Bokkeveld Group

The Bokkeveld Group is the second of the three main subdivisions of the Cape Supergroup in South Africa. It overlies the Table Mountain Group and underlies the Witteberg Group. The Bokkeveld Group rocks are considered to range between Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) to Middle Devonian (Givetian) in age.[1][2]

Bokkeveld Group
Stratigraphic range: Early-Middle Devonian
~419–382 Ma
TypeGeological group
Sub-unitsGydo, Gamka, Voorstehoek, Hex River, Tra-Tra, Boplaas, Waboomberg, Wuppertal, Klipbokkop, Osberg & Karoopoort Formations
UnderliesWitteberg Group
OverliesTable Mountain Group
Lithology
PrimarySandstone, mudstone, siltstone, shale, and conglomerates
OtherCalcite
Location
RegionWestern & Eastern Cape
Country South Africa

Schematic diagram of a west-east (left - right) geological cross section through the Cedarberg portion of the Cape Fold Belt (South Africa). The rock layers represent the three main subdivisions of the Cape Supergroup. The Bokkeveld Group rocks are represented by the pale purple layer.

Background

The Cape Supergroup rocks were deposited in a purely marine setting, within a 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) wide passive margin basin known as the Cape Basin. The rocks were deposited over a 170-million-year period ranging from approximately 485 Ma (Tremadocian) to the Early Carboniferous (about 330 Ma; late Mississippian). Up to 10 kilometres (33,000 ft) of strata were preserved throughout. The Cape Supergroup rocks later underwent deformation during the Cape orogeny, in which the rocks were folded and thrusted upwards. The Cape orogeny formed the Cape Fold Belt and the mountains that range along the Cape and the southern parts of South Africa.[3] An additional geological formation, the Msikaba Formation, found north of Port St. Johns in the Eastern Cape is considered to correlate with the Witteberg Group of the Cape Supergroup.[4]

Geographic extent

Bokkeveld Group outcrops and exposures range from the Breede River Valley in the west to Port Alfred near Grahamstown in the east. The group displays lateral continuity throughout the length of the Cape Fold Belt. The Msikaba Formation rocks appear north-northeast of Port St. Johns in the Eastern Cape.

Stratigraphic units

The Bokkeveld Group is subdivided into three subgroups: the Ceres Subgroup and Bidouw Subgroup that are found West of 24ºE, and the Traka Subgroup found East of 24ºE.[5] The Ceres Subgroup is found throughout the extent of the lower Bokkeveld Group exposures. The Bokkeveld Group contains five complete coarsening-upward cycles and is arranged into three distinctive facies arrangements represented by the subgroups. The geological formations are also distinguished by their sedimentology of alternating mudstone/siltstone and sandstones.[6][7][8][9][10] The Bokkeveld Group subgroups and their respective geological formations are listed below (from oldest to youngest):

Ceres Subgroup:

Bidouw Subgroup (West of 24ºE):

Traka Subgroup (East of 24ºE):

Paleontology

The bulk of the fossils found in the Cape Supergroup are eroded fragments of benthic invertebrate Malvinokaffric fauna, particularly that of various brachiopods such as Australocoelia,[12] Australospirifer, and chonetids. Crinoids are also found, although their dis-articulated ossicles are more common, as are trace fossils such as worm burrows and feeding trails left by other invertebrates. Rarer are fossils of trilobites, bivalves, cephalopods, gastropods, ophiuroids, hyoliths, echinoids, echinoderms, conulariids, cricoconarids, and corals.[13][14][15][16][17][18]

In the upper Bidouw and Traka Subgroups, plant and trace fossils are more common than invertebrate fossils. Lycopods and trace fossils of Spirophyton have been recovered. Rare bony fish fossils have also been found, mainly of placoderm fishes, although placoderm fish are mainly known from rocks of the overlying Witteberg Group.

