Foredeep submarine fans and forebulge deltas: orogenic off-loading in the underfilled Karoo Basin

Third-order sequence stratigraphic analysis of the Early Permian marine to continental facies of the Karoo Basin provides a case study for the sedimentation patterns which may develop in an underfilled foreland system that is controlled by a combination of supra- and sublithospheric loads. The tectonic regime during the accumulation of the studied section was dominated by the flexural rebound of the foreland system in response to orogenic quiescence in the Cape Fold Belt, which resulted in foredeep uplift and forebulge subsidence. Coupled with flexural tectonics, additional accommodation was created by dynamic loading related to the process of subduction underneath the basin. The long-wavelength dynamic loading led to the subsidence of the peripheral bulge below base level, which allowed for sediment accumulation across the entire foreland system.A succession of five basinwide regressive systems tracts accumulated during the Artinskian (5 My), consisting of foredeep submarine fans and correlative forebulge deltas. The progradation of submarine fans and deltaic systems was controlled by coeval forced and normal regressions of the proximal and distal shorelines of the Ecca interior seaway respectively. The deposition of each regressive systems tract was terminated by basinwide transgressive episodes, that may be related to periodic increases in the rates of long-wavelength dynamic subsidence.     

Sedimentology of the upper Karoo fluvial strata in the Tuli Basin, South Africa

The sedimentary rocks of the Karoo Supergroup in the Tuli Basin (South Africa) may be grouped in four stratigraphic units: the basal, middle and upper units, and the Clarens Formation. This paper presents the findings of the sedimentological investigation of the fluvial terrigenous clastic and chemical deposits of the upper unit. Evidence provided by primary sedimentary structures, palaeontological record, borehole data, palaeo-flow measurements and stratigraphic relations resulted in the palaeo-environmental reconstruction of the upper unit.The dominant facies assemblages are represented by sandstones and finer-grained sediments, which both can be interbedded with subordinate intraformational coarser facies. The facies assemblages of the upper unit are interpreted as deposits of a low-sinuosity, ephemeral stream system with calcretes and silcretes in the dinosaur-inhabited overbank area. During the deposition of the upper unit, the climate was semi-arid with sparse precipitation resulting in high-magnitude, low-frequency devastating flash floods. The current indicators of the palaeo-drainage system suggest flow direction from northwest to southeast, in a dominantly extensional tectonic setting.Based on sedimentologic and biostratigraphic evidence, the upper unit of the Tuli Basin correlates to the Elliot Formation in the main Karoo Basin to the south.     

Braidplain deposition of the Upper Triassic Molteno Formation in the main Karoo (Gondwana) Basin, South Africa

ABSTRACT The Upper Triassic (Carnian?) Molteno Formation in the main Karoo (Gondwana) Basin, South Africa forms a northerly thinning, intracratonic clastic wedge comprising sandstones, shales and coals occurring within thick (up to 140 m) laterally persistent fining-upward sequences. These sequences were deposited by braided streams draining an alluvial plain which may have been built on to the distal slopes of alluvial fan complexes of glacial outwash type. Geometric relations between sequences indicate three phases of tectonic activity. The lowermost fining-upward sequence in the south accumulated against a rising mountain front; cessation of movement and an eastward shift in the main locus of tectonism and sedimentation was followed by renewed uplift and basinwide progradation of the second fining-upward sequence adjacent to a fault-block granite terrain located close to the present south-east coastline of South Africa. This is believed to be the granite at the eastern end of the Falkland Island Plateau, an interpretation consistent with its position on most continental reconstructions and the fracture zone marking its northern scarp face. Faulting is attributed to the first phase of extension prior to continental breakup. The sourceward recession and lack of gross fining-upward trends shown by the uppermost fining-upward sequences is accounted for by limited back-faulting of the still active basin margin. Cessation of activity and further basin margin recession occurred with deposition of the overlying floodplain deposits (Elliot Formation) which were distal equivalents of the braided alluvial plain.     

