Depositional history and stratigraphical evolution of the Sakamena group (Middle Karoo Supergroup) in the southern Morondava Basin, Madagascar

The Karoo Supergroup in Madagascar is subdivided into three lithostratigraphical units: the Late Carboniferous-Early Permian Sakoa Group; the Late Permian-Middle Triassic Sakamena Group; and the Triassic-Early Jurassic Isalo Group. The Sakamena Group is fairly well exposed in the southern Morondava Basin, where it is approximately 4000 m thick. The Sakamena Group is separated from the Sakoa Group by an angular unconformity. The Lower Sakamena Formation is characterised by two major facies associations: (1) interbedded muddy conglomerates and coarse sandstones; and (2) interbedded sandstones and mudstones, which were deposited in a rejuvenated rift setting by coarse-grained fluvial systems and debris flows on the rift margins. In the Vatambe area, facies represent fandelta deposition in a saline lake or tongue of the ocean. The Middle Sakamena Formation comprises three major facies: (1) laminated mudstones and sandstones; (2) sandstones; and (3) mudstones. The Middle Sakamena facies were deposited by low gradient meandering streams and in shallow lakes. The Upper Sakamena Formation was deposited in similar environments, except that it is comprised predominantly of red beds. The Isalo Group consists predominantly of coarse-grained sandstones (up to 6000 m thick). These sandstones were deposited by braided streams with the coarse detritus derived from a structural uplift in the east.     

L'ouverture et le développement du bassin de Morondava (Madagascar) du Carbonifère supérieur au Jurassique moyen. Données stratigraphiques, sédimentaires, paléontologiques et structurales

In the western part of Madagascar, the Morondava Basin shows the Malagasy Karoo series, made of Late Carboniferous-Mid-Permian (Sakoa), Late Permian-Mid-Triassic (Sakamena) and Late Triassic-Mid-Jurassic (Isalo) sequences. The sedimentary facies are mainly aerial and clastic in the series, and the marine conditions are fully established after Lower Jurassic times, when the strait between Africa and Madagascar was flooded.The Karoo basins where these series were deposited are mainly hemi-grabens. Their filling proceeded from west to east and from south to north. Distinction between the southern and northern part of the Morondava Basin suggests that development of the basin was controlled by old crustal weakness zones trending north-northwest-south-southeast and north-northeast-south-southwest.     

The enigma of fine-grained alluvial basin fills: the Permo-Triassic (Cumbrian Coastal and Sherwood Sandstone Groups) of the Solway Basin,NW England and SW Scotland)

The late Permian to Triassic sediments of the Solway Basin consist of a layer-cake succession of mature, predominantly fine-grained red clastics laid down in semi-arid alluvial plain to arid sabkha and saline marginal marine or lacustrine environments. The Cumbrian Coastal Group consists of Basal Clastics and Eden Shales. The Basal Clastics are thin regolith deposits resting unconformably on all-underlying units and are composed of mixtures of angular local gravel and far-transported fine to very fine-grained sands deposited as basal lag. The Eden Shales are predominantly gypsiferous red silty mudstones, with thin very fine-grained sandstone beds, and with thick marine gypsum beds at the base, deposited at a saline lake margin. The overlying Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Group consists of the Annan and Kirklinton Sandstones. The Annan Sandstones are predominantly thick-bedded, multi-storied, fine-grained mature red quartz sandstones in which coarse sand is practically absent despite channels with clay pebbles up to 30 cm in diameter. The overlying, predominantly aeolian, Kirklinton Sandstones consist of festoon cross-bedded and parallel-laminated fine-grained sandstones, almost identical to the Annan Sandstones except that mica and clay are absent. The Stanwix Shales, located above, consist of interbedded red, blue and green mudstones, siltstones, and thin very fine-grained sandstones, with gypsum layers. Although the entire succession can plausibly be interpreted as deposited in a large desert basin opening into a hypersaline marine or lacustrine embayment to the southwest, the uniformly fine-grained nature of the succession is unusual, as is the absence of paleosols, and body and trace fossils. There is almost no coarse sand even in the river channel units, and it seems likely that the basin was not only extremely arid but supplied predominantly by wind rather than water.     

