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Manda Beds Formation

Manda Beds Fm

Period: 
Triassic

Age Interval: 
Early-Middle Triassic (Induan-Anisian)


Province: 
Tanzania

Type Locality and Naming

Ruhuhu Basin (Tanzania). Named for the Manda region near Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) in the Ruhuhu Basin of southwestern Tanzania. It was initially described and named by Stockley (1932) as part of the classic Songea Series (now recognized as the Karoo Supergroup succession in Tanzania).

Synonym: Manda Formation, Manda beds


Lithology and Thickness

Composed of a cyclical fluviatile sequence characterized by thick, coarse-grained, pink to grey cross-bedded feldspathic sandstones alternating with massive, purplish-red, maroon, and green mudstones and siltstones. It is often subdivided into a massive basal sandstone unit (the Kingori Sandstone, which is sometimes elevated to formation status) and an upper, mudstone-rich fossiliferous unit (the Lifua Member).


Lithology Pattern: 
Fine-grained sandstone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Unconformably or disconformably overlies the Late Permian Usili Fm (formerly the Kawinga Fm/Lower Bone Bed).

Upper contact

Represents the top of the preserved Karoo sequence in much of the Ruhuhu Basin, though in some areas it is unconformably overlain by younger post-Karoo sediments.

Regional extent

Correlates directly with the Ntawere Fm in Zambia and the Lipirichi Fm in Mozambique. In the Main Karoo Basin of South Africa, it correlates with the upper Beaufort Gr (specifically the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone) and the basal Stormberg Gr.


GeoJSON

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Fossils


Age 

Early-Middle Triassic (Induan-Anisian)

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Induan

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.0

    Beginning date (Ma): 
251.90

    Ending stage: 
Anisian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.7

    Ending date (Ma):  
243.03

Depositional setting

Terrestrial, semi-arid environments.


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

From the O. Catuneanu et al. The Karoo basins of south-central Africa, Journal of African Earth Sciences 43 (2005) 211–253; Stockley, G. M. (1932): The geology of the Ruhuhu Coalfields, Tanganyika Territory. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society; Nesbitt, S. J., et al. (2010): Ecologically distinct dinosaurian sister group shows early diversification of Ornithodira. Nature.