Lower Cretaceous deposit reveals first evidence of a post-wildfire debris flow in the Kirkwood Formation,Algoa Basin,Eastern Cape,South Africa

The Algoa Basin is an onshore rift basin filled by an Upper Mesozoic non-marine and shallow marine sedimentary sequence. The middle unit of this clastic succession is assigned to the Lower Cretaceous Kirkwood Formation, known to host a wealth of plant and animal fossils together with poorly documented lignites, amber and charcoal clasts. This study is motivated by the growing interest in the impact of wildfires on the palaeoenvironment during the high-oxygen, Cretaceous world. It has been hypothesised that frequent and severe Cretaceous wildfires triggered large-scale non-marine denudation events, altering the sedimentation dynamics and influencing the evolution of ecosystems. In order to investigate this phenomenon, charcoal-bearing sedimentary rocks and plant fossil assemblages of the Kirkwood Formation have been studied at the Bezuidenhouts River locality, ∼50 km north of Port Elizabeth (Eastern Cape, South Africa).Detailed field observations of the sedimentary facies suggest that deposition occurred in a meandering fluvial environment with mature, vegetated floodplains. Depositional trends within a charcoal-rich bed (i.e., stratification, flattening and decrease in charcoal clast size down-current) indicate that a charcoal-rich debris flow, linked to a post-wildfire flood event, became diluted by fluvial flow. Palaeocurrent indicators (e.g., orientation of fossil logs) suggest unidirectional currents from SW to NE, which are somewhat inconsistent with the previously reported regional palaeocurrent directions in the Kirkwood Formation.To gain insights into the fire-influenced dynamics of the Early Cretaceous ecosystems, the macro-plant fossil assemblages of the Kirkwood Formation were considered, with reference to the responses of modern plant analogues to wildfire. Of the plant orders reported from macrofossils of the Kirkwood Formation, the Cycadales, Pinales and Filicales, are known to have produced large woody or fibrous trunks and stems, or in the case of the Bennettitales more densely branched, divaricate architectures, and are likely to have provided the bulk of fuel for wildfires, with fern elements dominating groundcover niches. The particular role of these plants in the Early Cretaceous wildfire palaeoecology of the Algoa Basin is a topic for an ongoing study, but the Bezuidenhouts River locality appears to record the aftermath of a severe crownfire that led to mass tree mortality.     

The Karoo Basin of South Africa: type basin for the coal-bearing deposits of southern Africa

The coal-bearing sediments and coal seams of the Karoo Basin, Southern Africa are described and discussed. The Karoo Basin is bounded on its southern margin by the Cape Fold Belt, onlaps onto the Kaapvaal Craton in the north and is classified as a foreland basin. Coal seams are present within the Early Permian Vryheid Formation and the Triassic Molteno Formation.The peats of the Vryheid Formation accumulated within swamps in a cool temperate climatic regime. Lower and upper delta plain, back-barrier and fluvial environments were associated with peat formation. Thick, laterally extensive coal seams have preferentially accumulated in fluvial environments. The coals are in general inertinite-rich and high in ash. However, increasing vitrinite and decreasing ash contents within seams occur from west to east across the coalfields. The Triassic Molteno coal seams accumulated with aerially restricted swamps in fluvial environments. These Molteno coals are thin, laterally impersistent, vitrinite-rich and shaly, and formed under a warm temperate climatic regime.Palaeoclimate, depositional systems, differential subsidence and basin tectonics influence to varying degrees, the maceral content, thickness and lateral extent of coal seams. However, the geographic position of peat-forming swamps within a foreland basin, coupled with basin tectonics and differential subsidence are envisaged as the primary controls on coal parameters. The Permian coals are situated in proximal positions on the passive margin of the foreland basin. Here, subsidence was limited which enhanced oxidation of organic matter and hence the formation of inertinitic coals. The coals in this tectonic setting are thick and laterally extensive. The Triassci coals are situated within the tectonically active foreland basin margin. Rapid subsidence and sedimentation rates occurred during peat formation which resulted in the preservation of thin, laterally impersistent, high ash, vitrinite-rich, shaly coals.     

Glacial bedforms at the base of the Permo-Carboniferous Dwyka Formation along the western margin of the Karoo Basin, South Africa

Well to poorly preserved sandstone surfaces with glacial grooves, longitudinal ridges, bulbous bedforms and large lodged clasts occur sporadically at the base of the Dwyka Formation along the western margin of the Karoo Basin. The bedforms developed when ice overrode a thin (0·1–2·0m thick) subaqueous icemarginal apron formed primarily during periods of ice front retreat. Bergstone mud and rain-out diamicton blanketed the glacial bedforms. The subglacial bedforms formed by (i) the lateral movement of water-saturated sediment into low-pressure zones, caused by crevasses and cavities at the base of the ice; (ii) the presence of areas of higher strength substrate, due to variations in bed lithology and porewater dissipation; and (iii) sediment flowage into low-pressure zones on the leeside of obstacles formed in areas of higher strength substrate due to dissipation of pore-water pressures and sediment compaction. The preservation of the bedforms, with their delicate slump fans, is attributed to separation of the glacier sole from the substrate during a sudden rise in sea-level. A series of dynamic ice-marginal events, including feedback relationships between sea-level oscillations, isostatic responses, ice-margin fluctuations, ice-margin type and the type of substrate, controlled the deposition of the basal sedimentary sequence and the formation of the associated glacial bedforms. The presence of a complex combination of glacier-related formative and depositional processes may have consequences for past interpretations of basal ‘tillites’.     