利用岩石化学成分判断二连盆地形成的沉积构造环境

二连盆地是海西期褶皱基底上发育起来的，为早白垩世断陷群。本文通过井下下白垩统巴花群４块砂岩、３块泥岩及１２块火山岩样品的镜下鉴定和化学成分测试及对比分析表明，早白垩世盆地形成的构造环境为受Ｉｚａｎａｇｉ板块向西俯冲的影响而形成的陆内裂谷，不同于渤海湾盆地早第三纪直接受太平洋板块俯冲作用而产生的主动大陆裂谷。     

Sequence stratigraphy of coal‐bearing,high‐energy clastic units: The Maitland‐Cessnock‐Greta Coalfield and Cranky Corner Basin

Upper Carboniferous to Lower Permian sedimentary rocks extend along the periphery of the northern Sydney Basin, a sub‐basin of the Sydney‐Gunnedah‐Bowen Basin complex. The basin contains basal basalts and volcanic sediments deposited in a nascent rift zone. This rift zone was created through crustal thinning during trench rollback on the eastern edge of the New England Orogen. Thermal subsidence created accommodation for predominantly marine Dalwood Group sediments. Clastic sedimentation then occurred in the Maitland‐Cessnock‐Greta Coalfield and Cranky Corner Basin during the Early Permian. This occurred on a broad shelf undergoing renewed thermal subsidence on the margin of a rift flank of the Tamworth Belt of the southern New England Orogen. Braidplain fans prograded or aggraded in two depositional sequences. The first sequence commences near the top of the Farley Formation and includes part of the Greta Coal Measures, while the second sequence includes the majority of the Greta Coal Measures and basal Branxton Formation. Thin, areally restricted mires formed during interludes in a high sedimentation regime in the lowstand systems tracts. As base‐level rose, areally extensive mires developed on the transgressive surface of both sequences. A paludal to estuarine facies changed to a shallow‐marine facies as the braidplain was transgressed. The transgressive systems tracts continued to develop with rising relative sea‐level. Renewed uplift in the hinterland resulted in the erosion of part of the transgressive systems tract and all of the highstand systems tract of the lower sequence. In the upper sequence a reduction in relative sea‐level rise saw the development of a deltaic to nearshore shelf highstand systems tract. Extensional dynamics caused a fall in relative base‐level and the development of a sequence boundary in the Branxton Formation. Finally, renewed thermal subsidence created accommodation for the overlying, predominantly marine Maitland Group.     

Glaciation and tectonics in an active intracratonic basin: the Late Palaeozoic Itararé Group, Paraná Basin, Brazil

The Paraná Basin (1 600 000 km²) is the largest intracratonic basin in southern South America and contains a thick (1300 m) Permo-Carboniferous glacial succession (the Itararé Group). This paper describes over 1700 m of drill core recovered during recent exploration for oil and gas. Itararé Group sediments consist of massive and stratified diamictites interbedded with massive and graded sandstones, and massive and laminated mudstones. Facies are interpreted as the product of sediment gravity flows in a glacially influenced marine basin. Three stratigraphic formations can be defined across the basin, each consisting of a lowermost sandstone-rich member overlain by a diamictite-rich member. Examination of Itararé Group rocks both in core and outcrop shows that depositional processes were influenced by active faulting and downslope resedimentation on relatively steep and unstable substrate slopes. Primary glacial deposits such as tillites and associated striated pavements occur along the present eastern outcrop belt which probably coincided with the eastern basin margin during deposition of the Itararé Group. Ice masses fringing the eastern (southern African) and western (Bolivian) basin margins supplied sediment to the basin in the form of fluvio-glacial deltas, fans and floating ice tongues. This sediment was then resedimented downslope as debris flows and turbidites. Both stratigraphic relationships and the regional distribution of facies types identify a clear pattern of basin subsidence and step-wise expansion by outward faulting within Late Proterozoic mobile belts. The position of successive basin margins can be related to specific lineament structures in the underlying basement. Asymmetric expansion of the Paraná Basin occurred along the northern and southern basin margins during deposition of the Itararé Group; this expansion probably reflects shallow crustal adjustments activated by collisional movements along the Andean margin of South America during the Hercynian Orogeny.     

