Transvaal Basin
| Continent | Africa |
|---|---|
| Region | Eswatini, South Africa |
| Coordinates | 25°09′28″S 26°44′11″E / 25.1577°S 26.7364°E |
| Borders | Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe |
The Transvaal Basin is one of three
eustasy, while plate tectonics played an intermittent role. The supergroup is made up of basal ‘protobasinal’ rocks, upon which followed the Black Reef Formation, Chuniespoort Group and the uppermost Pretoria Group.[1]
The Transvaal Supergroup displays three unconformity-bounded sequences that surface in two geographically distinct areas – the Transvaal Basin, which circumscribes the
Sishen at the western Kaapvaal craton rim, extending into southern Botswana beneath the Kalahari Sands
as the Kanye Basin. The two basins are
separated by the broad Vryburg Arch.[2]
Between approximately 2.640 and 2.516 Ga, two successive
peritidal flats in the southwest, which were inundated during a marine transgression
of the Transvaal Supergroup continental sea, at some 2.550 Ga. This resulted in a carbonate platform in the Transvaal and Griqualand West Basins, lasting
for 30–50 Ma. banded iron formations being laid down over the entire basin.[3]
References
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^ Deconstructing the Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa:Implications for Palaeoproterozoic palaeoclimate models - John M. Moore, Harilaos Tsikos and Stefane Polteau Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ P. G. Eriksson, W. Altermann; An overview of the geology of the Transvaal Supergroup dolomites (South Africa), Environmental Geology November 1998, Volume 36, Issue 1-2, pp 179-188 abstract