Origin and terminal architecture of a submarine slide: a case study from the Permian Vischkuil Formation,Karoo Basin,South Africa

Submarine mass movement deposits exposed in the Vischkuil Formation, Laingsburg Karoo Basin, South Africa, provide a rare opportunity to analyse and interpret their emplacement history and deformation processes at a scale comparable to seismic examples. An up to 80 m thick slide deposit, continuously exposed in two 2 km long sub‐parallel sections, passes from extensionally deformed material (clastic dykes and down‐dip facing low‐angle shear surfaces) down‐dip into a compressional toe zone with large (tens of metres amplitude) folds dissected by steep, up‐dip facing thrust planes. The compressional shear planes sole out onto a highly sheared décollement and cross‐cutting relationships indicate an up‐depositional dip younging in the timing of fold dissection. Lithofacies characteristics and detailed correlation of volcanic ash and other marker beds over more than 500 km² in the bounding undeformed stratigraphy indicate a low‐gradient (<0·1°) basin floor setting. The slide is abruptly overlain by an up to 50 m thick debrite with sandy clasts supported by an argillaceous matrix. Shear loading of the debris flow is interpreted to have driven large‐scale deformation of the substrate through the generation of high shear stresses at a rheological interface due to: (i) the abrupt contact between the slide and the debrite; (ii) the coincident thickness distributions of the debrite and slide; (iii) the distribution of the most intense folding and thrusting under the thickest parts of the debrite; (iv) the preservation of fold crests with only minor erosion along fold limbs; (v) the presence of the debrite under overturned folds; (vi) the presence of laterally extensive marker beds directly above deformation units indicating minimal depositional topography; and (vii) the demonstrably local derivation of the slide as individual folded beds are mapped into undeformed strata outside the areas of deformation. The debrite is directly overlain by fine‐grained turbidite sandstone beds that show widespread vertical foundering into the debrite. This case study demonstrates that intensely deformed strata can be generated by negligible amounts of down‐dip movement in a low‐gradient, fine‐grained basin floor setting with the driver for movement and deformation being the mass imbalance resulting from emplacement of episodic debris flows. Simple interpretation of an unstable slope setting based on the presence of such deformed strata should be treated with caution.     

Dolerite intrusion morphology at Majuba Colliery, northeast Karoo Basin, Republic of South Africa

Dolerite sills, at times transgressive, and dykes are common at Majuba Colliery. Their behaviour within the Karoo stratigraphic pile limits and controls the effectiveness of extracting the deep-seated Gus coal seam. Due to the intrusion of dolerites, the coal seam elevation can vary by as much as 70 m. Data from 452 boreholes, 88 of which were drilled to granitic gneiss basement and data from the underground development were used to construct cross-sections through the colliery. Based on texture, geochemistry and mode of emplacement, there exist four different dolerite types (T1 to T4) at Majuba. These are intruded into sedimentary rocks of the Karoo Supergroup although one, the T3 dolerite, has been found intruded into basement gneiss. In the east, an ultramafic intrusion of pre-Karoo Supergroup age created a basement high. By far, the greatest number of dolerite sills intruded within a sandstone unit, and have identical sandstones in the footwall and hangingwall, rather than intruding along lithological boundaries.     

