Lower_Karoo_Group
The Lower Karoo Group is a sequence of late Carboniferous and Permian sandstone sedimentary rocks of the Karoo Supergroup, found in Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.
| Lower Karoo Group | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Late Carboniferous-Permian | |
Opencast coal mine in Upper Karoo sequence at Sengwa, Gokwe North District, Zimbabwe) | |
| Type | Geological group |
| Unit of | Karoo Supergroup |
| Underlies | Upper Karoo Group |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Sandstone |
| Other | Coal, tillite, siltstone, mudstone |
| Location | |
| Country |  Botswana Mozambique Zambia Zimbabwe |
The Lower Karoo corresponds to the lower portion of the Karoo Supergroup sequence. The basal unit comprises glacial tillites,[1] being the Dwyka Formation in the Mid-Zambezi Basin, Basal Beds in the Limpopo basins[2] and Kondo Pools Formation in the Mana Pools and Cabora Bassa Basins.[3] These are overlain in the Mid-Zambezi by the Wankie sandstones and coal and the Madumabisa Mudstone[1]
It is overlain and overstepped by the Upper Karoo Group.[1]
In the Mana Pools and Cabora Bassa Basins, the Kondo Pools Formation is overlain by the Mkanga Formation sandstone and mudstones.[4]
- Catuneanu, O.; Wopfner, H.; Eriksson, P.G.; Cairncross, B.; Rubidge, B.S.; Smith, R.M.H.; Hancox, P.J. (2005). "The Karoo basins of south-central Africa". Journal of African Earth Sciences. 43 (1–3): 211–253. Bibcode:2005JAfES..43..211C. doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2005.07.007.
- Bordy, Emese M.; Catuneanu, Octavian (2001). "Sedimentology of the upper Karoo fluvial strata in the Tuli Basin, South Africa". Journal of African Earth Sciences. 33 (3–4): 605. Bibcode:2001JAfES..33..605B. doi:10.1016/S0899-5362(01)00090-2.
- d'Engelbronner, E.R. (1996). "New palynological data from Karoo sediments, Mana Pools basin, northern Zimbabwe". Journal of African Earth Sciences. 23 (1): 17–30. Bibcode:1996JAfES..23...17D. doi:10.1016/S0899-5362(96)00049-8.
- P. M. Oesterlen and B. D. Millsteed (1994). "Lithostratigraphy, palaeontology, and sedimentary environments of the western Cabora Bassa Basin, lower Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe". South African Journal of Geology. 97: 205–224.