Mikambeni Fm
Type Locality and Naming
Soutpansberg, Tshipise, Pafuri, and Tuli Basins (Limpopo Province, South Africa). Named after the Mikambeni feature in the northern Limpopo Province of South Africa. Upper formation in Ecca Gr in Tshipise Basin
Synonym:
Lithology and Thickness
A predominantly fine-grained, argillaceous succession reaching thicknesses of approximately 20 to 140 meters. It consists almost entirely of dark grey to black, highly carbonaceous shales, massive mudstones, and finely laminated micaceous siltstones. It also contains minor, very thin (and generally uneconomic) coal stringers and occasional lenticular, fine-grained sandstone beds.
Relationships and Distribution
Lower contact
Conformably and transitionally overlies the heavily alternating sandstones, shales, and thick economic coal seams of the Madzaringwe Fm (the basal Ecca Gr equivalent in the region).
Upper contact
Conformably, but frequently sharply, overlain by the prominent, coarse-grained, white arkosic sandstones of the Fripp Fm.
Regional extent
Restricted geographically to the ENE-WSW trending, fault-bounded Karoo rift basins of northern South Africa (the Soutpansberg, Tshipise, Pafuri, and Tuli basins), stretching eastward into the northern Kruger National Park. Middle to Upper Ecca Gr equivalent in the northern rift basins. It is the regional chronostratigraphic equivalent of the upper Vryheid Fm and lower Volksrust Fm in the Main Karoo Basin, and broadly correlates with parts of the Grootegeluk Fm in the Ellisras Basin.
GeoJSON
Fossils
Age
Depositional setting
Shallow lacustrine (lake) and extensive paludal (swamp) to floodplain environments.
Additional Information