Deformed cross-bedding patterns in the Upper Triassic Molteno Formation in the main Karoo Basin,South Africa: A model for their genesis

The Upper Triassic fluviatile Molteno Formation in the main Karoo Basin, South Africa, forms a northerly thinning intracratonic clastic wedge comprising conglomerate, coarse pebbly sandstone, fine sandstone, thin lenticular shale and rare coal arranged in large-scale fining-upward sequences. Deposition was controlled by tectonism (basin margin faulting) associated with the early phase of rifting between east and west Gondwanaland.Deformed cross-bedding occurs within the coarse pebbly Indwe Sandstone Member of the formation, especially in high angle planar sets in the southern part of the basin. On the basis of the nature of the deformation and grain size considerations deformation is attributed to current drag across the top of a liquefied sand bed during flood events within wide, shallow (braided) channels when the waters are heavily charged with sediment. Preferential deformation of high angle planar sets reflects the susceptibility of loosely packed (coarse) foresets near the angle of repose in high stage transverse bars to deformation.The coarse grain size of the sandstones and stratigraphic confinement of the deformation suggests that liquefaction was caused by some external mechanism such as seismic activity associated with basin margin faulting. Cyclic stresses accompanying such activity may induce partial or complete liquefaction according to the duration and magnitude of the stresses. In the Molteno maximum stress coincided with deposition of the Indwe Sandstone Member, hence the close association of deformed cross-bedding with this horizon in space and time. The concentration of deformed cross-bedding in the south reflects their proximity to the source where slopes were steeper, sedimentation rates higher and seismic shocks more keenly felt.

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Zusammenfassung Die obertriassische fluviatile Molteno Formation im Hauptteil des Karoo-Sedimentationsraumes (Südafrika) bildet einen nach Norden dünner werdenden, keilförmigen intrakratonischen Sedimentkörper. Er besteht aus Konglomeraten, groben geröllführenden Sandsteinen, feinkörnigen Sandsteinen, dünnen linsigen Tonschiefern und vereinzelten Kohlelagen in mÄchtigen, zum Hangenden hin feiner werdenden Sedimentfolgen. Die Ablagerung ist tektonisch beeinflu\t (Beckenrandverwerfungen) in Rahmen einer frühen Phase des Zerbrechens von Ost- und Westgondwanaland.Deformierte SchrÄgschichtung tritt im groben geröllführenden Indwe Sandstein auf, und dort besonders in steileren planaren SchrÄgschichtungsserien im südlichen Teil des Beckens. Ausgehend von der Art der Deformation und den betroffenen Korngrö\en wird die Deformation zurückgeführt auf strömungsbedingte Schleppung im oberen Teil eines fluidisierten Sandkörpers bei starker Wasserführung in breiten verzweigten (braided) KanÄlen, wobei die WÄsser stark mit Sediment beladen sind. Die bevorzugte Deformation von steilen planaren Schichten ist ein Ausdruck der Neigung zu Deformation in locker, nahe dem natürlichen Böschungswinkel gelagerten (groben) SchrÄgschichtungsblÄttern in winklig zu Hochwasserströmung gebildeten Sandkörpern.Die grobe Korngrö\e der Sandsteine und die Bevorzugung bestimmter stratigraphischer Horizonte durch die Deformation deuten an, da\ die Fluidisierung durch Äu\ere Mechanismen wie z. B. seismische AktivitÄt an Beckenrandverwerfungen verursacht wurde. Zyklisch auftretende Schubspannungen im Zusammenhang mit diesen VorgÄngen könnten eine teilweise oder gÄnzliche Fluidisierung auslösen, je nach Dauer und StÄrke der Beanspruchungen. WÄhrend des Molteno fiel die Hauptphase der Beanspruchung zeitlich zusammen mit der Ablagerung des Indwe-Sandsteins, was die enge Verknüpfung der deformierten SchrÄgschichtung mit diesem Horizont in Raum und Zeit erklÄrt. Die HÄufung der deformierten SchrÄgschichtung im Süden dürfte auf eine grö\ere NÄhe zum Liefergebiet zurückzuführen sein, in Verbindung mit steilerem. GefÄlle, höheren Sedimentationsraten und stÄrkeren seismischen Erschütterungen.

