Origin and Evolution of the Cape Mountains and Karoo Basin

Bastien Linol, Maarten J. de Wit

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9783319408583
• eBook ISBN:
  9783319408590
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Geology & Earth Sciences

This book describes the latest research on the geological, geochemical, geochronological, biological, and geomorphic evolution of the unique and relatively pristine landscape of the Cape Mountains and the Karoo Basin, a region in South Africa that is currently being targeted for shale gas exploration and development. With up-to-date graphics, maps, drill-core and seismic data, it offers the latest observations and synthesis, and highlights areas of ongoing research. The work presented also considers a wider connection of the Cape-Karoo system to other basins in Central Gondwana, including South America, thus following in the footsteps of A. L. du Toit. Clearly, there is still much to be learned before shale gas development can be considered, and this book provides some timely perspectives.

Table of contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Subsurface Geology and Geophysics
• 1 Deep Borehole Lithostratigraphy and Basin Structure of the Southern Karoo Basin Re-Visited
• 2 Seismic Imaging of Dolerite Sills in the Karoo Basin, with Implications for Shale Gas Potential
• 3 Ambient Noise Tomography (Passive Seismic) to Image the Cape-Karoo Transition Near Jansenville, Eastern Cape
• Structural Geology
• 4 New Structural Data and U/Pb Dates from the Gamtoos Complex and Lowermost Cape Supergroup of the Eastern Cape Fold Belt, in Support of a Southward Paleo-Subduction Polarity
• 5 An Overview of Cape Fold Belt Geochronology: Implications for Sediment Provenance and the Timing of Orogenesis
• Magmatism and Metamorphism
• 6 New Evidence for the Correlation of Basalts of the Suurberg Group with the Upper Part of the Karoo Basalt Sequence of Lesotho
• 7 High-Resolution Petrographical and Chemical Scanning of Karoo Sedimentary Rocks Near Dolerite Sill Contacts Reveals Metamorphic Effects on Shale Porosity
• 8 Contact Metamorphism of Black Shales in the Thermal Aureole of a Dolerite Sill Within the Karoo Basin
• Stratigraphy and Sedimentary Systems
• 9 Dwyka Eskers Along the Northern Margin of the Main Karoo Basin
• 10 Spatiotemporal Sedimentary Facies Variations in the Lower Permian Whitehill Formation, Ecca Group, Karoo Basin
• 11 Is the Postglacial History of the Baltic Sea an Appropriate Analogue for the Formation of Black Shales in the Lower Ecca Group (Early Permian) of the Karoo Basin, South Africa?
• 12 Geochemistry of the Pronksberg Bentonite of the Upper Elliot Formation (Early Jurassic), Eastern Cape, South Africa
• Paleontology and Paleo-Environments
• 13 Vertebrate Biostratigraphy of the Witteberg Group and the Devonian-Carboniferous Boundary in South Africa
• 14 Advances in Nonmarine Karoo Biostratigraphy: Significance for Understanding Basin Development
• 15 A Review of Stratigraphic, Geochemical, and Paleontologic Data of the Terrestrial End-Permian Record in the Karoo Basin, South Africa
• 16 Fossil Woods from the Upper Carboniferous to Lower Jurassic Karoo Basin and Their Environmental Interpretation
• 17 Organic Carbon Isotope Stratigraphy of the Karoo Supergroup
• Geodynamics
• 18 Correlation and Paleogeographic Reconstruction of the Cape-Karoo Basin Sequences and Their Equivalents Across Central West Gondwana
• Epilogue: Simplified Cape-Karoo Stratigraphy