Verkykerskop Fm
Type Locality and Naming
Main Karoo Basin (Eastern/Northern Forebulge). Named after the small village and topographic feature of Verkykerskop in the northeastern Free State Province of South Africa. It was formally established as a distinct lithostratigraphic unit by G.H. Groenewald in the 1980s to accommodate the unique northeastern facies of the lower Tarkastad Subgroup. Upper formation in Beaufort Gr in Main Karoo Basin (Eastern/Northern Forebulge)
Synonym:
Lithology and Thickness
A predominantly arenaceous (sandy), coarse clastic succession. It is dominated by fine- to medium-grained, light grey to pale yellow, heavily cross-bedded feldspathic sandstones.
Relationships and Distribution
Lower contact
Rests conformably, though frequently with a sharp, scoured, and erosional base, upon the finer-grained, argillaceous mudstones of the Normandien Fm (the local equivalent of the Adelaide Subgroup / Balfour Fm).
Upper contact
Conformably and transitionally overlain by the fine-grained, red and grey mudstones of the Driekoppen Fm (the local equivalent of the Burgersdorp Fm).
Regional extent
Geographically restricted to the northeastern sector of the Main Karoo Basin, outcropping primarily in the northeastern Free State and extending into northwestern KwaZulu-Natal. Lower Tarkastad Subgroup equivalent. It is the direct northeastern, laterally equivalent stratigraphic unit to the massive, sandstone-dominated Katberg Fm found in the southern and central parts of the Karoo Basin.
GeoJSON
Fossils
Age
Depositional setting
High-energy, low-sinuosity continental braided river environments.
Additional Information