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Résumé Dans le bassin principal du Karoo, Afrique du Sud, la formation fluviatile de Molteno (Trias supérieur) constitue un biseau détritique intracratonique, s'amincissant vers le Nord, comprenant des conglomérats, des grès grossiers à galets, des grès fins, des schistes en minces lentilles et du charbon peu abondant, disposés en séquences qui, à grande échelle, diminuent d'épaisseur vers le haut. Le dépÔt a été déterminé par une tectonique (jeu de failles du bord du bassin) correspondant à la phase précoce de développement du rift entre l'est et l'ouest du Gondwana.Dans le Membre du Grès d'Indwe, qui appartient à la formation et est constitué par des près grossiers à galets, on trouve une sédimentation oblique déformée, en particulier dans les feuillets tabulaires très inclinés de la partie sud du bassin. En raison de la nature de la déformation et de la granulométrie, la déformation est attribuée à un entrainement par courant au sommet d'un banc de sable rendu fluide par immersion au sein de chenaux larges et peu profonds (divagants) à eaux fortement chargées en sédiments. La déformation préférentielle des feuillets tabulaires très pentés reflète la sensibilité à la déformation des feuillets meubles à grain grossier, pentés vers l'aval, proches de l'angle d'éboulement, dans les barres transversales avec écoulement à haut régime.La granulométrie grossière des grès et la localisation stratigraphique restreinte de la déformation suggèrent que la fluidification a été provoquée par un mécanisme extérieur tel que l'activité sismique associée à la fracturation de la marge du bassin. Les secousses cycliques accompagnant une telle activité peuvent induire une fluidification partielle ou complète, selon la durée et l'intensité des secousses. Dans le Molteno, les secousses maximales ont coÏncidé avec le dépÔt du Membre du Grès d'Indwe, d'où l'association étroite, dans l'espace et dans le temps, entre la stratification oblique déformée et cet horizon. La concentration dans le sud de la stratification oblique déformée reflète la proximité de la source, où les pentes étaient plus fortes, les taux de sédimentation plus élevés et les chocs sismiques plus nettement ressentis.

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Rapid vertebrate recuperation in the Karoo Basin of South Africa following the End-Permian extinction

The mass extinction that occurred at the end of the Permian Period approximately 251 Mya is widely accepted as the most devastating extinction event in Earth’s history. An estimated 75–90% of global diversity from both marine and terrestrial realms disappeared synchronously within at most one million and perhaps as little as 100,000 years. To date, most research has focused on the marine record and it is only recently that a few fully preserved terrestrial Permo-Triassic boundary sequences have been discovered. The main Karoo Basin of South Africa hosts several well-preserved non-marine Permo-Triassic boundary sequences that have been the focus of intensive research into the nature of the extinction and its possible causes. This study uses sedimentological and biostratigraphic data from boundary sequences near Bethulie in the southern Karoo Basin to make assumptions about the rates and timing of recovery of the terrestrial fauna in this portion of southern Gondwana after the extinction event. The biostratigraphic data gathered from 277 in situ vertebrate fossils allows us to define more accurately the temporal ranges of several taxa. These data also confirm a more precise extinction rate in this part of the basin of 54% of latest Permian vertebrate taxa, followed by the onset of a relatively rapid recovery, within an estimated 40–50 thousand years (based on the calculation of floodplain aggradation rates and compaction ratios) that included the origination of at least 12 new vertebrate taxa from amongst the survivors.     

Precambrian fluvial deposits: Enigmatic palaeohydrological data from the c. 2–1.9 Ga Waterberg Group, South Africa

Precambrian fluvial systems, lacking the influence of rooted vegetation, probably were characterised by flashy surface runoff, low bank stability, broad channels with abundant bedload, and faster rates of channel migration; consequently, a braided fluvial style is generally accepted. Pre-vegetational braided river systems, active under highly variable palaeoclimatic conditions, may have been more widespread than are modern, ephemeral dry-land braided systems. Aeolian deflation of fine fluvial detritus does not appear to have been prevalent. With the onset of large cratons by the Neoarchaean–Palaeoproterozoic, very large, perennial braided river systems became typical. The c. 2.06–1.88 Ga Waterberg Group, preserved within a Main and a smaller Middelburg basin on the Kaapvaal craton, was deposited largely by alluvial/braided-fluvial and subordinate palaeo-desert environments, within fault-bounded, possibly pull-apart type depositories.

Palaeohydrological data obtained from earlier work in the Middelburg basin (Wilgerivier Formation) are compared to such data derived from the correlated Blouberg Formation, situated along the NE margin of the Main basin. Within the preserved Blouberg depository, palaeohydrological parameters estimated from clast size and cross-bed set thickness data, exhibit rational changes in their values, either in a down-palaeocurrent direction, or from inferred basin margin to palaeo-basin centre. In both the Wilgerivier and Blouberg Formations, calculated palaeoslope values (derived from two separate formulae) plot within the gap separating typical alluvial fan gradients from those which characterise rivers (cf. [Blair, T.C., McPherson, J.G., 1994. Alluvial fans and their natural distinction from rivers based on morphology, hydraulic processes, sedimentary processes, and facies assemblages. J. Sediment. Res. A64, 450–489.]). Although it may be argued that such data support possibly unique fluvial styles within the Precambrian, perhaps related to a combination of major global-scale tectono-thermal and atmospheric–palaeoclimatic events, a simpler explanation of these apparently enigmatic palaeoslope values may be pertinent. Of the two possible palaeohydrological formulae for calculating palaeoslope, one provides results close to typical fluvial gradients; the other formula relies on preserved channel-width data. We suggest that the latter will not be reliable due to problematic preservation of original channel-widths within an active braided fluvial system. We thus find no unequivocal support for a unique fluvial style for the Precambrian, beyond that generally accepted for that period and discussed briefly in the first paragraph.     

