Middleton Formation

Middleton Formation
Stratigraphic range: Middle Permian
~265–256 Ma
Middleton Formation exposures are found in the Eastern Cape of South Africa
TypeGeological formation
Unit ofAdelaide Subgroup, Beaufort Group
UnderliesBalfour Formation
OverliesAbrahamskraal Formation
Thicknessup to 300 m (980 ft)
Lithology
PrimaryMudstone, siltstone
OtherSandstone
Location
Coordinates32°56′56″S 25°48′58″E / 32.949°S 25.816°E / -32.949; 25.816
Approximate paleocoordinates62°42′S 29°18′W / 62.7°S 29.3°W / -62.7; -29.3
RegionEastern Cape
Country South Africa

The Middleton Formation is a geological formation that extends through the Northern Cape, Western Cape, and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. It overlies the lower Abrahamskraal Formation, and is the eastern correlate, East of 24ºE, of the Teekloof Formation. Outcrops and exposures of the Middleton Formation range from Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape onwards. The Middleton Formation's type locality lies near the small hamlet, Middleton, approximately 25 km south of Cookhouse. Other exposures lie in hillsides along the Great Fish River in the Eastern Cape. The Middleton Formation forms part of the Adelaide Subgroup of the Beaufort Group, which itself forms part of the Karoo Supergroup.[1][2][3][4]

  1. ^ Kitching, J.W., 1977. The distribution of the karroo vertebrate fauna: with special reference to certain genera and the bearing of this distribution on the zoning of the Beaufort Beds, Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, University of the Witwatersrand.
  2. ^ Rubidge, B. S. (ed.) 1995b. Biostratigraphy of the Beaufort Group (Karoo Supergroup). South African Committee of Stratigraphy. Biostratigraphic Series 1. Pretoria, Council for Geoscience.
  3. ^ Bordy, Emese M.; Linkermann, Sean; Prevec, Rose (2011-10-01). "Palaeoecological aspects of some invertebrate trace fossils from the mid- to Upper Permian Middleton Formation (Adelaide Subgroup, Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup), Eastern Cape, South Africa". Journal of African Earth Sciences. 61 (3): 238–244. Bibcode:2011JAfES..61..238B. doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2011.06.002. ISSN 1464-343X.
  4. ^ Day, Michael Oliver (2014-03-04). Middle Permian continental biodiversity changes as reflected in the Beaufort Group of South Africa: a bio-and lithostratigraphic review of the Eodicynodon, Tapinocephalus and Pristerognathus assemblage zones (Thesis thesis).