塔里木盆地古近纪岩相古地理

古近纪是塔里木盆地由海向陆转化的时期。当时该区的海侵来自研究区西侧的古地中海分支,物源则主要是盆地北部的南天山以及南部的昆仑山,沉积中心在库车坳陷西部以及塔西南坳陷带的西部。古新世-始新世早期（库姆格列木群沉积期）在盆地北部库车坳陷发育砾岩、砂岩、碳酸盐岩及膏盐岩,沉积环境有滨岸、漏湖、潮坪及扇三角洲等,塔西南坳陷以碳酸盐岩和膏岩为特征,从东到西发育开阔台地、近岸局限台地、蒸发盐台地、辫状河三角洲环境等,二者之间即在塔北隆起及北部坳陷带位置为宽阔的古隆起区。始新世晚期-渐新世（苏维依组沉积期）整个盆地以滨浅湖为主,发育粉砂岩与泥岩互层沉积,塔西南坳陷虽然仍发育多个海相层,但海水的影响明显比始新世早期弱,当时主要古地理单元有海湾渴湖、滨浅湖、扇三角洲和辫状河三角洲。总体上,塔里木盆地在古近纪经历了早期以扇三角洲为主的浅水环境到晚期的滨浅湖及海湾溻湖环境,古近纪研究区的古气候以热带-亚热带的干旱气候为主。     

准噶尔盆地南缘二叠纪—三叠纪构造-沉积环境与原型盆地演化*

准噶尔盆地南缘(简称“准南”)的构造-沉积演化历史以及原型盆地性质一直以来备受争议。依据沉积环境分析、地层对比以及沉积演化研究,结合火成岩年代学、大地构造学等研究成果,探讨了该区二叠纪—三叠纪多期次的伸展—挤压环境转换及沉积盆地性质转变。晚石炭世,准南西段处于北天山洋壳向伊犁地体俯冲的末期,沉积环境以滨浅海为主,为残留洋盆地;准南东段以半深海相碳酸盐沉积为主,发育典型的双峰式火成岩,显示为陆内的伸展环境。早二叠世,准南以滨浅海相细粒碎屑岩沉积为主,发育同沉积断裂和伸展垮塌变形构造,表现为陆内裂陷盆地的特征。中二叠世,准南仍以滨浅海相为主,但其沉积速率明显加快,沉积厚度变大,整体上表现为以热力沉降为主的坳陷盆地。晚二叠世,北天山和博格达地区普遍发育冲积扇或扇三角洲,上二叠统泉子街组和中二叠统红雁池组之间呈明显的角度不整合接触,沉积环境发生突变,均显示北天山快速冲断隆升,表明该时期准南为陆内压陷盆地。早三叠世,准南快速冲断结束,该区进入相对稳定的发展阶段,以发育滨浅湖相细粒沉积物为主,表现为弱挤压的陆内压陷盆地的特征。中晚三叠世,由于持续湖侵,沉积盆地范围进一步扩大,北天山被削高补低,准南乃至整个准噶尔盆地进入统一的内陆湖泊演化阶段,整体上以滨浅湖相—半深湖相沉积为主,表现出陆内坳陷盆地的特征。综合上述原型盆地性质和沉积环境分析,可将准南二叠纪—三叠纪构造-沉积演化划分为4个阶段:晚石炭世—中二叠世为后碰撞伸展阶段,晚二叠世为北天山挤压冲断阶段,早三叠世为弱挤压压陷和削高补低阶段,中晚三叠世为稳定拗陷和准平原化阶段。     

Depositional environment and sequence architecture of the Silurian Coralliferous Group,Southern Pembrokeshire,UK

