Mosolotsane Fm
Type Locality and Naming
Kalahari Basin (Central), Kalahari Basin (NE). Named after the Mosolotsane area in Botswana. Like most Karoo units in Botswana, it was formally mapped and defined from extensive borehole core logging by the Botswana Geological Survey, alongside scattered surface outcrops. Lower formation in Stormberg Gr in Kalahari Basin (Central)
Synonym:
Lithology and Thickness
A classic terrestrial "red bed" sequence. It is composed predominantly of reddish, purplish, and maroon mudstones and siltstones, interspersed with subordinate lenses of fine- to medium-grained fluvial sandstones.
Relationships and Distribution
Lower contact
Rests unconformably on the argillaceous (muddy) Beaufort Gr equivalents (such as the Tlhabala Fm in central Botswana or the Kwetla Fm).
Upper contact
Conformably to paraconformably overlain by the massive aeolian desert sandstones of the Ntane Fm (the Clarens Fm equivalent).
Regional extent
Widespread across the central, eastern, and northern sub-basins of the Kalahari Basin in Botswana, typically underlying the prominent Ntane Sandstone Aquifer. Lower to Middle Stormberg Gr equivalent. It is the direct regional chronostratigraphic equivalent of the Elliot Fm in the Main Karoo Basin (South Africa) and the Dondong Fm in the southwestern Kalahari Basin (Botswana).
GeoJSON
Fossils
Age
Depositional setting
Continental, semi-arid fluvial and floodplain environments.
Additional Information
The Mosolotsane Formation is a crucial marker for tracking the progressive climatic aridification of southern Africa during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic prior to continental breakup.