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Musipizi Conglomerate Mbr Formation

Musipizi Conglomerate Mbr Fm

Period: 
Carboniferous, Permian

Age Interval: 
Late Carboniferous-Early Permian (Moscovian- Asselian)


Province: 
Zambia-D.R. Congo

Type Locality and Naming

Luangwa Basin (Zambia) (Note: Sometimes erroneously transcribed in literature as the "northern Lilangu Basin," but formally described from the northern Luangwa Valley). Named for local geographic features in the northern Luangwa Valley, Zambia. It was formally described by Utting (1978) as the lowermost sedimentary unit of the Karoo succession in this area.

Synonym: Musipixi Cgl (misspelled often),


Lithology and Thickness

The unit is characterized as a "mixtite" (diamictite or tillite), primarily consisting of subangular, boulder-sized clasts (up to 1 meter in diameter, but mostly 1 to 20 cm) supported within a fine silty matrix. Striated pebbles are present but rare.


Lithology Pattern: 
Glacial till


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Rests with a profound unconformity directly upon the ancient Precambrian crystalline basement.

Upper contact

Stratigraphically underlies the coal-bearing sequences of the Luwumbu Coal Fm (specifically sitting below units like the Mukumba Siltstone Member). While some authors treat it as an independent basal unit analogous to the Idusi Fm, others group it as the basal-most conglomeratic member of the larger formational sequences starting the Karoo fill.

Regional extent

Correlates broadly with the Dwyka Gr in the Main Karoo Basin of South Africa and the Idusi Fm in the Ruhuhu Basin of Tanzania.


GeoJSON

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Fossils


Age 

Late Carboniferous-Early Permian (Moscovian- Asselian)

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Moscovian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.5

    Beginning date (Ma): 
311.09

    Ending stage: 
Asselian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.1

    Ending date (Ma):  
298.35

Depositional setting

Glacial to periglacial 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; Utting, J. (1978): The Karoo stratigraphy of the northern part of the Luangwa Valley. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Zambia.