Twyfelfontein Fm
Type Locality and Naming
Primarily exposed in the Huab Basin of northwestern Namibia, outlining a wedge-shaped, fault-controlled half-graben structure. Named after the Twyfelfontein area in northwestern Namibia, a site globally famous for its ancient rock engravings carved into these exact rocks. Included in Stormberg Gr in Huab Basin
Synonym:
Lithology and Thickness
Dominated by massive, cross-bedded, red aeolian sandstones (fossilized dunes). It is subdivided into a basal alluvial/fluvial unit (Krone Member), followed by a Mixed Aeolian-Fluvial Unit, a Main Aeolian Unit, and an Upper Aeolian Unit.
Relationships and Distribution
Lower contact
Rests unconformably on older Permo-Carboniferous Karoo sedimentary rocks or Gai-As Fm
Upper contact
This is the uppermost formation in the Huab Basin
Regional extent
Historically mapped as a lateral equivalent to the Jurassic Etjo Fm (Waterberg Basin) and Clarens Fm (Main Karoo Basin). However, modern dating places it in the Early Cretaceous, making it the direct African counterpart to the aeolian Botucatu Fm of the Paraná Basin in Brazil.
GeoJSON
Fossils
Highly significant for trace fossils.
Age
Depositional setting
A hyper-arid, erg-dominated paleoenvironment (a vast sand sea of migrating barchan and transverse dunes).
Additional Information