A range of fault slip styles on progressively misoriented planes during flexural-slip folding,Cape Fold Belt,South Africa

Flexural slip folds are distinctive of mixed continuous-discontinuous deformation in the upper crust, as folding is accommodated by continuous bending of layers and localized, discontinuous slip along layer interfaces. The mechanism of localized, layer-parallel slip and the stress and fluid pressure conditions at which flexural slip occurs are therefore distinctive of shear localization during distributed deformation. In the Prince Albert Formation mudstone sequence of the Karoo Basin, the foreland basin to the Cape Fold Belt, folds are well developed and associated with incrementally developed bedding-parallel quartz veins with slickenfibers oriented perpendicular to fold hinge lines, locally cross-cutting axial planar cleavage, and showing hanging wall motion toward the fold hinge. Bedding-parallel slickenfiber-coated veins dip at angles from 18° to 83°, implying that late increments of bedding-parallel shear occurred along unfavorably oriented planes. The local presence of tensile veins, in mutually cross-cutting relationship with bedding-parallel, slickenfiber-coated veins, indicate local fluid pressures in excess of the least compressive stress.Slickenfiber vein microstructures include a range of quartz morphologies, dominantly blocky to elongate-blocky, but in places euhedral to subhedral; the veins are commonly laminated, with layers of quartz separated by bedding-parallel slip surfaces characterized by a quartz-phyllosilicate cataclasite. Crack-seal bands imply incremental slickenfiber growth, in increments from tens of micrometers to a few millimeters, in some places, whereas other vein layers lack evidence for incremental growth and likely formed in single slip events. Single slip events, however, also involved quartz growth into open space, and are inferred to have formed by stick-slip faulting. Overall, therefore, flexural slip in this location involved bedding-parallel faulting, along progressively misoriented weak planes, with a range of slip increments.     

Evolution of Mesozoic fluvial systems along the SE flank of the West Siberian Basin, Russia

The Mesozoic stratigraphy in the subsurface of the West Siberian Basin contains prolific hydrocarbon accumulations, and thus the depositional environments of marine and marginal marine Jurassic and Cretaceous age sediments are well-established. However, no information is currently available on strata of equivalent age that crop out along the SE basin margin in the Mariinsk–Krasnoyarsk region, despite the potential of these exposures to supply important information on the sediment supply routes into the main basin. Detailed sedimentological analysis of Jurassic–Cretaceous clastic sediments, in conjunction with palaeo-botanical data, reveals five facies associations that reflect deposition in a range of continental environments. These include sediments that were deposited in braided river systems, which were best developed in the Early Jurassic. These early river systems infilled the relics of a topography that was possibly inherited from earlier Triassic rifting. More mature fluvial land systems evolved in the Mid to Late Jurassic. By the Mid Jurassic, well-defined overbank areas had become established, channel abandonment was commonplace, and mudrocks were deposited on floodplains. Coal deposition occurred in mires, which were subject to periodic incursions by crevasse splay processes. Cretaceous sedimentation saw a renewed influx of sand-grade sediment into the region. It is proposed that landscape evolution throughout the Jurassic was driven simply by peneplanation rather than tectonic processes. By contrast, the influx of sandstones in the Cretaceous is tentatively linked to hinterland rejuvenation/ tectonic uplift, possibly coeval with the growth of large deltaic clinoform complexes of the Neocomian in the basin subsurface.     