The Lower Silurian siliciclastic Coralliferous Group is shown to have been deposited in an intra‐shelf position 10–15 km south of the palaeogeographic shelf‐break of the Welsh Basin. After a phase of thermal subsidence related to the development of the predominantly Llandovery Skomer Volcanic Group, the shelf basin was transgressed. This transgression was punctuated by an episode of tectonic uplift in southern Pembrokeshire, resulting in subaerial exposure of the shelf and a significant basinward shift in sedimentary environments. Erosion and sediment bypass ensued, with coarse‐grained low‐sinuosity fluvial channels transporting sediment to the northerly Welsh Basin, where significant submarine fans developed. During the early Telychian, renewed transgression took place, with lowstand gravels being ravined and reworked into parasequences of the transgressive systems tract. These thin, coarse‐grained parasequences record deposition within high‐energy wave‐dominated shoreface/inner shelf environments. Further coastal onlap resulted in the closing down of significant coarse‐grained sediment supply, with the remaining Coralliferous Group being dominated by wave‐influenced silts, mud‐shales and thin sandstones comprising the highstand systems tract. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中-晚二叠世上扬子地块(四川盆地区)裂解的沉积响应

中-晚二叠世,上扬子(四川盆地区)碳酸盐岩台地内发育三条北西-南东走向的裂谷,它们是重要的油气储集区带,如普光和元坝气田就产于开江-梁平裂谷两侧.但是对这些裂谷的开始时代和构造成因等关键地质问题,还缺乏详细的沉积学研究,且存在较大争议.本文通过大比例露头剖面和钻井岩芯测量以及详细的沉积相分析对比,对开江-梁平裂谷的构造...     

Permo-Carboniferous coal measures in the Qinshui basin: Lithofacies paleogeography and its control on coal accumulation

The Qinshui basin in southeastern Shanxi Province is an important base for coalbed methane exploration and production in China. The methane reservoirs in this basin are the Carboniferous and Permian coals. Their thickness is strongly controlled by the depositional environments and the paleogeography. In this paper, sedimentological research was undertaken on the outcrop and borehole sections of the Taiyuan and Shanxi formations in the Qinshui basin and the basin-wide lithofacies paleogeography maps for these two formations have been reconstructed. The Taiyuan Formation is composed of limestones, aluminous mudstones, siltstones, silty mudstones, sandstones, and mineable coal seams, with a total thickness varying from 44.9 m to 193.48 m. The coal seams have a thickness ranging between 0.10 and 16.89 m, averaging 7.19 m. During the deposition of the Taiyuan Formation, the northern part of the basin was dominated by a lower deltaic depositional system, the central and southern parts were dominated by a lagoon environment, and the southeastern corner was occupied by a carbonate platform setting. Coal is relatively thick in the northern part and the southeastern corner. The Shanxi Formation consists of sandstones, siltstones, mudstones, and coals, with the limestones being locally developed. The thickness of the Shanxi Formation is from 18.6 m to 213.25 m, with the thickness of coal seams from 0.10 to 10 m and averaging 4.2 m. During the deposition of the Shanxi Formation, the northern part of the Qinshui basin was mainly dominated by a lower deltaic plain distributary channel environment, the central and southern parts were mainly an interdistributary bay environment, and the southeastern part was occupied by a delta front mouth bar environment. The thick coals are distributed in the central and southern parts where an interdistributary bay dominates. It is evident that the thick coal zones of the Taiyuan Formation are consistent with the sandstone-rich belts, mainly located in the areas of the northern lower deltaic plain and southeastern barrier bar environments, whereas the thick coal zones of the Shanxi Formation coincide with the mudstone-rich belts, located in the areas of the central and southern interdistributary bay environments. Translated from Journal of Palaeogeography, 2006, 8(1): 43–52 [译自: 古地理学报]     

下扬子句容地区海相上组合油气地质条件评价

下扬子句容地区的构造形成演化可以分为海相盆地稳定隆降、逆冲推覆、拉张断陷3个阶段。受盆地形成演化的控制,句容地区海相上组合烃源岩主要为盆地构造稳定阶段沉积的二叠系泥岩及下三叠统青龙群泥岩、碳酸盐岩;储层主要为侏罗系象山组、二叠系龙潭组砂岩储集层和三叠系青龙群碳酸盐岩储集层;区域性盖层为白垩系浦口组泥岩。虽然该区海相地层遭受了多期次不同方式、不同程度的改造作用,对油气成藏条件产生了很大影响和破坏,但研究认为在后期改造相对薄弱地区如该区后缘凹陷,仍具有良好的勘探前景,评价出索墅镇—黄梅桥—陈武地区和句容—行香地区2个有利区块。     

