostratigraphic unit to describe the prominent, coarse-grained sandstone package that separates the underlying grey/purple mudstones of the Solitude Formation from the overlying red beds of the Bosbokpoort Formation in these northern rift basins. Lower formation in Stormberg Gr in Tshipise Basin
Synonym:
Lithology and Thickness
A relatively thin but topographically prominent, high-energy arenaceous (sandy) succession. It typically ranges from 10 to 20 meters in thickness. It is composed almost entirely of pale-grey to yellowish-white, medium- to very coarse-grained, feldspathic sandstones.
Relationships and Distribution
Lower contact
Rests with a sharp, regional erosional unconformity upon the interbedded grey/purple mudstones and siltstones of the Solitude Fm (the local Beaufort Gr equivalent).
Upper contact
Conformably and transitionally overlain by the fine-grained, semi-arid red mudstones and calcrete-bearing siltstones of the Bosbokpoort Fm (the local Elliot Fm equivalent).
Regional extent
Basal unit of the Stormberg Gr equivalent in the northern basins. It is the direct regional chronostratigraphic equivalent of the Molteno Fm in the Main Karoo Basin and the Greenwich Fm in the Ellisras Basin.
GeoJSON
Fossils
Age
Depositional setting
Additional Information