Geomorphological palaeoenvironments of the Sneeuberg Range,Great Karoo,South Africa

Sedimentary sequences within headwater valleys on the landward side of the Great Escarpment of South Africa are elucidated and their significance as indicators of environmental change is assessed. This study focuses on the Sneeuberg Range, the most prominent mountain range in the semi‐arid central Great Karoo. Valley fills of a hitherto unrecognised complexity and of a greater age than any previously recorded in the central Great Karoo are reported. Three phases of deposition spanning the Late Pleistocene up to the present are documented from sites where gully erosion has incised the valley fills. The earliest depositional phase is represented by deeply weathered, calcretised gravel deposits, which probably were emplaced by debris flow and fluvial processes in the form of a fan. These deposits subsequently were buried by finer grained, largely unconsolidated sediment, with much of this emplacement occurring during the Holocene. There is evidence for phases of landscape stability and instability within this facies. Finally, sheetwash has removed fine‐grained sediments from valley flanks and has deposited it either on valley bottoms, or in presently active gullies. This process appears to be ongoing, and is the subject of current investigation. The sedimentary deposits are interpreted as representing a wide range of palaeoenvironmental conditions that have prevailed within the central Great Karoo since the penultimate glaciation. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exhumed channel sandstone networks within fluvial fan deposits from the Oligo-Miocene Caspe Formation, South-east Ebro Basin (North-east Spain)

The Oligo‐Miocene Caspe Formation corresponds to the middle fluvial facies of the wider Guadalope‐Matarranya fluvial fan, located in the South‐east Ebro foreland basin (North‐east Spain). At the time of the Caspe Formation deposition, this sector of the Ebro basin underwent a very continuous, moderate sedimentation rate. Lithofacies comprise deposits from channellized and unchannellized flows. Channellized flow lithofacies form multi‐storey ribbon‐like sandstone bodies that crop out as extensive sandstone ridges belonging to exhumed channel networks. Width/thickness ratios of these channel‐fill bodies average close to six. Sinuosity is usually low (most common values around 1·1), although it can be high locally (up to 2). Thicknesses range from a few metres to 15 m. Unchannellized flow lithofacies form tabular bodies that can be ascribed to overbank deposits (levées, crevasse splays and fine‐grained floodplain deposits) and also to frontal lobes, although recognition of this last case requires exceptional outcrop conditions or geophysical subsurface studies. The unchannellized flow lithofacies proportion ranges from 75% to 97·8%. Methods applied to this study include detailed three‐dimensional architectural analysis in addition to sedimentological analysis. The architecture is characterized by an intricate network of highly interconnected ribbon‐like sandstone bodies. Such bodies are connected by three kinds of connections: convergences, divergences and cross‐cuttings. Although the Caspe Formation lithofacies and architecture resemble anastomosed channels (low topographic gradient, high preservation potential, moderate aggradation rate, high lateral stability of the channels, dominance of the ribbon‐like morphologies and high proportion of floodplain to channel‐fill sediments), an unambiguous interpretation of the channel networks as anastomosed or single threaded cannot be established. Instead, the observed architecture could be considered as the product of the complex evolution of a fluvial fan segment, where different network morphologies could develop. A facies model for aggrading ephemeral fluvial systems in tectonically active, endorheic basins is proposed.     

Newly Discovered Fish Faunas from the Early Triassic, Karoo Basin, South Africa, and their Correlative Implications

Recent collecting in exposures of the lowermost Burgersdorp Formation (Beaufort Group), of the Karoo Basin of South Africa, has revealed a previously unknown fish fauna from the Early Triassic (Scythian), lowermost Cynognathus Assemblage Zone (CAZ), which forms an important component of the total vertebrate assemblage. The newly discovered fish material includes lungfish, saurichthyids, and a large microfauna that includes numerous isolated chondrichthyan teeth, two fin spine fragments, and actinopterygian scales and teeth. The latest fish finds, together with the lowermost Cynognathus Assemblage Zone vertebrate faunas, make this Karoo Basin Assemblage Zone one of the most diverse Early Triassic faunal assemblages, comparable in faunal diversity to those from the Czatkowice Formation (Poland) and the Arcadia Formation (Australia). The presence of the lungfish Ptychoceratodus phillipsi in the early Middle Triassic Cynognathus Assemblage Zone (Subzone B), and in the underlying latest Early Triassic Cynognathus Assemblage Zone (Subzone A), indicates that these lungfish could serve as range index fossils within the CAZ, and thus are potentially useful biostratigraphic markers across the Early-Middle Triassic boundary. Furthermore the ‘new’ fish fauna provides a vital marine realm link in particular with the faunas of Madagascar and Australia, that is unavailable using the tetrapod faunal elements of the lower CAZ.     