Tectonic and climatic controls on sedimentation during deposition of the Sinakumbe group and Karoo supergroup,in the mid-Zambezi Valley Basin,southern Zambia

Sediments of the Ordovician to Devonian Sinakumbe Group (∼210 m thick) and overlying Upper Carboniferous to Lower Jurassic Karoo Supergroup (∼4.5 km thick) were deposited in the mid-Zambezi Rift Valley Basin, southern Zambia.The Sinakumbe-Karoo succession represents deposition in a extensional fault-controlled basin of half-graben type. The basin-fill succession incorporates two major fining-upward cycles that resulted from major tectonic events, one event beginning with Sinakumbe Group sedimentation, possibly as early as Ordovician times, and the other beginning with Upper Karoo Group sedimentation near the Permo-Triassic boundary. Minor tectonic pulses occurred during deposition of the two major cycles. In the initial fault-controlled half-graben, a basin slope and alluvial fan system (Sikalamba Conglomerate Formation), draining southeastward, was apparently succeeded, without an intervening transitional facies, by a braided river system (Zongwe Sandstone Formation) draining southwestward, parallel to the basin margin. Glaciation followed by deglaciation resulted in glaciofluvial and glacio-lacustrine deposits of the Upper Carboniferous to Lower Permian Siankondobo Sandstone Formation of the Lower Karoo Group, and isostatic rebound eventually produced a broad flood plain on which the coal-bearing Lower Permian Gwembe Coal Formation was deposited. Fault-controlled maximum subsidence is represente by the lacustrine Upper Permian Madumabisa Mudstone Formation. Block-faulting and downwarping, probably due to the Gondwanide Orogeny, culminated with the introduction of large quantities of sediment through braided fluvial systems that overwhelmed and terminated Madumabisa Lake sedimentation, and is now represented by the Triassic Escarpment Grit and Interbedded Sandstone and Mudstone Formations of the Upper Karoo Group. Outpourings of basaltic flows in the Early Jurassic terminated Karoo sedimentation.     

Rifts,rivers and climate recovery: A new model for the Triassic of England

Triassic basins of England developed under a regime of largely W–E extension and progressed from non-marine fluvial and aeolian sedimentation (Sherwood Sandstone Group), through marine-influenced playa lacustrine deposits (Mercia Mudstone Group) to marine environments (Penarth Group). A new tectono-stratigraphic model for the Sherwood Sandstone Group is proposed in which two major long-distance river systems developed under conditions of relative fault inactivity in the Early Triassic (Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds and equivalent) and Middle Triassic (Otter Sandstone and equivalent). These are separated by a late Early Triassic syn-rift succession of fluvio–aeolian sandstones (Wildmoor Sandstone and Wilmslow Sandstone formations) and playa lacustrine muds (Nettlecombe Formation) which show major thickness variation and localisation with hanging wall basins. The partitioning of syn-rift deposits into mudstones within upstream basins (close to the source of water and sediment) and clean aeolian or fluvio–aeolian sandstones in downstream basins is similar to the pattern observed in the underlying late Permian. Under conditions of rapid tectonic subsidence chains of extensional basins may become disconnected with upstream basins (Wessex Basin) acting as traps for fines and water permitting more aeolian activity in temporarily unlinked downstream basins (Worcester and Cheshire basins). In addition to tectonic controls, fluctuating climate, relief related to limestone resilience in arid settings, the smoothing effect of fill and spill sedimentation and Tethyan sea-level change all contributed toward the observed Triassic stratigraphy in England.     

