Geological Society of America

68 D21. Laying the Foundation for the Modern Earth System at the Neoproterozoic-Paleozoic Transition

Monday, 10 October 2022
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Mile High Ballroom 4C

STRATIGRAPHY OF THE NOMTSAS FORMATION IN THE WITPUTS SUBBASIN, SOUTHERN NAMIBIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PLACEMENT OF THE EDIACARAN-CAMBRIAN BOUNDARY IN THE NAMA GROUP

Paper number: 68-5
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:50 AM – 9:05 AM

Authors

Lyle Nelson Presenting Author
Carleton University, Ottawa, ON
Emily F. Smith
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Simon A.F. Darroch
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Katherine Turk
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Jahandar Ramezani
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Abstract

The Nama Group on the Kalahari Craton of southwestern Africa is an archetypal stratigraphic record of the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition. The Nomtsas Formation in the upper Schwarzrand Subgroup of the Nama Group contains key biostratigraphic markers of the terminal Ediacaran and basal Cambrian, including erniettomorphs, cloudinomorphs, and trace fossils, yet has a complex stratigraphic architecture across the basin. Here we describe the stratigraphy from three areas where the Nomtsas Formation has been identified within the Witputs (southern) Subbasin of the Nama Basin, and consider geochronology, carbon isotope chemostratigraphy, and biostratigraphy data within this framework to better constrain stratigraphic correlations and the placement of the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary in southern Namibia.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 54, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2022AM-383278

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