References
  1. Tankard, A. J.; Martin, Martin; Eriksson, K. A.; Hobday, D. K.; Hunter, D. R.; Minter, W. E. L. (2012-12-06). .+pp.+333-363.+Springer-Verlag.+New+York#v=onepage&q&f=false Crustal Evolution of Southern Africa: 3.8 Billion Years of Earth History. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9781461381471.
  2. C.R.Penn-Clarke, B.S.Rubidge, Z.A.Jinnah (2018). "Two hundred years of palaeontological discovery: Review of research on the Early to Middle Devonian Bokkeveld Group (Cape Supergroup) of South Africa". Journal of African Earth Sciences. 137: 157–178. doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2017.10.011.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Blewett, Scarlett C. J.; Phillips, David (2016), Linol, Bastien; de Wit, Maarten J. (eds.), "An Overview of Cape Fold Belt Geochronology: Implications for Sediment Provenance and the Timing of Orogenesis", Origin and Evolution of the Cape Mountains and Karoo Basin, Regional Geology Reviews, Springer International Publishing, pp. 45–55, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-40859-0_5, ISBN 9783319408590
  4. Truswell, J.F., 1977. The geological evolution of South Africa. Purnell.
  5. Jinnah, Zubair A.; Rubidge, Bruce S.; Penn-Clarke, Cameron R. (2018-09-01). "High-Paleolatitude Environmental Change During the Early To Middle Devonian: Insights from Emsian–Eifelian (Lower–Middle Devonian) Siliciclastic Depositional Systems of the Ceres Subgroup (Bokkeveld Group) of South Africa". Journal of Sedimentary Research. 88 (9): 1040–1075. doi:10.2110/jsr.2018.53. ISSN 1527-1404.
  6. Reid, M., Bordy, E.M. and Taylor, W., 2015. (2015-04-09). "Taphonomy and sedimentology of an echinoderm obrution bed in the Lower Devonian Voorstehoek formation (Bokkeveld Group, Cape Supergroup) of South Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 110, pp.135-149". doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.04.009. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. Reid, Mhairi (2017). "Taphonomy, palaeoecology and taxonomy of an ophiuroid-stylophoran obrution deposit from the Lower Devonian Bokkeveld Group, South Africa". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. Ruta, Marcello; Theron, Johannes (1997-03-26). "Two Devonian mitrates from South Africa". Palaeontology. 40: 201–243. ISSN 0031-0239.
  9. Shone, R.W. and Booth, P.W.K., 2005. "The Cape Basin, South Africa: A review. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 43(1-3), pp.196-210". doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2005.07.013. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. Tankard, A. J.; Martin, Martin; Eriksson, K. A.; Hobday, D. K.; Hunter, D. R.; Minter, W. E. L. (2012-12-06). Crustal Evolution of Southern Africa: 3.8 Billion Years of Earth History. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9781461381471.
  11. Barwis, John H.; Tankard, Anthony J. (1982-09-01). "Wave-dominated deltaic sedimentation in the Devonian Bokkeveld Basin of South Africa". Journal of Sedimentary Research. 52 (3): 959–974. doi:10.1306/212F809E-2B24-11D7-8648000102C1865D. ISSN 1527-1404.
  12. Boucot, A.J. and Gill, E.D., 1956. Australocoelia, a new Lower Devonian brachiopod from South Africa, South America, and Australia. Journal of Paleontology, pp.1173-1178.
  13. Almond, J.E., 2005. PALAEONTOLOGICAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT: Exceptional fossil starfish bed, Prince Albert District, Western Cape. John E. Almond  (Natura Viva cc, Cape Town) and Derek Ohland (Iziko Museums, Cape Town). January 2005.
  14. Almond, J.E., 2013. PALAEONTOLOGICAL SPECIALIST STUDY: FIELD ASSESSMENT. Expansion of an existing Borrow Pit in the Prince Albert townlands, Prince Albert District, Western Cape. John E. Almond  (Natura Viva cc, Cape Town). March 2013.
  15. Anderson, M.E., Almond, J.E., Evans, F.J. and Long, J.A., 1999. "Devonian (Emsian-Eifelian) fish from the Lower Bokkeveld Group (Ceres Subgroup), South Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 29(1), pp.179-193". doi:10.1016/S0899-5362(99)00088-3. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. Anderson, M.E., Long, J.A., Evans, F.J., Almond, J.E., Theron, J.N. and Bender, P.A., 1999. Biogeographic affinities of Middle and Late Devonian fishes of South Africa. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement, 57, pp.157-168 PDF: http://museum.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/11.%20Anderson,%20Long,%20Evans,%20Almond,%20Theron,%20Bender.pdf
  17. Becker, G., Bless, M. and Theron, J., 1994. Malvinokaffric ostracods from South Africa (Southern Cape; Bokkeveld Group, Devonian). Courier Forschunginstitut Senckenberg, 169, pp.239-259.
  18. Lieberman, Bruce S. (1993-07-01). "Systematics and biogeography of the "Metacryphaeus group" Calmoniidae (Trilobita, Devonian), with comments on adaptive radiations and the geological history of the Malvinokaffric Realm". Journal of Paleontology. 67 (4): 549–570. doi:10.1017/S0022336000024902. ISSN 0022-3360.
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