东澳大利亚南悉尼盆地二叠纪的地层、沉积环境与盆地演化

晚石炭世末期-三叠纪东澳大利亚的鲍恩-冈尼达-悉尼（Bowen- Gunnedah-Sydney）盆地系是位于拉克伦（Lachlan）褶皱带和新英格兰（New England）褶皱带之间的一个长条形的构造盆地。从北部的冈尼达（Gunnedah）到南部的巴特曼斯（Batemans）湾，悉尼盆地是鲍恩-冈尼达-悉尼盆地系南端的一个次级盆地。悉尼盆地的二叠系包括河流、三角洲、滨浅海沉积岩和火山岩地层。南悉尼盆地的西南部二叠系不整合覆盖于变形变质的拉克伦（Lachlan）褶皱带之上。二叠系由下部的塔拉特郎（Tallaterang）群、中部的肖尔黑文群（Shoalhaven Group）和上部的伊勒瓦拉煤系（Illawarra Coal Measures）组成。从晚石炭世末到中三叠世悉尼盆地经历了弧后扩张到典型的前陆盆地的不同阶段：弧后扩张阶段、被动热沉降阶段和挤压挠曲负载阶段。     

新疆博格达山晚古生代地层的形成时代、物源及其演化:碎屑锆石U-Pb年代学证据

新疆博格达山主体由石炭系海相火山一沉积岩系组成,以发育两期双峰式火山岩,但不发育花岗岩为特征,对其晚古生代地层时代的划分和演化争议较大。本文重点对博格达山北部两个晚古生代砂岩进行了碎屑锆石U-Pb年代学分析,重新标定博格达山地区晚古生代地层的形成时代;利用物源区的演化,约束晚古生代构造演化。测年结果显示博格达上亚群砂岩的碎屑锆石表面年龄值分布范围较宽,主峰年龄为343~284 Ma(80%),次峰年龄为386~375 Ma(3%)、503~441Ma(7%)和871~735 Ma(10%);芦草沟组砂岩的碎屑锆石表面年龄值非常集中,主峰年龄为358~279 Ma(97%),次峰年龄为257~251 Ma(约3%)。博格达山中部原石炭纪博格达群上亚群与西部和南部下芨芨槽群相当,应属于早二叠世,中部一东部的石炭一二叠纪界线应在博格达下亚群一上亚群或居里得能组一沙雷塞尔克组之间的不整合面之中。博格达北部地区晚二叠世以南侧天山物源区供给为主,反映出晚古生代期间博格达山地区至少存在晚石炭世末和中二叠世两期构造隆升。结合区域火山岩与火山碎屑岩的研究,认为博格达山地区晚古生代主要经历4个演化阶段:早石炭世弧后盆地裂解阶段、晚石炭世碰撞拼贴阶段、早二叠世碰撞后伸展阶段、中-晚二叠世再次隆升到稳定阶段。     

Rheological controls on extensional styles and the structural evolution of the Northern Carnarvon Basin,North West Shelf,Australia

The extensional architecture of the Northern Carnarvon Basin can be explained in terms of changes in lithospheric rheology during multiphase extension and lower crustal flow. Low‐angle detachments, while playing a minor role, are not considered to have been the primary mechanism for extension as suggested in previous models. Early extension (Cambrian‐Ordovician) in the Northern Carnarvon Basin is characterised by low‐angle detachment structures of limited regional extent. These structures have a spatial association with a Proterozoic mobile belt on the margin of the Pilbara Craton. Thermo‐mechanical conditions in the mobile belt may have predisposed the highly deformed crust to thin‐skinned extension and detachment development. Permo‐Carboniferous extension generated an extensive wide rift basin, suggesting ductile rheologies associated with intermediate lithospheric temperatures and crustal thickness. Thick Upper Permian to Upper Triassic post‐rift sequences and marked thinning of the lower crust occurred in association with only a small amount of extension in the upper crust. This observation can be reconciled by considering outward lower crustal flow, from beneath the basin towards the basin margin, following extension. Strong mid‐crustal reflectors, which occur over large areas of the Northern Carnarvon Basin, probably represent a boundary between flow and non‐flow regimes rather than detachment fault surfaces as in previous models. Crustal thinning and thermal decay following Permo‐Carboniferous extension contributed to the increased strength and brittle behaviour of the lithosphere. Consequently, Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous extension resulted in the development of far more localised narrow rift systems on the margins of the preceding wide rift basin. Diapiric intrusions are associated with the narrow rift basin development, resulting from either remobilisation of ductile lower crustal rock or the initial formation of sea‐floor spreading centres.     