A Weichselian deglaciation model applied to the Early Permian glaciation in the northeast Karoo Basin,South Africa

It generally is assumed that the Early Permian Gondwana deglaciation in South Africa started with a collapse of the marine ice‐sheet. The northeast part of the Karoo Basin became ice‐free as a result of this collapse. The deglaciation here probably took place under temperate glacial conditions. Three glacial phases have been identified. Phase 1: the marine ice retreat of 400 km over the northeast Karoo Basin, which may have been completed over a few thousand years. The glaciers grounded in the shallower areas around the shore of the basin. Phase 2: the smaller, now mainly continental ice‐sheet here re‐stabilised and remained more or less stationary for several tens of thousand years. During this phase, between 50 and 200 m of massive glaciomarine mud with dropstones accumulated in the open, marine basin that became ice‐free during Phase 1. Isostatic uplift, as a response to the first rapid deglaciation phase, can be traced in the inland part of the region. Phase 3: the final deglaciation may have taken 10 to 20 kyr. After this time no new ice sheet was built up over southern Africa. The entire Early Permian deglaciation of the northeast Karoo Basin was completed within thousands rather than millions of years. Phases 1 and 3 had lengths similar to typical Quaternary deglaciations, whereas Phase 2 was a long, stable phase, more similar to a full Quaternary glaciation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Temnospondyls from the Beaufort Group (Karoo Basin) of South Africa and Their Biostratigraphy

The Permo-Triassic Beaufort Group (Karoo Basin) of South Africa is biostratigraphically subdivided into eight, temporally successive assemblage zones based on therapsids (‘mammal-like reptiles’). The Temnospondyli, fossil tetrapods usually regarded as extinct amphibians, are second only to therapsids in terms of diversity and abundance in these strata, with nine higher-level taxa (‘families’) known. Temnospondyls are also playing an increasingly important role in biostratigraphy and correlation of the Beaufort strata. The lower Beaufort Group (Late Permian) contains six of the eight biozones, but only one temnospondyl ‘family’, the Rhinesuchidae, whose record in the Karoo is the richest in the world. However, rhinesuchid taxonomy remains in flux and the group is thus of limited biostratigraphic utility. The Early Triassic Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone (middle Beaufort Group) contains the Rhinesuchidae, Amphibamidae, Lydekkerinidae, Tupilakosauridae, Rhytidosteidae, Mastodonsauridae and Trematosauridae, although the biostratigraphy of temnospondyls within this biozone is poorly constrained. The uppermost reaches of the Lystrosaurus biozone contain a paucity of fossils but includes ‘Kestrosaurus’ (Mastodonsauridae) and ?Trematosuchus (Trematosauridae), taxa previously thought to pertain to the lower part of the overlying Cynognathus biozone. The late Early to Middle Triassic Cynognathus Assemblage Zone (upper Beaufort Group) hosts the Mastodonsauridae, Trematosauridae, Brachyopidae, Laidleriidae and, possibly, the Rhytidosteidae. Based largely on the spatial and temporal distribution of mastodonsaurids, this biozone has been biostratigraphically subdivided into a lower A, middle B and upper C subzones, characterised by differing ages and faunas.     

Sedimentation rate and subsidence history of the southeastern Karoo Basin,South Africa,using 1D backstripping method

Backstripping analysis has been carried out on five boreholes and one outcrop section of the Ecca Group in the Main Karoo Basin of South Africa to determine the sedimentation rate and subsidence history of the basin. The result shows that the rate of sedimentation in the Prince Albert, Whitehill, Collingham, Ripon and Fort Brown Formations range between 0.003–0.03, 0.02–0.05, 0.01–0.05, 0.03–0.22, and 0.15–0.025 mm year^?1, respectively. The backstripped subsidence curves that are constructed by removing the effects of decompaction to the water column and sediment loads show subsidence rates decreasing with time, resembling the typical thermal subsidence curves of passive continental margins. Three major subsidence episodes characterized the Ecca Group, namely, (1) rapid subsidence in an extensional regime, (2) slow subsidence in the middle of basin development and (3) another rapid subsidence in a compressional regime. The aforementioned subsidence episodes show that the southeastern Karoo Basin was located on a passive continental margin, suggesting that the subsidence was initiated and mainly controlled by mechanical (gravitational loading) or tectonic events, with little contribution of thermal events. The average rate of tectonic subsidence in the Prince Albert, Whitehill, Collingham, Ripon and Fort Brown Formations are 63, 28, 25, 215 and 180 m Ma^?1, respectively. It is also inferred that the southeastern Karoo Basin evolved from a passive continental margin into an Andean-type continental foreland basin; thus, portraying a completely evolved post-rift setting along the southeastern Gondwana margin.