Kule Formation

Kule Fm

Period:

Permian, Triassic

Age Interval:

Late Permian- Early Triassic (Wordian-Ladinian)

Province:
SouthAfrica-Namibia-Botswana

Type Locality and Naming

Southwestern Botswana. Defined from extensive borehole drilling by the Botswana Geological Survey (e.g., Smith, 1984), as it is almost entirely concealed beneath modern Cenozoic Kalahari Group sands. Only formation in Beaufort Gr in Kalahari Basin (SW).

Synonym:

Lithology and Thickness

A relatively thin but distinct succession of argillites. It is dominated by low-resistivity mudrocks, mudstones, and minor siltstones.

Lithology Pattern:

Sandy_claystone

Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Overlies the deltaic and fluvial sedimentary rocks of the Otshe Formation (which is the regional equivalent of the upper Ecca Group).

Upper contact

Unconformably overlain by the Triassic/Jurassic red beds of the Stormberg Gr (such as the Mosolotsane Fm or Dondong Fm), or frequently directly capped by recent Cenozoic Kalahari beds. There was regional uplift within the Kalahari Basin during this time, creating major unconformities recognized at both the base and the top of the Kule Formation.

Regional extent

Widespread in the subsurface of southwestern Botswana (within the Gemsbok Sub-basin), though lacking natural surface outcrops. Beaufort Gr equivalent. It is the chronostratigraphic equivalent of the Kwetla and Tlhabala formations found in the central/eastern Kalahari Basin of Botswana, and the Beaufort Group in the Main Karoo Basin of South Africa.

GeoJSON

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Fossils

Age

Late Permian- Early Triassic (Wordian-Ladinian)

Age Span:

Beginning stage:

Wordian

Fraction up in beginning stage:

0.0

Beginning date (Ma):

269.21

Ending stage:

Ladinian

Fraction up in the ending stage:

1.0

Ending date (Ma):

237.00

Depositional setting

Depositional pattern:

Additional Information

Compiler:

From the O. Catuneanu et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences 43 (2005) 211–253; Key, R.M., et al. (1998) / Smith, R.A. (1984): The lithostratigraphy of the Karoo Supergroup in Botswana; Schlüter, T. (2006): Geological Atlas of Africa.