The sedimentary and tectonic setting of the Transvaal Supergroup floor rocks to the Bushveld complex

The Palaeoproterozoic Transvaal Supergroup floor to the Bushveld complex comprises protobasinal successions overlain by the Black Reef Formation, Chuniespoort Group and the uppermost Pretoria Group. The protobasinal successions comprise predominantly mafic lavas and pyroclastic rocks, immature alluvial-fluvial braidplain deposits and finer-grained basinal rocks. These thick, laterally restricted protobasinal sequences reflect either strike-slip or small extensional basins formed during the impactogenal rifting and southeasterly-directed tectonic escape, which accompanied collision of the Zimbabwe and Kaapvaal cratons during Ventersdorp times. The erosively-based sheet sandstones of the succeeding Black Reef Formation reflect northwand-directed compression in the south of the basin. Thermal subsidence along the Ventersdorp Supergroup and Transvaal protobasinal fault systems led to shallow epeiric marine deposition of the sheet-like Chuniespoort Group carbonate-BIF platform succession. After an estimated 80 Ma hiatus, characterized by uplift and karstic weathering of the Chuniespoort dolomites, slower thermal subsidence is thought to have formed the Pretoria Group basin. Widespread, closed basin alluvial fan, fluvial braidplain and lacustrine sedimentation, as well as laterally extensive, subaerial andesitic volcanism (Rooihoogte to Strubenkop Formations), gave way to a marine transgression, which laid down the tuffaceous mudrocks, relatively mature sandstones and subordinate subaqueous volcanic rocks of the succeeding Daspoort, Silverton and Magaliesberg Formations. Poorly preserved post-Magaliesberg formations in the Upper Pretoria Group point to possible compressive deformation and concomitant rapid deposition of largely feldspathic detritus within smaller closed basins.     

晋东南沁水盆地石炭纪和二叠纪岩相古地理及聚煤作用研究

晋东南沁水盆地是目前我国进行煤层气勘探开发的主要地区之一，煤层气储层主要分布在石炭系和二叠系，其厚度明显受沉积古地理控制。本文通过对露头及钻井剖面的岩石学和沉积相研究,对该区主要含煤岩系-山西组和太原组进行了岩相古地理和煤储层聚集控制因素分析。太原组以石灰岩、铝土质泥岩、粉砂岩、粉砂质泥岩及砂岩为主，厚度44.90～193.48 m，含多层可采煤层，总厚度0～16.89 m，平均7.19 m。在太原组沉积期，研究区北部发育下三角洲平原相，煤层相对较厚，中部和南部为泻湖相，煤层相对较薄，东南角主要为滨外碳酸盐陆棚相，在晋城一带障壁砂坝相分布区，煤层亦较厚；山西组以砂岩、粉砂岩、泥岩为主，石灰岩仅在局部地区见到，该组厚18.60～213.25 m，含可采煤层1～2层，总厚度0～10.0 m，平均4.20 m，在山西组沉积期，北部以下三角洲平原分流河道相为主，中部和南部以分流间湾相为主，东南部则以河口砂坝相为主，厚煤带都位于中部和南部的三角洲分流间湾地区。总之，太原组富煤地带多与砂岩富集带相吻合，位于北部下三角洲平原和南部障壁砂坝地区，而山西组厚煤带大都位于南部三角洲分流间湾地区。     

An overview of the Permian (Karoo) coal deposits of southern Africa

The coal deposits of southern Africa (Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) are reviewed. The coal seams formed during two periods, the Early Permian (Artinskian–Kungurian) and the Late Permian (Ufimian–Kazanian). The coals are associated with non-marine terrestrial clastic sedimentary sequences, most commonly mudrock and sandstones, assigned to the Karoo Supergroup. The Early Permian coals are most commonly sandstone-hosted while the younger coals typically occur interbedded with mudstones. The sediments were deposited in varying tectono-sedimentary basins such as foreland, intracratonic rifts and intercratonic grabens and half-grabens. The depositional environments that produced the coal-bearing successions were primarily deltaic and fluvial, with some minor shoreline and lacustrine settings. Coals vary in rank from high-volatile bituminous to anthracite and characteristically have a relatively high inertinite component, and medium- to high-ash content. In countries where coal is mined, it is used for power generation, coking coal, synfuel generation, gasification and for (local) domestic household consumption.